By Saio Marrah
Parliament of Sierra Leone has on Tuesday 2nd August 2022 domesticated the International Convention on Arbitration thereby ensuring that foreign trade disputes can be arbitrated locally.
The Deputy Attorney General, Umaru Napoleon Koroma told the lawmakers in the house of parliament that the law provides for the settlement of international disputes between states and other nationals of different states.
“It also provides for fair settlement of disputes for domestic and international arbitration and also makes provision for the establishment of the Sierra Leone International Arbitration Centre”, he said during the second reading of the bill to parliamentarians.
Koroma also noted that the bill addresses the scope and nature of the settlement of international arbitration, with free arbitrary proceedings taken into consideration, and retention of securities such as shares, stocks, and bonds.
The Deputy Attorney General said that it also examines the composition of the arbitration tribunal and the commencement of the arbitration process.
Parliamentarian Kekurah Vandy, representing constituency 088, Bo District, described Sierra Leone as being part of the global community and that the enactment of the bill is a history for the country.
According to him, no matter how a country is powerful and enriched with all the resources, if it is not diplomatically connected, that country he said will be merely beating a dead horse.
He said the law was adopted by the United National Diplomatic Conference on the 10th June 1958 and entered into force on the 7th June 1959.
Vandy noted that it will allow the country’s laws to synchronize with the laws of other nations with bigger economies and that it will woo investors to Sierra Leone because they know that their investment is in a safer place.
He pointed out that with the enactment of the bill, projects such as the American Sponsored electrification of the Western Area that costs 217 million dollars would come to fruition.
Another Member of Parliament, Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella, described the law as a good one and called for its speedy enactment into law to further restore the confidence of investors.
He noted that the country needs bigger investors in the energy sector that will ensure the country move from an emergency source of energy.
Other lawmakers made similar contributions on the necessity of domesticating the arbitration of the convention on international trade.
