By Emma Black
Aminata spent almost three years trying to collect child maintenance from her husband, Foday. After engaging with the Family Support Unit (FSU) of the Sierra Leone Police, the Legal Aid Board and the Courts, Aminata has given up. Her husband has repeatedly ignored agreements made with the FSU, LAB and a court order to pay Aminata Le200,000 per month per child (approximately $40 USD per month in total).
Child maintenance is the Sierra Leone version of what fathers are to pay, every month, to support their children after a family separates. Aminata’s situation is not unique and the hundreds of thousands of single mothers in Sierra Leone can attest to the problems and ultimately the frustrations of dealing with a broken or non-existent child support mechanism. Men simply are not willing or able to pay even the smallest amounts to support their children. And, enforcement of the laws, agreements and promises, is sorely lacking.
Part VI of the Child Rights Act (2007) deals with parentage, custody and maintenance of children. Section 90. (1), notes, “A parent or any other person who is legally liable to maintain a child or contribute towards the maintenance of the child is under a duty to supply the necessaries of health, life, education and reasonable shelter for the child.
And, (3) …the father of the child, whether it is legitimate or not, is legally liable to maintain the child.
Aminata had two children from a previous relationship when she met Foday in 2014. Foday and Aminata were joined by a traditional marriage and they had two more children. When their baby was just six months old, Foday ordered Aminata out of their marital home. And, she and the four children went to live with relatives.
Several months after the separation, when Aminata was destitute and desperate, she went to the Family Support Unit (FSU) of the Sierra Leone Police, in Goderich, just west of Freetown. She reported Foday as a negligent father, whose name appears on her two children’s birth certificates. The FSU invited Foday to the Station for a chat, via a hand-delivered, official letter… and he agreed to pay Le250,000 (approx. $25 USD) for each child. Both the mother and father and Police witnesses signed the Police undertaking.
Christiana Coker, a social worker with the FSU based out of the Central Police Station in Freetown, said, “We try to negotiate a settlement for the mothers and children. Most cases are complicated but we listen to both parents and try to come to an agreement.”
Foday made two payments to the FSU of Le250,000, and, after taking their cut of Le25,000, the Police gave the money to Aminata. But, after the initial payments, Foday stopped paying.
According to child rights advocate and lawyer, Ibrahim Tommy, of the Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL), most fathers ignore their responsibilities towards their children after a relationship has ended. They are not afraid of the police or courts because they know mothers will eventually get tired of paying the police or paying lawyers. Many single mothers are poor, illiterate and lack the experience or ability to deal with the process.
Several months later, Aminata was advised to go to the Legal Aid Board (LAB) in downtown Freetown. A lawyer with LAB sent another hand-delivered letter to Foday and invited the couple to an alternate dispute resolution meeting. The head of LAB, Fatmata Clair Carlton-Hanciles, said, “Most of our work involves family issues and child maintenance cases are the bulk of that work. There are so many instances of fathers who refuse to support and be responsible for their children.”
After ignoring the LAB, Foday was arrested and spent a night in jail at the Central Freetown Police Station. Aminata said, “At this point, I had to spend around Le300,000 to get the letters and pay the Police to arrest the children’s father.” Following his night in jail, Foday attended a meeting with his former partner at the LAB, where he was ordered to pay Le200,000 per child per month through the Legal Aid office. He eventually made one payment of Le150,000 and, as a last ditch measure, the LAB arranged a court date to try to enforce the payments.
Enforcement of court orders or formal agreements is almost impossible, despite Section 102 of the Child Rights Act, which states, “Any person who– (b) fails to supply the necessaries of health, life, education and reasonable shelter for a child when legally liable to do so…; commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding Le500,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment.”
Most family matters are dealt with in a small, cramped room in the Magistrate Court building on Pademba Road near the centre of Freetown. Magistrate Sheila Bangura oversees many of the maintenance cases that have made it to the court level, despite the expense, hardships and bureaucratic hurdles. Magistrate Bangura stated, “All parents have the responsibility to pay for things the child needs like schooling, health issues, food, shelter and so on. And, the court relies on the laws to outline what fathers should pay.”
According to the Child Rights Act, Section 92, states, “A Family Court shall consider the following when making a maintenance order: (a) the income and wealth of both parents of the child or of the person legally liable to maintain the child; (b) any impairment of the earning capacity of the person legally liable to maintain the child; (c) the financial responsibility of the person legally liable with respect to the maintenance of other children; (d) the cost of living in the area where the child is resident.”
On a dull Tuesday morning, Aminata and her two children appeared in Family Court. She stood face-to-face across the small room with the father of the children, Foday. Each had brought a family member, who sat huddled on a bench across the back of the room. The young children looked fearful and uncertain as Magistrate Bangura addressed the couple.
After hearing from Aminata, Magistrate Bangura turned to Foday, who told the court he had no job and no money. In actual fact, Foday works as a hotel plumber and supports another family. Magistrate Bangura, in a sharply worded retort, ordered Foday to pay Le250,000 per month for each child. She said, “The court orders the father to pay to the court clerk Le500,000 each month. He should also pay for any educational costs and medicines if the children get sick.”
The clerk quickly noted the court order, the family name and the amounts into a bound ledger book. There are no computerized systems and all transactions, orders and agreements are handwritten. There is also no national register of child maintenance records, Magistrate Bangura said she oversees up to seven child maintenance and custody cases a day. That’s more than 140 cases a week, in one courtroom, in one city.
Section 94 of the Child Rights Act, notes, “A Family Court may award maintenance to the mother of a child whether married to the father or not, where the father has been identified, and the maintenance shall include: (2) … a periodic payment or lump sum payment for the maintenance of a child.”
Foday made two payments to the court clerk to cover two months of his court ordered child maintenance responsibility. No maintenance arrears were ordered. Aminata was compelled to pay Le50,000 to the clerk, from the Le500,000. Foday missed several payments and Aminata continued to call and pay the court to inquire about payments, send reminder letters to Foday and even to threaten the father of the children.
Months and years after her separation, Aminata decided she would no longer pursue the father of her children. She reflects, “I’ve spent millions of Leones on this case. I’ve paid police, lawyers, courts… and I’m not seeing any money in maintenance. I’ll focus on my children. I’ve spent more in trying to get money than I have received from the father. I’m tired and I’m giving up.”
This story was a collaboration with the Media and Information Bureau and New Narratives as part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Project. Funding was provided by Australian Aid. The funder had no say in the story's content.
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