By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
A civil society group, Advoc Aid, is calling on the government to repeal the Larceny Act of 1916 saying it has caused only suffering for women rather than serve its intended purpose.
The current Larceny Act categories financial debt as a criminal act and the prescription could lead to prison term. Advoc Aid said women have been sent to prison for money as little as Le250, 000.
Advoc Aid is a leading civil society group that advocates for the well being of women in Sierra Leone and West Africa. The organization wants the obnoxious law replaced with a modern Offence Against Property Act. It recently hosted a policy debate on the issue in collaboration with the British High Commission.
“Women owing as little as Le250, 000 have been sent to prison for three years,” the rights advocacy group said in a statement issued at the end of the debate.
“Advoc Aid continues to campaign for the decriminalization of debts due to the severe consequences it has caused for women who are mostly petty traders…,” Advoc Aid Executive Director, Simitie Lavaly, said in the statement.
The organization has campaigned about the situation of women and debt. In 2012, it published a report titled: ‘Women, Debt and Detention’, which highlighted how much suffering women were going through as a result of the law.
Many women in Sierra Leone engage in business, especially petty trading. Their activities contribute to the economy of the country, yet they face huge hurdles.
The impact of this law is manifested at the Pa Demba Road Correctional Center where prison officials have expressed concern over the growing number of inmates.
Cecilia Kaikai, Director Technical Services at the Sierra Leone Correction Services, spoke at last weeks’ policy debate and she said: “Pa Demba Road prison was built for 324 inmates, but we have to receive the detainees that are sent to us even if the facility is full.”
According to figures from the Correctional Service, the Pa Demba Road Correctional Center currently holds more than 1000 inmates.
A repeal of the Larcency Act 1916 could help in reducing the number of people who are sent to the already congested prison, officials at Advoc Aid hope.
The newly appointed Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara, has already expressed verbal commitment in fast tracking court cases, another way of decongesting prisons where more than half of the population are believed to be in remand.
(C) Politico 13/04/16
