By Kevin Landor
The Open Society Initiative West Africa (OSIWA) on Friday presented a grant to the Ministry of Justice of Sierra Leone.
OSIWA Country Officer, Joe Hindovei Pemagbi and Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Franklin Bai Kargbo signed the memorandum of understanding which will see that OSIWA provides funds for the procurement of goods and services that will enhance the digitization of the Law Officers’ Department. Receiving the grant amounting into hundreds of thousands of US dollars, Mr Kargbo said that he had brought positive changes to the State Law Firm within the short time he had spent in the office. “The grant funds will be used for the procurement of equipment and services that will facilitate the transformation within the Law Officers’ Department of case and file management and general archiving from manual to computerised system,” he said. He hailed OSIWA’s “strategic focus on the justice sector as an extremely important thematic area that requires support for the sustenance of peace and law and order”. However the Attorney General lamented over the difficulty the office was facing in storing case files and communicating with its subsidiaries countrywide, adding that the digitisation process would help fast-track the perusal of files and ease their referencing which would enable cases to move much faster from the Law Officers’ Department hence improving the justice system in the country. Mr Pemagbi said it was the business of OSIWA to support the improvement of the justice system in Sierra Leone saying “the project will help to promote the effective and speedy delivery of justice rather than spending time sieving through documents.” He said OSIWA had been supporting the Anti Corruption Commission, the Prisons Services and others all in a bid to improving the country’s justice system. He said that the procurement of the equipment and services would be done in accordance with established set standards and delivered in space of six to eight weeks from the day of the signing of the grant documents. He said OSIWA would continue to do more to improve the justice system in Sierra Leone. Solicitor General Martina Kroma stressed the “automation of the records and processes of the Law Officers’ Department will enhance efficiency in the Department and provide security for documents and records in the Department.” The records include legal advice given to Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, treaties, contracts, Memoranda of Understanding, Acts of Parliament and case files on criminal prosecutions. Kroma noted that “the highly confidential nature of some of those documents demand that they be kept in a very safe and secure environment where access will be available to only limited authorized personnel.” OSIWA’s support to the Law Officers’ Department project will implement integrated technologies. These include an email system, an intranet and a document imaging and archiving system, all with the overall objective of improving the security of sensitive documents and increase the efficiency of records management. OSIWA is part of a network of Foundations established and supported by philanthropist, George Soros. It currently supports several national organizations and coalitions such as National Elections Watch (NEW), Independent Radio Network (IRN) and Pampana Communications among others
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