July 29, 2021
By: PROBLYN JOHN ALPHA (KONO)
In order to promote professional policing in the district and the country at large, the Legal Aid Board (LAB) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has ended a day training workshop on Bail Regulations for Sierra Leone Police Investigators and Prosecutors at the Sahr Musa Sessie Gbenda Hall in Koidu City Kono District.
The training came about awake after series of concerns were raised by members of the General public that most of the time, Investigators and Prosecutors ask for money from accused persons in order to be granted bail though it is boldly pasted in the various police stations that BAIL IS FREE. But, the police are still asking them to pay for an accused person or suspect under police detention to be bailed.
It is against this backdrop that Legal Aid Board Sierra Leone with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) organized such training for police investigators and prosecutors across the country to be schooled on some of their obligations and various conditions they are to look into when it comes to the issue of bail regulation.
When talking from the professional point of view, the Local Unit Commander (LUC) at the Motema Police Divisional Headquarters Unisa Ben Mohamed described bail as a constitutional right of a suspect or an accused person under police detention though it has both advantages and disadvantages, but necessary procedures should be followed when it comes to the issue of bail he concluded.
On his part, the National Supervisor Legal Aid Board Sierra Leone who was also the lead facilitator of the said training Mohamed Korie esq beseeched police investigators and prosecutors to be acquainted with bail regulations as stated in the constitution, offences and the power they have as enshrined in section (80) of the criminal procedure Act. No. 32 of the 1965 which gave power to magistrates to put people on bail for all offenses except for Murder and Treason he noted.
He therefore encouraged all investigators and prosecutors to strictly go by what is embedded in the bail regulations of 2007. To maintained such professional policing in the district and the country, Mr. Korie urged investigations and prosecutors to be familiar with section 23 sub section 4 of the 1991 constitution of Sierra Leone which according to him will help them perform professionally to protect the society instead of satisfying the victims. When asked to know if someone who is under detention can have access to bail, Mohamed Korie Esq pointed out that section eighty (80) of the criminal procedure act number 23 of 1965 authorises police to put a suspect or accused person on bail depending on whether the victim came voluntarily to the police station and also the nature of offence the person may have committed citing example to felonious offences like murder, treason and terrorism which are not bail-able offenses. Likewise the court in section seventy-five (75) of the criminal procedure act number 32 will be unperturbed of the various instructions they will receive from order from above he opined.
Speaking to our Kono District correspondent, the Eastern Regional Manager of Legal Aid Board Sierra Leone James Thomas Mafinda intimated that the Legal Aid Board came into existence in 2012 and the establishment emanated from a mandate of parliament and was enacted in 2018 and has established it offices in all the 16 districts of Sierra Leone.
James Mafinda pointed out that the organization provides free service on issues surrounding women, children, family misunderstanding, and land issues among others and also provide representation at the magistrate court, high court and court of appeal respectively on pro-bondo basis.
Alhaji Ibrahim Lahai attached to the Motema Police Divisional headquarters Criminal Investigations Department (CID) expressed sincere gratitude to Legal Aid Board and the UNDP for such an educative training on bail regulations.
He further encouraged his colleague investigators and prosecutors to programme themselves with what is stated in the 2007 bail regulation so that the power of the police to grant bail to an accused person or suspect in police custody would be enhanced, adding that the purpose of the criminal law is to protect the society and not to satisfy the victims.
In a similar view, Mariatu Kamara a prosecutor at the Koidu Magistrate Court attached to the Tankoro Police Divisional Headquarters maintained that the training was a refresher session for her which has helped her lot to perform professionally in her duties.
“I have rejected a call from an authority who wanted me to perform unprofessionally on International Day of Corruption but with the knowledge acquired through similar trainings helped me to perform professionally” she concluded.