By: James Kamara-Manneh
The International Law Book Facility (ILBF) based in the United Kingdom has over the weekend extended gestures to the office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice for donating legal books worth millions of pounds.
In his handover delivery, Momoh Turay, Country Director of UKSLPBN said the purpose of the ILBF is to share legal knowledge across the legal communities of the world and thereby support the rule of law and access to justice. He added that they give Law books, particularly to Legal institutions and ministries which Sierra Leone has benefited immensely.
Mr Turay revealed that 19 boxes totalling 163 Law books were donated to the Attorney General’s office ranging from Insurance Law to Criminal Practice 2021.
As a representative of the ILBF, Turay said this group is made of retired Judges, Lawyers and Legal minds in the UK. He said there is huge support for ILBF work from across the legal profession, including from the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett, which is a measure of how much lawyers in the UK share ILBF ideals of the importance of legal resources for all students, lawyers, and judges.
He said the ILBF is delighted to support law libraries in Sierra Leone with legal resources from the UK. ILBF’s mission is to share legal knowledge across the legal communities of the world and thereby support the rule of law and access to justice. The ILBF hopes to continue to support legal institutions and universities in Sierra Leone in this regard.
Turay pinned those personalities such as Katrina Crossley and Jodie-Lee of ILBF was very instrumental in the whole process of getting the books to Sierra Leone.
The UK Sierra Leone Pro Bono Network (UKSLPBN) and her partners will continue to explore and utilise opportunities for capacity building, skills transfer and experience sharing for justice sector actors and legal learning institutions in the country.
Richard Honey (Chair of the Steering Group-UKSLPBN) provided strategic direction for the book donation. Anglo-American Company paid for the shipment of the books to come to Sierra Leone;
Receiving the Book, the Attorney General, Mr Mohamed Tarawalley expressed gratitude for such genuine gestures from senior colleagues in the UK. The Justice Minister reminisce about those days in college when they will visit the Law Officers Department Library to source material. He said many senior and junior colleagues do make use of the library to aid them in their legal practice.
Mr Tarawalley said they appreciated the gift and it will help boost the library and will capacitate upcoming lawyers to do better research during their practice. He promised that the books will be used for the intended purpose as justice will be done to them. He said he will continue to use his office to solicit further assistance in developing the ministry.
Giving the vote of thanks, Solicitor General RB Kowa appreciated the coordinative role played by the Country’s Director Momoh Turay for bringing such help to the legal sector. He climaxed the program by extending appreciation to the UK and others who in diverse ways made it possible for those books to be in Sierra Leone.
