By Septimus Senessie in Kono.
Paramount chiefs and their section chiefs from almost all 14 chiefdoms of Kono District have committed themselves to upholding and promoting the rights of women to land and inheritance in their chiefdoms.
They made this undertaking during a one-day stakeholders' meeting at the multi-purpose youth centre in Koidu, organised by the Italian organisation COOPI International and funded by the UNDP to raise awareness of women regarding land ownership, property rights and equal justice in the district, with the theme “Making right a reality”.
The Senior District Officer in Kono, Moses Gbetu said that it was good to grant women "their own God-given rights" so they could play their own part in the development of the society. He said the secret behind the successes of the western world included the upholding of the rights of women and children which he said Sierra Leone should emulate.
P.C. Sahr Fengai Korgbende Kaimachiende of Gbense Chiefdom, formerly a member of the parliamentary land reform committee from 2007 to 2012, described land issues in the country as “challenging and crucial”. He said land ownership varied from one chiefdom to another which he went on made it difficult for women to secure land in some parts of the country.
PC Kaimachiende said women always felt marginalised and intimidated by men but that in his chiefdom there were no limitations to land ownership. He said that anyone who fulfilled the criteria of securing land irrespective of their gender was entitled to it. He pledged his support to women’s rights to property and land in the district.
P.C. Sahr Kontande Mbriwa of Fiama Chiefdom said: “we will make the land available to women but not affordable to them.” He said that it was important to support women in the development of society, noting that women constituted the majority in the country, which could not therefore develop if women were not actively involved in the development processes of the country.
Chief Mbriwa pointed out that the discrimination against women regarding land and property ownership was not perpetuated by the chiefs but rather by customs and traditions they had inherited centuries ago. He said that the issue of the rights of women over the years had only been "theoretical", but assured that as traditional leaders they were now ready to such rights into practice in their various chiefdoms.
The project coordinator of women’s rights to land and property in Kono District, Mariama Kabba-Kamanda thanked the Paramount Chiefs for their expressed commitments towards the promotion of women’s rights to property and land.
(C) Politico 12/12/13
