By Mathew Kanu
Three women paramount chiefs from the east and southern provinces have visited the north, asking that women be given the same opportunities to lead and own land in that part of the country. Both PC Theresa Vibbi of Kango Leppiama chiefdom in Kenema district and Matilda Yayu Lansana Minah IV of Yakemo Kpukumu Krim Karlu chiefdom in the southern Pujehun District expressed concern over the current tradition in the north. They said they were in Makeni to call on traditional leaders in the whole of the Northern Province to change their customs and traditions that prevent women from accessing traditional leadership and land in the region. At a Makeni conference on women’s accession to traditional leadership positions and access to and ownership of land organized by the Sierra Leone Network on the Right to Food (SiLNoRF), the chiefs made a impassioned appeal for equality.
Madam Minah said there was conflict between the national laws on the one hand and the customary and traditional laws on the other which she said caused the denial of many women access to land ownership and traditional leadership. “Our history says we acquire land from our great grandfathers who were warriors and who fought with other traditional leaders and warriors in other districts and regional boundaries” she explained, adding “If they conquered then the land belonged to them their families”. She said they were custodians of the land in all chiefdoms but they were not owners of it becauseland belonged to the people of the chiefdoms. Madam Matilda said she didn’t think men alone should own land in the north as women too were members of the family and the community who were also supposed to own land. “Paramount chiefs should not give land to investors without proper negotiations. In my own capacity I don’t take land from families and give them to investors. Investors have to negotiate with land owners,” she said. PC Vibbi said she felt sorry for women in the north who had no access to land, traditional leadership and chieftaincy, even though all regions of the country had their customs and traditions. “I am in sympathy with these women. I hope one day it will change so that the women in the north will be Paramount Chiefs and owners of their land one day,” she said. After the conference, women from Port Loko, Tonkolili and Bombali said it was necessary for women to access and own land but that that was the most impossible thing in their districts. Senior human rights officer, Abdulai Yola Bangura, said accessing land was a fundamental human right issue that ought not to be denied women because land was part of the economic empowerment for women. “I see the problem of access to land as widespread...It is the basis for all other activities, especially for the poor women in rural Sierra Leone who are not educated in the formal sector,” he said. Bangura said that women in the rural economy largely depended on agriculture for their living and advocated for a total eradication of customs and traditions that denied women access to land. “If they are in leadership position they will facilitate the process of acquiring land. Over the years, this is the practice. I think it’s time to lend advocacy to enhance women who belong to ruling houses to also know their rights to chieftaincy so that the access to land problem will be solved once and for all,” he hoped. A traditional leader in the Bombali Shebora Chiefdom, Pamism Conteh, said women were not part of the traditional poro secret society and therefore could not easily acquire land or ascend to chieftaincy positions. “This must be a gradual process that will take some time and not now,” he said. © Politico 20/08/1
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