Report No. PIC1000 Project Name Sierra Leone-Judicial and Legal Reform Project Region Africa Sector Non-sectoral Project ID SLPA2436 Implementing Agency Department of Judicial Affairs Third Floor Guma Building Lamina Sankoh Street Freetown, Sierra Leone Date Prepared October/November 1993 Projected Board Date September 1994 Context 1. The Government of Sierra Leone is carrying out a comprehensive program of economic growth aimed at achieving sustainable growth and reducing poverty. Key to success is the creation of an enabling environment for private sector investment. The Structural Adjustment Credit, currently being implemented, is designed to strengthen and deepen the on-going economic reforms and establish the enabling environment for private sector development. Judicial and legal reform would complement that effort. Objectives 2. Private sector-led growth is at the core of the Government's program of economic reform. At present, inadequacies in publicly provided judicial and legal services for private sector transactions entail costs and risks to private investors and are a disincentive to private investment. The main objective of the project is to initiate the process of judicial and legal reform. The aim is to reduce the costs to private investors of protecting property rights, enforcing contracts and obtaining information on legislation. Specific project objectives include: (a) the establishment of an institutional process and mechanism for legislative review and update and the development of a core work program for revising and updating priority business and commercial laws; (b) improving the efficiency, and enabling cost-effective functioning, of the judiciary and the Department of Judicial Affairs, and (c) development of a medium term strategy that would further the process of reform initiated under the project. A focus on these objectives should reduce the costs and risks of investing in Sierra Leone. To obtain the consensus for the proposed reforms and project proposal, and to gain knowledge on the constituency for the reforms, a Workshop on Judicial and Legal Reform has been scheduled to take place prior to project preappraisal. Other important objectives of the Workshop include reaching agreement on the priorities that the project should address and some indication of the contents of the core work program for legislative reform. Description 3. The project would address the three sets of constraints that have adversely affected the quality, timeliness and cost- effectiveness of judicial and legal services, namely, inadequacy of the law, implementation of the law, and court infrastructure. With respect to the law, the legislation, particularly for business and commerce, is outdated and incomplete; with respect to implementation of the law, legislative and enforcement capacity is weak, and the incentive framework is not conducive to attracting and retaining qualified personnel; and, with respect to infrastructure, the court infrastructure is inadequate and severely dilapidated. To address these constraints, the following project components have been proposed: (a) a work program for legislative reform for business and commerce: in accordance with an agreed core work program, based on agreed and established criteria, priority laws and regulations governing business and commerce would be updated and revised by the Law Reform Commission, Law Revision Committee and Law Reporting Council, the reactivation of which will be supported by the project; (b) reform and strengthening of judicial and legal institutions: providing for technical assistance and training, streamlined procedures for processing and managing caseflow and caseload in the court system and for conducting day-to-day operations of the judiciary, upgrading of Registries, comprehensive data bases and monitoring and evaluation systems, logistics support (automation, office equipment and mobility) and updated legal and library materials would result in efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the court system and the Department of Judicial Affairs (known as the Law Officers' Department). The Office of the Government Printer responsible for the publication and dissemination of laws and regulations would also be strengthened; and (c) development of a medium term sector strategy that would provide for the continuation of reforms initiated by the project. This strategy would set the stage for building legal skills and strengthening the incentive framework. At present, there is an acute shortage of legal skills and the judicial and legal institutions in the public sector face difficulties in attracting and retaining qualified and experienced professionals; and (d) rehabilitation and strengthening of court infrastructure: the Law Courts Building in Freetown, the High Courts and Magistrates' Courts in the Provincial capitals of Bo, Kenema and Makeni, and those in the larger towns of Magburaka and Port Loko, would be rehabilitated. In a few instances, where rehabilitation is either not possible or would not serve the purpose, the construction of simple and cost-effective courts would be constructed. -2- Implementation 4. The project would be implemented over a period of three years as follows: (a) a Judicial and Legal Reform Implementation Committee (JULRIC) to be chaired by the Attorney General would coordinate the project and oversee its implementation. Other members of the JULRIC would include the Chief Justice, the Financial Secretary, the Solicitor General, the Administrator and Registrar General, the Master and Registrar of the High Court, the Dean of the Faculty of Law, the Director of the Sierra Leone Law School and the President of the Bar Association or their representatives. The JULRIC would focus on resolving implementation bottlenecks as they occur; and (b) a JULRIC Secretariat, consisting of three sub- committees, would be established to implement the project. These committees would be staffed with the appropriate officials and staff, and where necessary, funding for local technical assistance would be provided for by the project. Headed by the Solicitor General, the Legal Reform Committee (LRC) would work closely with the reactivated Law Reform Commission, Law Revision Committee and Law Reporting Council and would be responsible for implementing the agreed to three year work program for legislative review of business and commercial law. The Committee for Institutional Strengthening (CIS) would be headed by the Master and Registrar of the High Court and would be responsible for implementing aspects of the project that deal with the administration, management, logistics and training support to the courts and the Law Officers' Department; it would also handle project support to the Government Printer. The Goods and Services Committee (GSC) would be headed by a State Counsel of the Law Officers' Department. The GSC would work closely with the Department of Works that would implement the court infrastructure component and with the Public Sector Management Support (PSMS) Unit in the Department of Finance that would be responsible for the procurement of goods and services under the project. Costs and Financing 5. The project cost will be determined at preappraisal. Several donors have expressed interest in cofinancing the project. These include ODA, UNDP, UNESCO and ADB; cofinancing with USAID and NORDIC donors will also be explored. The extent of cofinancing will be clear once the project design and details from studies being financed by a Project Preparation Facility have been discussed with the Government and donors. The preappraisal mission will initiate these discussions. Environmental Aspects 6. No adverse environmental impact would result from the project that -3 - has an environmental assessment rating of C. Benefits 7. Specific benefits from the project would include: (a) establishment of an institutional process and mechanism for legislative reform for reviewing and updating laws and regulations on a sustained basis through a three year rolling work program for legislation reform. During the project period, an agreed priority core program of business and commercial legislation would be reviewed and updated as part of the initial three year work plan; and (b) more efficient and cost-effective functioning of the judicial and legal system as it affects private sector investment and decision- making. These project benefits should reduce the costs and risks of private sector transactions in Sierra Leone. Risks 8. The main risk to the project lies in Sierra Leone's generally weak institutional capacity, weak implementation capacity at the Department of Judicial Affairs and the Department of Works, and overburdened capacity at the Department of Finance. Contact Point: Public Information Center The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202)458-5454 Fax No.: (202)522-1500 Note: This is information based on an evolving project. Certain components may not necessarily be included in the final project. - 4 -