What are the prospects for decentralisation in post-war Sierra Leone? This paper from the University of Birmingham’s International Development Department analyses the interaction between the different elements of local government, finance, and the diamond trade in Sierra Leone and offers guidance for post-conflict reconstruction at a local level. It argues that the reconstitution of the politico-economic networks surrounding diamond extraction outside of local government may lead to the alienation of the same groups that led the rebellion over the last few years.
Decentralisation has been ongoing in Sierra Leone since 2000, culminating in a new Local Government Act, passed in March 2004, and local government elections held in May 2004. Many donor agencies have placed strong emphasis on decentralisation as part of their post-war reconstruction efforts. However, very little has been written so far about the complex interaction between traditional chiefs, modern local government and the illegal diamond trade in Sierra Leone, which have implications for the financial structure of local government under the new system.
There are a number of challenges associated with the establishment of democratic local governance in Sierra Leone. Many of them are linked to the revival of the traditional chiefdom system – itself one of the main targets of the war – as a way of dealing with a severe security problem in the countryside and a collapsed state with very little capacity. Other challenges include:
- The lack of adequate finance mechanisms, both at the local and central level, to support effective and speedy decentralisation.
- Ending the country’s tradition of centralism (for example, the retention of existing centrally appointed staff in the new local councils, signalling a continuation of existing practices).
- The role of many chiefs in controlling land and mineral extraction, the use of forced labour and undermining due process for personal benefit.
- The threat posed to the basic trading nexus between local landowners, diamond traders and government officials in the illegal diamond trade, related to the ability and legal right of district authorities to tax and license mineral production.
- The country’s precarious communications and transport networks.
In many ways, Sierra Leone is a special case for decentralisation, with specific lessons to be learned. There is considerable evidence that increasing centralisation throughout the late 1970s and 1980s contributed to the outbreak of war in the 1990s. However, the danger of placing emphasis on the prefix ‘re’ in the reform process, through words like reconstructing, rebuilding, and rehabilitating, is the possibility of recreating the forces that led to the war in the first place. Further lessons for post-conflict reconstruction at a local level are:
- Understanding the context of decentralisation in terms of local political sensitivities, traditional authority and social structure is critical.
- Misunderstanding the context can affect the relationship between traditional authorities and district councils, particularly when the law does not clearly establish mechanisms for dealing with potential conflicts.
- Restoring traditional authority does not necessarily lead to establishing legitimacy or good governance.
- Going back to a pre-war structure may appear attractive, but may simply reproduce the same conditions that led to war in the first place.
- In order for progress to be made, the chiefdom system in Sierra Leone needs to reform.
