The Open Government Partnership (OGP) held its technical meeting at Campaign for Human Right and Development International’s (CHARDI) office at Wilkinson Road, Freetown, Thursday, 17 October.

The meeting which was on the Justice Sector, focused on the review of the Ombudsman Act of 1997 and the need to promote administrative Justice to enhance equal access to justice for all.

In making his presentation, the Ombudsman Tejan A.I. Jah shed light on the drawbacks his office is facing, what need to be done in order for his office to be accessible to the general public.  His presentation was reviewed and suggestions proffered.

The OGP Coordinator Mrs. Hannah Jimmy gave a brief backdrop of OGP in Sierra Leone. According to her, Sierra Leone joined the OGP family in November 2013, a month after it passed the Right to Access Information (RAI) law “which additionally emboldened its commitment to transparency and gave us eligibility to the open government partnership”.  “We are now on the 5th National Action Plan with over 50 commitments. Sierra Leone will submit commitment on Justice sector,” she noted.

Furthermore, she explained that the OGP – SL is working to submit a stand-alone open gov challenge commitment on the justice sector, and to review/amend the Ombudsman Act of 1997 and to strengthen the child sector justice diversion policy. Technical experts from the Human Rights Commission, Legislative Committee, Action Aid, Westminster Foundation for Democracy, Independent Police Complaints Board etc met to discuss the commitment and milestones to submit and implement within a two-year period.