Youth-traditional authorities’ relations in post-war Sierra Leone

Abstract

In Sierra Leone, economic and social marginalisation, and exploitation from chiefs and elders prompted young people to ‘revolt’ against them and the state in search for acceptance, recognition and empowerment. In the post-war period, youths have drawn on certain tenets of the liberal peace including human rights, good governance, development and rule of law to create spaces for exercising ‘resisting power’ as well as negotiating with chiefdom authorities. However, this has not been very effective since in addition to receiving support from state elites, traditional authorities possess material and coercive power which they have used to control the youth. This article argues that it is crucial for critical peace research to move beyond examining power relations between international actors and local actors to also examine power and power relations between various local groups as this also has an influence on the nature of peace being established in a post-war situation.

Keywords:

• youths
• chiefdom authorities
• chiefs
• Sierra Leone
• liberal peace
• empowerment
• power
• power relations

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank all the people who participated in this research. Fieldwork in Sierra Leone from which this paper draws on was made possible by funding from Allan and Nesta Ferguson Charitable Trust via the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of St. Andrews, Gilchrist Educational Trust and the School of IR, University of St. Andrews, to whom I owe many thanks. Thanks to the editors of Children's Geographies and two anonymous reviewers as well as Ezekiel Conteh, Dennis James, Joseph Lahai and Kenneth Mawomo for making helpful comments. All errors are the author's alone.

Notes

1. This includes attending a Community Leaders Workshop in Kailahun in which over 20 participants attended as well as a traditional reconciliation ceremony in Mattru-Jong. The researcher also lived with host families or at a guest houses near them which helped him to interact with them a lot in their day-to-day activities and these interactions including deep conversations with ordinary Sierra Leoneans had a lot of influence on his analysis.

2. This includes a group discussion with five youths from People's Movement for Democratic Change, one of the three main political parties in Sierra Leone.

3. In Sierra Leone, Tribal Authorities represent 20 tax payers and are found in all chiefdoms. Tribal authorities also act as chiefdom councillors and elect the Paramount Chief.

4. A Sierra Leonean contact had also talked to a number of youths about their experiences in the chiefdoms, relationship with the chiefs as well as the strategies they employ when dealing with the chiefs.

5. The colonial government introduced a system of ‘ruling houses’ in which each chiefdom had at least two ruling houses and only if someone was a descendent from a ruling house, he/she was eligible to contest an election for Paramount Chieftaincy and was elected for life, unless if the relevant Chiefdom Council disposed him/her (Barrows 1976).

6. The term local court is sometimes used interchangeably with the term ‘native court’ and it is the lowest level of the formally recognised legal system in the country. Customary law is administered through local courts in the chiefdoms.

7. Kaplan (1994) has portrayed West African civil wars including Sierra Leone as primitive and anarchic resulting from ‘loose family structures’, ‘cultural dysfunction’, ‘communalism and animism’, unchecked spread of disease and overpopulation. For a critique of Kaplan's ‘new barbarism thesis’, see Richards (1996).

8. Collier and Hoeffler (2004) have argued that rebels are motivated by greed, not grievances, that is, their motive is to extract valuable primary commodities such as diamonds and drugs.

9. Abdullah (1998, 207) defines lumpens as the ‘largely unemployed and unemployable youths, mostly male, who live by their wits or who have one foot in what is generally referred to as the informal or underground economy’.

10. The two concepts are often used interchangeably.

11. I appreciate Ezekiel Conteh for this idea.

12. For instance, the state has established programmes such as the National Youth Development Programme that seek to mainstream, extend, mobilise and coordinate youth-focused action as well as the country has witnessed the establishment of formal youth structures including youth-led organisations addressing a wide range of youth-related issues, the National Youth Commission, district and regional youth officers, chiefdom youth leaders, chiefdom and district youth councils, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and a Presidential Youth Aide.

13. The youth leaders would prefer successful candidates to come from ‘ruling houses’ which they regarded as ‘our tradition’.

14. Youth leaders represent youths in various local bodies including chiefdom committees as well as chair youth organisations. However, as Manning (2009) and Boersch-Supan (2012) have noted, some of them are above the age of 35 as well as connected to the ruling families with economic power to the extent that some youths become dependent on them, especially when such youth leaders pay fines for them.

15. A ‘shake hand’ is a gift in the form of money that a person gives to the chief when he/she meets him for the first time, before he/she informs the chief his/her purpose of visit.

16. One of the youth leaders the author interviewed also monitor local court proceedings. Youths are also involved in various chiefdom committees.

17. For instance, at a community leaders workshop in Kailahun District, all 14 male participants complained about being told that ‘you do not beat pikini [a child]’ – in reference to the ban on beating children (November 2010).