Apr 10 2019

MCCU, work on NRPA to solve resettlement problems

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“There is always discord when it comes to resettlement issues in Sierra Leone. This could be attributed to the fact that there is no national policy that clearly states the terms, conditions and standard for resettlement,” Millennium Challange Coordinating Unit (MCCU) Water Sector Project Director, Ansumana Swarray, explained. However, because of the unavailability of a national Resettlement Policy and Act, a Resettlement Task Team (RTT) was launch in October last year.

However, the process of establishing a National Resettlement Policy and Act (NRPA) was spearheaded by the Ministry of Lands Housing and Environment, with support from the United States Millennium Challenge Corporation through MCCU. Consulting firm, Law And Development Associate (LADA) Group were hired to provide technical assistance to the Ministry to develop the Policy and Act. Yesterday, at the Lands Ministry, the firm presented their work plan to members of the RTT and relevant stakeholders at an inception seminar. MCCU CEO, Ndeye Koroma said that they are finally at the juncture where they can kick off and get to the work proper of developing a resettlement policy and Act for Sierra Leone.

She explained that MCC is an institution that is very much devoted in ensuring that international standards are met related to …resettlement and as a result of that “we’ve been focusing very strategically on how we look at resettlement issues but we wanted to see if we can not only focus on the areas of intervention, but how do we speak more broadly  to the needs of government, related to issues or resettlement.” She added “… it would be wise to look at a more strategic intervention and how do we engage government in having a more centralized approach to how we deal with resettlement.” Noting that in other countries these policies are sectoral, but however, they are looking at a more centralized implementation issues for the country.

The Minister of Lands, Dennis Sandy, explained that what has been happen in this country is that people have been formulating Act without a policy. “We had series of incidents in the pass that have necessitated the importance of this instrument…” the Minister remarked.



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