The Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Consultant at the Legal Aid Board, Gibril Abdulai Jalloh has mediated an agreement between the Rokupa Community and youths using drugs (commonly called Kush) in the same community. The agreement was reach at a meeting between the two parties on Zubairu Street on the 2 January 2024.
Mr. Jalloh’s intervention follows complaints and concerns from members of the Rokupa community regarding the consumption of drugs (commonly called Kush) on the Street by youths, and the potential to undermine the peace in the community.
The youths who sometimes number up to hundred consume this drug from morning into the odd hours of the nights, rendering the street a no go area at night for members of the community particularly women and children. Also, those who use the street had become victims of petty theft, insults, harassment and intimidation and the situation has been going from bad to worse.
This saw Mr. Jalloh embarking on a fact finding mission to the Rokupa Community in the last week of December 2023 and saw for himself nearly 100 youths either consuming kush or sleeping on the street.
“I seized the opportunity to organise an impromptu community outreach to educate them on law and order issues relating to the use of illegal drugs and more importantly the effect this could have on their health and the peace and security of the community,” Mr. Jalloh noted.
The engagement was climaxed with the signing of a mediation agreement on 2 January 2024. Both parties underscored the dangers of drugs to the health of the consumer and the peace and security of the community and by extension the state. The youths also agreed never to hang around Zaiburu Street to consume drugs and that those found wanting will be handed over to the police.
Also the NLe500 (Five Hundred New Leones) donated by Mr. Jalloh will be used to cover expenses in identifying organizations/institutions that can provide help to overcome their addiction. Mr. Jalloh also promised to contact organizations that will help them. The head of the youths Abu Bakar Bah (Alias Teacher) on behalf of the youths promised to respect the agreement.
The Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles has welcomed the mediation agreement between the Rokupa Community and the youths which she described as ‘an important contribution to the drug menace’.
She called on organizations and agencies to step in and provide the much needed support the youths need to overcome their addiction and also provide skills that will make them become self – reliant. ‘We will reach out to the Sierra Leone Youth Development and Child Link and other partners to provide support to these youths,’ she said.
