The Legal Aid Board has concluded planning meeting with the leadership of the Sierra Leone Commercial Motor Bike Riders Union ahead of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-funded capacity building training for 600 bike riders commonly called Okada Riders.
The training will be held in five locations, with the first taking place in Freetown on Tuesday 11th and Wednesday 12th June targeting 180 participants drawn from the Western Area Urban District. The second will be held in Waterloo on 17th and 18th June, targeting 60 participants drawn from the Western Area Rural District. These will then be followed by others in Makeni on 19th and 20th of June; Bo on 24th and 25th June, and Kenema on 26th and 27th June 2024, targeting 120 participants respectively.
The training is dedicated to capacitating bike riders on issues bordering on Human Rights; Road Traffic Regulation; Bail Regulation; Introduction to Legal Aid; the Law and the Police and Public Order offences.
In a brief statement to programme managers and executives of bike riders during the meeting, the Executive Director of the Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles emphasized the need for the executive to choose full-time bike riders for the training, noting that “the Board does not in any way want to see uncommitted riders as participants”.
Ms. Carlton-Hanciles seized the opportunity to thank the UNDP for it continued support to the Board, stating that the UN agency is also supporting the Board in providing free legal representation to indigent inmates at prison courts, free legal representation to women and girls and capacity-building for legal aid staff on data collection and analysis for monitoring correctional centres.
The President of the Bike Riders, Ishmael Sandy expressed thanks and appreciation to the Executive Director and the Board noting that as a Union, they had been yearning for such training for far too long.
He assured that his executive would work closely with the Board to ensure the training objectives are archived.