The Bifurcated Development of Land Policy in Sierra Leone

Takehiko OCHIAI 한국외국어대학교 아프리카연구소 2016 Asian Journal of African Studies Vol.- No.40

Land policy in Sierra Leone has varied considerably between two regions of the country: the Western Area and the Provinces. The Western Area has its historical origin in the British Colony of Sierra Leone, and the English-style system of land tenure was introduced to and has remained fundamentally unchanged in the Colony (now the Western Area). The Provinces, on the other hand, originated from the British Protectorate of Sierra Leone, and the traditional system of land tenure based on customary law has been maintained there. In the Protectorate (now the Provinces), Paramount Chiefs have been regarded as a ‘custodian’ of land and have had a strong say on land matters. The aim of this paper is to examine the bifurcated development of land policy in Sierra Leone from a historical viewpoint. First, Sierra Leone’s administrative and judicial systems which have been closely linked to the dual land tenure system are described in order to grasp an overall picture of Sierra Leone as a bifurcated state. Having done this, the paper examines the historical development of land policy in the Western Area by dividing it into three periods: (1) the settlement period (1787-1807), (2) the period of Crown rule (1808-1961), and (3) post-independence period (1961- ), while the evolution of land policy in the Provinces is analysed in relation to three issues: (1) land tenure, (2) agricultural development, and (3) mineral resource development. Finally, the bird’s-eye overview of the National Land Policy, which was officially approved in 2015, is provided.

In a Grove? Sierra Leone’s 1898 Hut Tax War Reconsidered

Ochiai, Takehiko 한국외국어대학교 아프리카연구소 2017 Asian Journal of African Studies Vol.- No.41

In February1898, an armed uprising occurred in the Protectorate of Sierra Leone soon after the collection of a so-called ‘hut tax’ began in January. The rebellions against the British colonial rule continued for approximately nine months until they were suppressed in November. In Sierra Leone history, this large-scale insurrection is referred to as the Hut Tax War. The British government appointed David Patrick Chalmers as a royal commissioner and dispatched him to Sierra Leone to research the causes and investigate countermeasures. His report was finally submitted to the British Parliament in 1899. The aim of this essay is to examine why the Sierra Leone’s 1898 Hut Tax War occurred, based on the diverse attitudes and opinions of contemporary people expressed in the records of testimony and documents included in Chalmers’ report. This essay mentions six reasons why the war broke out: the introduction of the hut tax, brutality by the Frontier Police Force, inexperienced and overbearing district commissioners, the abolition of slavery and slave-dealing, the loss of authority by the chiefs, and the betrayal by the Creoles. The essay does not pursue a single unambiguous explanation of the truth regarding the causes of the Hut Tax War. Rather, it attempts to elucidate the multifaceted reality of the Hut Tax War as internalised, narrated, and constructed by people involved both directly and indirectly.

THE APPLICATION OF SHARIA AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE NATIVE COURT SYSTEM IN COLONIAL NORTHERN NIGERIA (1900-1960)

Takehiko Ochiai 한국외국어대학교 아프리카연구소 2020 Asian Journal of African Studies Vol.- No.49

The aim of this article is to examine the history of the application of Sharia (Islamic Law) in colonial Northern Nigeria, focusing on the evolution of the native court system. In the article, we discuss how Sharia was practised in Northern Nigeria during the colonial period by dividing it into three phases. During the First Phase (1900-1932) Sharia was preserved, and native courts enjoyed a degree of autonomy under colonial administrators’ flexible, self-restrained supervision (the ‘preservation period’). However, in the Second Phase (1933-1953), native courts like Alkali and Emir Courts were tied to English ones through the appeals system. A ‘hierarchy among courts’ (in which the former were defined as inferior and the latter as superior), as well as a ‘normative hierarchy’ (in which Islamic criminal law was restricted by the codified Criminal Code), were established, reinforcing Sharia’s subjugation to the modern judiciary (the ‘period of subjugation’). In the Third Phase (1954-1960), the attempt by the Nigerian Muslim-led Government of the Northern Region to reach a political compromise did not restore Sharia (which had been subjugated by the colonisers), but rather created a situation in which Sharia’s application was restricted to personal law (the ‘period of compromise’).

CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE, LARGE-SCALE LAND ACQUISTIONS AND LAND REFORM IN SIERRA LEONE

Takehiko Ochiai 한국외국어대학교 아프리카연구소 2017 Asian Journal of African Studies Vol.- No.42

In Sierra Leone, the National Land Policy that would form the basis for the upcoming land reform was formally adopted by cabinet in 2015. This paper considers the mutual relationships between customary land tenure, largescale land acquisitions, and land reform in Sierra Leone. More specifically, it explores precisely what customary land tenure signifies in the Sierra Leone context, the mechanisms by which large-scale land acquisitions by foreign investors have occurred there, and what amongst both Sierra Leone’s customary land tenure and recent large-scale land acquisitions may change or remain the same under the country’s upcoming program of land reform. In terms of what land reform may change or leave untouched, the paper suggests three points: (1) that customary land titles in the Provinces of Sierra Leone may be reinforced via the extension of surveying and land registration systems, but (2) customary powers and application of these powers by Paramount Chiefs in managing the land, which take precedence over the people’s land titles, will be left largely the same, and (3) large-scale land acquisitions will likely continue to be encouraged in future.

Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity and the State in Africa

Takehiko Ochiai 한국외국어대학교 아프리카연구소 2022 Asian Journal of African Studies Vol.- No.52

The aim of this article is to examine the historical evolution of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity and its socio-political effects in the area of an African state characterised by personal rule. The Pentecostal-Charismatic movement or Pentecostalism is the most dynamic and globally far-reaching movement within contemporary Christianity. The Pentecostal movement or classical Pentecostalism began as a Christian revival campaign that was active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and centred on the western coast of the United States. It emphasised direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit. The charismatic movement, also known as neo-Pentecostalism, emerged primarily in the 1960s in North America and Europe. And the Third Wave movement of the Holy Spirit, sometimes called the neo-charismatic movement, arose in the 1980s among American evangelicals. It can be said that the three movements—the Pentecostal, charismatic and Third Wave movements—belong to the same broad thrust of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity. The article focuses on the healing crusades organised by Christ for All Nations (CfaN), which is an international evangelistic ministry founded in the 1970s by Reinhard Bonnke, a German missionary aligned with the Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity, and discusses the interplay between the crusades and African states. To reiterate the findings of this analysis, the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement has a dichotomous effect on African politics: it can help stabilise African states by depoliticising African consciousness and forging close mutual arrangements with national leaders; on the flipside, it can destabilise the states by inflaming religious tensions.

THE ‘MANDINGO QUESTION’ IN LIBERIA: BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER CONFLICT

Takehiko Ochiai 한국외국어대학교 아프리카연구소 2023 Asian Journal of African Studies Vol.- No.55

Colonial Psychiatry in British West Africa: Dr. Robert Cunyngham Brown’s 1936 Visit to Advise and Report on the Care and Treatment of ‘Lunatics’

Takehiko Ochiai 한국외국어대학교 아프리카연구소 2023 Asian Journal of African Studies Vol.- No.54