On the 19th June 2019, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) legal consultants in Rome, Margaret Vidar and Yeshanew Sisay visited the Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SLIEPA) office in Freetown to discuss the review of the SLIEPA Act as a way of strengthen its institutional framework.
The purpose of the visit was to engage the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SLIEPA, Mr. Sheku Lexmond Koroma and the Investment Department on further discussion to understand and advice on the content of the Act, being that the current SLIEPA Act of Parliament limits the Agency in the performance of certain crucial functions, says Mr. Koroma.
The effort of FAO in supporting the review of SLIEPA Act has some significant bearing with the improvement of the Agribusiness Investment Approval Process (AIAP) that is receiving support from FAO, the AIAP is an offshoot from the Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forest Resources (VGGT) endorsed by the World Food Committee in May 2012.
The implementation of the VGGT in Sierra Leone holds the potential to help safeguard the legitimate tenure rights of Sierra Leoneans to own and/or access land, forests, fisheries and other related natural resources. The links between legal framework in the natural resources sector and the VGGT is an important element for shaping a well-functioning legal framework for the responsible governance of tenure, with particular focus on more the vulnerable