This article examines the relationship between chiefdom authority and decentralization in post-war Sierra Leone. The chieftaincy has been in crisis for some time and is widely thought to be responsible for contributing to rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) recruitment. However, chiefs remain an important influence in Sierra Leone, and there is little demand for an end to the chieftaincy system. Rather than an abolition of chieftaincy, governance at local level requires constructive relationships between chiefdoms and local governments and not simply a reshuffling of agrarian class relationships or old ways of doing politics. This in turn requires a reform of the chieftaincy system and the resolution of local political tensions arising from decentralization. CHIEFTAINCY IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF SIERRA LEONE'S governance structure. In rural areas, the chief is a key source of authority and frequently the only visible element of government. Until recently, the main burden of government across most of the country rested with chiefs.' Despite this, the chieftaincy system has been in crisis for some time. In the post-independence period, chiefs became associated with the kleptocratic tendencies of the Freetown elite.2 During the war, paramount chiefs along with the other Paul Jackson (p.b.jackson@bham.ac.uk) is Director of the Department of International Development, University of Birmingham, and Director of the Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform. This work is based on extensive work in Sierra Leone at local government level in 2003, 2004, and 2005 for DFID and the World Bank where he worked as part of the reform process across the country and at different levels of government. 1. R. Fanthorpe, 'Neither citizen nor subject? Lumpen agency and the legacy of native administration in Sierra Leone', African Affairs, 100 (2001), pp. 363-86. In most rural areas, the chieftaincy is also closely related to secret societies, an impenetrable but critical element of rural social structure that ensures a broad power base for each chief, reinforcing a predominantly male gerontocracy. 2. See P. Richards, The Political Economy of Internal Conflict in Sierra Leone, Working Paper 21 (Netherlands Institute of International Relations, Conflict Research Unit, 2004); P. Jackson, 'Chiefs, money and politicians: rebuilding local government in Sierra Leone', Public Administration and Development, 25 (2005), pp. 49-58; J. Hanlon, Is the International Community Helping to Recreate the Pre-Conditions for War in Sierra Leone? (Research paper 2005/50, World Institute for Development Economics Research, United Nations Univ., Tokyo, 2005); R. Fanthorpe, A. Jay and V. Kamara, A Review of the Chiefdom Governance Reform Programme, Incorporating An Analysis of Chiefdom Administration in Sierra Leone (Department for International Development DFID, London, 2002).
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