AYV News, October 5, 2023
Sierra Leone is ahead of England and Wales jurisdiction on the issue of gender equality in heading a judiciary. The country had longtime produced a female Chief Justice in the person of Honourable Justice Umu Hawa Tejan-Jalloh, who served as Chief Justice of Sierra Leone between 2008 and 2015.
She was appointed and approved by the House of Parliament to act as the first woman Chief Justice for Sierra Leone.
In England and Wales on 3rd October, 2023, Dame Sue Carr, 59, became the first ever Lady Chief Justice, the most senior judge, after taking the oath of office at a ceremony at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
She is the 98th judge to hold the position, and the first woman in a history dating back almost 800 years. Her appointment came a century after women first became barristers and amid efforts to diversify the judiciary.
Her Lady Hon. Justice, Tejan-Jalloh was born in Sierra Leone and attended secondary school at the Harford Secondary School for Girls in Moyamba and the St. Edwards Secondary School in King Tom, Freetown. Justice Umu Hawa Tejan-Jalloh holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (History and Political Science) from Columbia University, New York City, N.Y. USA in 1971.
Immediately after her graduation from Columbia University she pursued a career in Law at the College of Law, London, and did her Post Finals at the Council of Legal Education in London. In November 1974, she was called to the Bar of the Honorable Society of Gary’s Inn.
In 1987, she was sponsored together with other commonwealth students by the British Council to pursue a course at the Institute of Advanced Legal Education, University of London, in International Law, Public Law, Legislative and Treaty Drafting.
She started her career as a State Counsel but would later be promoted to the post of Senior State Counsel and Principal State Counsel after that. She would be appointed as a High Court Judge in 1995.
Hon. Tejan-Jalloh became a Fellow of the Commonwealth Judicial Institute in Halifax, Canada, in 2000 while serving as a High Court Judge. In 2004 she was promoted to the Appeals Court. In January 2007, her excellence in the judicial bench led her to be approved by the Parliament to become a Supreme Court Judge, one of the very few women in Sierra Leone to do so at that time, thus setting the stage for her eventual appointment as the Chief Justice.
Uma Hawa Tejan has always been known to be a very exceptional judge.
During her tenure as a High Court Judge, she gained a reputation for justly applying the law without fear or favor. Stories of her enduring harrowing journeys through risky highways under threats of rebel ambushes to held courts in northern Sierra Leone around the same time showed her commitment to serving the people of her nation in delivering justice.
Her work has garnered her numerous awards and recognitions both in her native country as well as internationally. She was made an honorary citizen of Little Rock, the hometown of former American president Bill Clinton.
Sierra Leone’s sitting Chief Justice, His Lordship Honourable Justice Desmond Babatunde Edwards also graced the swearing-in ceremony of the new Chief Justice of England and Wales.
Hon. Chief Justice Edwards was received in the UK, along with three other Chief Justices in the world, including the President of the German Constitutional Court-Stephan Harbarth.
The three Honourable Chief Justices are Justice Dhananjaya Chandrachud-Chief Justice of India; Honourable Justice Richard Wagner- the Chief Justice of Canada and Honourable Justice Ian Winder- the Chief Justice of The Bahamas.
The international recognition is because of the unprecedented reforms at the Judiciary of Sierra Leone under his leadership. Apart from the increased access to Justice, Sierra Leone, for the first time, has made impressive leap ahead of Nigeria and Mexico in the World Justice, Rule of Law Report.
