Yulisa Ahmadu Foundation sets to sponsor free legal services for 20 first-time offenders

U.S.-based Sierra Leonean youth activist, entrepreneur and project manager, Yulisa Ahmadu, on April 11, 2023, through his foundation launched a new project which aims at supporting a locally based law firm in providing free legal services for 20 first-time offenders that are currently under incarceration across various correctional centres in the country.

The project will facilitate the provision of lawyers to low-income earners who are in conflict with the law for minor crimes. The said targeted offenders are people who are unable to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial, or even afford to pay for bail conditions. 

Meanwhile, the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone guarantees legal help for people who are charged with crimes which might lead to imprisonment and cannot afford a lawyer. In Sierra Leone, it’s an open secret that correctional facilities are overcrowded because low-income earners who are in conflict with the law cannot afford to hire a lawyer or meet bail conditions.

Lawyers can be very expensive. They are highly trained professionals with in-demand skills that make them able to charge increasingly high fees for their time, knowledge, and services. However, the Yulisa Ahmadu Foundation is willing to hire lawyers to offer their time to help the less fortunate through this initiative. 

This project will help in bridging some of the gaps in the availability of legal representation in the Sierra Leone Justice system.

Yulisa Ahmadu Foundation continues to amaze the Sierra Leonean populace, in 2022,  the foundation launched the Yulisa Entrepreneurship Seed Funds, which supported two entrepreneurs with USD 2000 each to support their local businesses.