Sierra Leone’s Constitutional Framework for Resource Governance and Economic Inequality: A Socio-Legal Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30863/clr.v5i1.5996Keywords:
Resource governance, Constitutional non-justiciability, Distributive justice, Mining regulation, Sierra LeoneAbstract
This article examines why Sierra Leone has not fully translated its mineral wealth and post-conflict legal reforms into equitable and sustainable development outcomes. It argues that the problem cannot be explained solely by the resource curse thesis or by the absence of legal reform, but by the interaction between constitutional non-justiciability, statutory ambition, institutional capacity, and local political-economic asymmetries. Employing doctrinal legal analysis complemented by a socio-legal institutional perspective, the article analyses the Constitution of Sierra Leone 1991, the Mines and Minerals Development Act, 2022 (Act No. 16 of 2023), and relevant academic, policy, and institutional materials. The findings show that the Constitution provides important normative commitments to welfare, social justice, equality of opportunity, and the public use of natural resources, but the non-justiciability of the Fundamental Principles of State Policy limits their direct enforceability. The 2022 Act partially responds to this constitutional enforceability gap by strengthening Community Development Agreements, revenue-linked benefit-sharing mechanisms, transparency obligations, and environmental and social safeguards. However, these statutory mechanisms have not yet demonstrably produced commensurate distributive outcomes because their effectiveness remains constrained by weak regulatory capacity, uneven enforcement, informality in artisanal and small-scale mining, risks of elite capture, and unequal community participation. The article conceptualises this condition as a legalised distributive deficit, in which law formally recognises transparency, participation, benefit-sharing, and environmental protection while remaining unable to secure material redistribution without institutional enforcement, regulatory autonomy, and meaningful community accountability.
References
(SLEITI), Sierra Leone Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. “SIERRA LEONE EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE ( SLEITI ) EITI REPORT,” 2024.
Abdulai, E S. Freedom of information law and good governance: The curse of corruption in Sierra Leone. Freedom of Information Law and Good Governance: The Curse of Corruption in Sierra Leone, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83658-0.
Akanwa, A O, dan N N Joe-Ikechebelu. “Sustainable natural resources exploitation: Clay/sand mining on diminishing greener security and increased climate risks in Nigeria.” In Natural Resources Conservation and Advances for Sustainability, 545–62, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-822976-7.00018-1.
Arreaga-Vicuña, C, M J Blum-Moarry, D Hoyos-Valarezo, J Diaz-Montenegro, A E Miranda Romero, J Chiliquinga-Amaya, M Faytong-Haro, dan P Alvarez-Muñoz. “Rights of nature in global perspective: legal pathways and policy implications.” Frontiers in Environmental Science 14 (2026). https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2026.1647205.
Auty, Richard M. “How Natural Resources Affect Economic Development.” Development Policy Review 18, no. 4 (1 Desember 2000): 347–64. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-7679.00116.
———. “Resource Curse.” In International Encyclopedia of Geography, 1–10, 2017. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg0423.
Baddianaah, I. “‘If you don’t go to site, they call you a lazy person’: Drivers of women’s participation in artisanal and small-scale mining: The case of rural northern Ghana.” Resources Policy 98 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2024.105327.
Bannon, Ian, dan Paul Collier. Natural Resources and Violent Conflict. The World Bank. Washington DC, 2003.
Bilchitz, David. “Constitutionalism, the Global South, and Economic Justice.” In Constitutionalism of the Global South: The Activist Tribunals of India, South Africa, and Colombia, diedit oleh Daniel Bonilla Maldonado, 41–94. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. https://doi.org/DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139567114.003.
Cecchi, R. “The environmental constitutionalism in east-africa: a comparation among Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.” Federalismi.it 2022, no. 21 (2022): 103–26. https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85141759039&partnerID=40&md5=64e829cb462e8ca8dc70f8631208967a.
Collier, Paul. The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It. Oxford University Press. Oxford, 2007.
Conteh, S, dan V Maru. “How Sierra Leone Enacted One of the Most Progressive Land, Climate, and Environmental Justice Laws in the World.” Environmental Justice 17, no. 6 (2024): 404–12. https://doi.org/10.1089/env.2023.0032.
D’Angelo, L. “Who owns the diamonds? the occult eco-nomy of diamond mining in Sierra Leone.” Africa 84, no. 2 (2014): 269–93. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0001972013000752.
Diedericks, M, F Dube, dan A du Plessis. “Involving South Africa’s Human Rights Commission in environmental protection: South African Human Rights Commission v Msunduzi Local Municipality.” South African Journal on Human Rights 39, no. 2–3 (2023): 236–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/02587203.2023.2277288.
Engwicht, N, dan C Ankenbrand. “Natural resource sector reform and human security in post-conflict societies: Insights from diamond mining in Sierra Leone.” Extractive Industries and Society 8, no. 4 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2021.100988.
Fayiah, M. “Mining and Environmental Degradation: A Gift Brings Grief Scenario for Mining Communities in Sierra Leone.” Journal of Mining and Environment 11, no. 2 (2020): 347–61. https://doi.org/10.22044/jme.2020.8808.1770.
Fund, International Monetary. “Sierra Leone: Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy.” Washington DC, 2024.
Harvey, R. “The resource curse.” In Elgar Encyclopedia of African Politics, 421–27, 2026. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035309306.00079.
Hilson, G, dan R Maconachie. “Entrepreneurship and innovation in Africa’s artisanal and small-scale mining sector: Developments and trajectories.” Journal of Rural Studies 78 (2020): 149–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2020.06.004.
Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone. “PRESS STATEMENT IMPASSE BETWEEN WORKERS AND THE MANAGEMENT OF KOIDU LIMITED Monday.” Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone, 2025.
Ibrahim, A F, B Rutherford, dan D Buss. “Gendered ‘choices’ in Sierra Leone: women in artisanal mining in Tonkolili District.” Canadian Journal of African Studies 54, no. 1 (2020): 157–76. https://doi.org/10.1080/00083968.2019.1671207.
Johnson, McKenzie F. “Strong (green) institutions in weak states: Environmental governance and human (in)security in the Global South.” World Development 122 (2019): 433–45. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.06.010.
Kaletski, Elizabeth, Lanse Minkler, Nishith Prakash, dan Susan Randolph. “Does constitutionalizing economic and social rights promote their fulfillment?” Journal of Human Rights 15, no. 4 (1 Oktober 2016): 433–53. https://doi.org/10.1080/14754835.2015.1103159.
Kargbo, J A. “Records Management in the Fight Against Corruption and Promotion of Good Governance in Sierra Leone.” In The Diverse Facets of Corruption in Sierra Leone, 179–202, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-52958-0_10.
Kashwan, Prakash. “Integrating power in institutional analysis?: A micro-foundation perspective.” Journal of Theoretical Politics 28, no. 1 (2015): 1177. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/0951629815586877.
Kpaka, Henry Musa. “Chiefs , Courts , and Upholding Property Rights?: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Sierra Leone.” The World Bank Economic Review 39, no. 2 (2025): 341–61. https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lhae026.
Leone, Parliament of Sierra. “The Constitution of Sierra Leone,1991.” Government of Sierra Leone. Freetown, 1991.
Mabey, P T, W Li, A J Sundufu, dan A H Lashari. “Environmental impacts: Local perspectives of selected mining edge communities in Sierra Leone.” Sustainability (Switzerland) 12, no. 14 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3390/su12145525.
Maconachie, R. “Diamonds, governance and ‘local’ development in post-conflict Sierra Leone: Lessons for artisanal and small-scale mining in sub-Saharan Africa?” Resources Policy 34, no. 1–2 (2009): 71–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2008.05.006.
Maconachie, R, dan T Binns. “Beyond greed and grievance in Sierra Leone. Can diamonds play a role in post-conflict reconstruction?” Zeitschrift fur Wirtschaftsgeographie 51, no. 3–4 (2007): 163–75. https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-38049188070&partnerID=40&md5=b57f306df04822fa1a437f42146a83be.
———. “Beyond the resource curse? Diamond mining, development and post-conflict reconstruction in Sierra Leone.” Resources Policy 32, no. 3 (2007): 104–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2007.05.001.
Maconachie, Roy, dan Felix Conteh. “Artisanal mining policy reforms, informality and challenges to the Sustainable Development Goals in Sierra Leone.” Environmental Science & Policy 116 (2021): 38–46. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2020.10.011.
Mason, N H. “Environmental governance in Sierra Leone’s mining sector: A critical analysis.” Resources Policy 41, no. 1 (2014): 152–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2014.05.005.
Mohammed, A A, I K Khinger, O A H Khamees, M F Ziboon, dan T K Y Al Hilfi. “Human rights and environmental justice: A legal framework for sustainable ecosystem management.” Environment and Social Psychology 10, no. 10 (2025). https://doi.org/10.59429/esp.v10i10.3970.
Mwanza, R. “The relationship between the principle of sustainable development and the human right to a clean and healthy environment in Kenya’s legal context: An appraisal.” Environmental Law Review 22, no. 3 (2020): 184–97. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461452920952584.
Pakmoni, L, W Chaiyapa, dan T B Udimal. “Examining the effects of mineral extraction on rural households’ sustainable livelihoods in Ghana.” Mineral Economics, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13563-025-00593-9.
Richard. “a Court of Appeal Overturns High Court Ruling in Landmark Human Rights and.” Advocates for Community Alternatives, 2025.
Rutherford, B. “The Moral Politics of Gendered Labour in Artisanal Mining in Sierra Leone.” Development and Change 51, no. 3 (2020): 771–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12584.
Sachs, Jeffrey D., dan Andrew M. Warner. “Natural Resource Abundance and Economic Growth.” NBER Working Paper No. w5398, 1995.
Shackleton, R T. “Loss of land and livelihoods from mining operations: A case in the Limpopo Province, South Africa.” Land Use Policy 99 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104825.
Wilson, S A. “Company-Community Conflicts Over Diamond Resources in Kono District, Sierra Leone.” Society and Natural Resources 26, no. 3 (2013): 254–69. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2012.684849.
———. “Corporate social responsibility and power relations: Impediments to community development in post-war Sierra Leone diamond and rutile mining areas.” Extractive Industries and Society 2, no. 4 (2015): 704–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2015.09.002.
———. “Mining-induced displacement and resettlement: The case of rutile mining communities in Sierra Leone.” Journal of Sustainable Mining 18, no. 2 (2019): 67–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsm.2019.03.001.
Wilson, S A, C O Wilson, dan I K Moise. “Livelihood impacts of iron ore mining-induced land change in Sierra Leone: A time series analysis.” Applied Geography 144 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2022.102713.
Wilson, Sigismond A. “Power and community engagement: Developmental impact of community development agreement in Kono diamond mining areas, Sierra Leone.” The Extractive Industries and Society 21 (2025): 101578. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2024.101578.
Yeboah-Assiamah, Emmanuel, Kobus Muller, dan Kwame Ameyaw Domfeh. “Institutional assessment in natural resource governance: A conceptual overview.” Forest Policy and Economics 74 (2017): 1–12. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2016.10.006.
Zulu, L, dan S Wilson. “Whose minerals, whose development? Rhetoric and reality in post-conflict sierra leone.” Development and Change 43, no. 5 (2012): 1103–31. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2012.01788.x.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Citation Check
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Thomas Sheku Marah
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with Contitutional Law Review (Colrev) agree to the following terms:
-
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-SA 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
-
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
-
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
