The Lawyers’ Society of Sierra Leone has called on the government to withdraw a batch of statutory instruments creating two new districts and splitting Freetown into separate councils, arguing the orders were pushed through without the public consultation and parliamentary scrutiny the law requires.

In a statement dated October 1 and reported this week, the Society said it “remains committed to upholding the rule of law, good governance and democracy,” and asked Parliament to step in before the instruments take effect. The group pointed to Government Notices 246 to 277, gazetted on September 16, which cover a wide package of local government changes, including the contested Statutory Instruments No. 13, 15 and 19 that would divide Freetown into two city councils, establish a new Lungi City Council, and create the Bandajuma and Kpanguma districts carved out of Bo, Pujehun, Kenema and Kailahun.

The Society’s core complaint is procedural. It says the instruments were never laid before Parliament for the 21-day period required under Standing Order 18(2), and that no stakeholder consultation memoranda accompanied them, a step it argues is mandated by Section 170(7) of the 1991 Constitution and by the Constitutional and Statutory Instruments Act of 1999. The group had raised similar objections to the same proposal back in June 2025, when it warned that creating new districts more than a year ahead of a scheduled census risked undermining the credibility of the population data the boundaries would eventually rest on. A town hall meeting on the plan in June 2025 drew more than 600 residents, most of whom rejected it, according to the Society.

Government officials have defended the restructuring as part of a broader push to bring local governance closer to residents. The Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs has previously said the new districts and councils are meant to ease administrative burdens in fast-growing areas. But critics, including commentators writing in Sierra Leonean outlets this week, say the changes are not grounded in validated demographic data, since no new census has been conducted since 2015, and warn of a repeat of the disputes that followed the 2017 creation of Falaba and Karene districts. The opposition All People’s Congress has gone further, characterizing the process as having unfolded “without transparency, data, or proper community engagement,” and suggesting the new boundaries could be drawn to favor the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party in future elections.

Beyond the legal questions, opponents have also raised practical concerns, including the cost of standing up multiple new councils with their own administrative staff and budgets at a time of economic strain, and the risk that redrawing boundaries could reopen old land and chieftaincy disputes in affected communities. Some have warned that if each incoming government begins adjusting district and council boundaries to suit its own political base, the practice could become a recurring source of instability rather than a one-off reform.

For now, the fate of the orders rests with Parliament, which the Lawyers’ Society says must either enforce the 21-day laying requirement or send the instruments back for the consultation process the law demands. Whether lawmakers act before the changes take practical effect on the ground in Bo, Pujehun, Kenema, Kailahun and Freetown will determine whether this becomes a quiet administrative adjustment or a renewed constitutional standoff over how, and by whom, Sierra Leone’s local government map gets redrawn.

Sources: Premier Media SL, Sierra Loaded