The Sierra Leone Bar Association has in a letter addressed to the Managing Director of Rokel Commercial Bank accused him and the bank he heads of institutional bullying and workplace intimidation.
According to the Bar Association letter, three of their members who work for the bank are victims of institutional bullying, workplace intimidation and sexual harassment. The three victims are Mrs. Margaret A.L. Davies (Legal Adviser/Company Secretary), Claude Bhamee Davies Esq (Legal Officer) and George Nicol (a Pupil Barrister).
โWe are informed that the institutional bullying and workplace intimidation were precipitated when Claude Bhamee Davies Esq and George Nicol Esq refused your request solicited to support you against Mrs. Davies aforesaid, who had made a complaint of sexual harassment in a workplace against you to the Board of Directors of Rokel Commercial Bank and the same has been under investigationโ, the General Secretary of the Sierra Leone Bar Association wrote.
He continued, โWe are further informed by Messrs Davies and Nicol aforesaid that their refusal to support you against Mrs. Margaret Davies did not sit well with you, hence you arbitrarily transferred them from the Legal Department where their competence and qualification as Legal Practitioners are or relevance, to a non-legal Unit/Department or Branch where they would be of little value to the business efficacy of the Bank. There is also a further claim of refusal to promote them notwithstanding the fact that their names were on the promotion listโ.
โIn light of all of the aboveโ, he wrote โwe write to formally inform you that we are ceased of this issue and against the background of clause (a) of the Sierra Leone Bar Association Memorandum of Association to wit; โto support and protect the character, status and interest of the Legal Professionโ (and by extension, its members) in Sierra Leone, we will follow with keen interest the state of affairs of our colleagues whilst in the employment of any institution and we shall not encourage any intimidation or bullying of our colleagues in the dispensation of their dutiesโ.
โWhilst we may not attempt to direct you on how to run the affairs of the bank, your alleged actions to unilaterally transfer two lawyers from the legal department to non-legal departments do not reflect best practice and is in contradiction of basic corporate governance principles. We are therefore recommending that you reinstate our colleagues to their respective roles in the legal department, where in our opinion they will properly and efficiently serve the bank having regard to their expertise and profession.โ
