By Saio Marrah
The Executive Director of Citizen’s Forum for Democratic Accountability (C4D), Marcus Bangura has said that his organization will focus on engaging schools and public institutions on democratic accountability so as to change the mindset of citizens towards accountability and service delivery.
Bangura was speaking at the launch of C4D at the Harry Yansaneh hall in Freetown. He said they intend to target schools on civic education and democratic accountability. “We want to catch them young as the society and the present generation has failed for lack of accountability,” he said.
The project which will commence in Freetown this September will last for four months. The project according to him will run simultaneously with participatory research where pupils will give account about themselves in their adolescent stage through storytelling while phase two will concentrate on public institutions with a focus on service delivery.
He described democratic accountability as a feedback, learning experience and consent of the governed that offers citizens and their representatives the means to voice concerns, demand explanations about and if need be impose consequences for the performance of elected officials for public or private service providers.
“The means of democratic accountability include electoral processes and parliamentary oversight, as well as review by supreme audit institutions, investigative journalism, and public demonstrations,” he said.
The Executive Director said the mandate of the organization is to pursue charitable purposes in general and specifically strengthen the ideals of democratic accountability, good governance, human rights, rule of law, among other issues.
With the motto ‘aspire to inspire and empower’, the organization’s objectives include promoting the struggle for the rights of the most vulnerable people in society, promoting and strengthening ICT, telecoms governance, and rural connectivity through consistent engagement and constructive advocacy.
Speaking on behalf of other civil society representatives, the Executive Director of Citizens Advocacy Network, Thomas Moore Conteh, described CSOs and media practitioners as bedfellows and that without the media, their work will be fruitless.
For this, he called on the fourth estate to promote the ideals of what he described as a “newborn baby".
In his statement, the Programme Officer Center for Institutional Law and Policy in Africa (CILPA), Alhassan Kargbo described C4D as an institution born to defend the future of Sierra Leone.
He described accountability as doing the right thing when no one is watching and is also about giving an explanation of money given to one for a particular project on behalf of the populace. He also pointed out that the secret behind developed countries is that the citizens of those countries are accountable.
He said for that reason, accountability cannot be separated from development. For this, he therefore, urged the media to hold the leaders accountable.
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