By Saio Marrah
The Minister of Local Government Tamba Lamina has said a seven man committee will soon be set up to look into the leaked audio issue involving the Mayor of Freetown Yvonne Aki Sawyer.
He made this statement at the weekly press briefing by the Ministry of Information and Communication, on Thursday 22nd April, 2021. He said many people have been hurt and lots of complaints made to the Ministry by the public for her to apologize formally. He said his office has written a letter to the Mayor instructing her to apologize and that in the same letter they informed her that they will review the administrative work of the Freetown City Council with regards to matters she raised in her audio.
He said part 14 of the local council Act 2004 states that the responsibility of the Ministry of Local Government is to inspect and monitor the activities of local councils and also give the necessary support to them. He said as a ministry, that is the function they are executing and that they do not intend looking into issues that do not matter and cited an instance in 2020 in which they instituted administrative inquiry on the Waterloo Rural District council as a result of an issue of non-payment of the National Social Security Insurance Trust (NASSIT) of staff among other issues.
He said the terms of reference in the investigation will include the following; to review the human resource arrangement in the council that include recruitment, job allocation, performance management and discipline. to access the general administration of the council, management structure, functions decision making, records management, to review the composition of the functioning standing committees as per the local government Act 2004 and to determine the effectiveness, to access the quality of financial management, adhering to policies and regulations, as well as resources and funding utilization and documentation, to access the general work or operating environment attention to functional relationship between management and staff and staff relations at various level, to access the general execution of the council’s mandate or service delivery to community empowerment and development.
He said few weeks ago, they received a letter from a legal firm representing the Mayor on the issue that has to do with the audio and added that the legal firm has nothing to do with internal matters that sit within the purview of the ministry in terms of internal matters.
He said the committee will do three weeks inquire investigation and additional two weeks to do an in-depth inquire and one week for the committee to submit to the ministry.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online 23/04/21
