Septimus Senessie in Kono
A local non-governmental organisation, the Sierra Leone Action Network on Small Arms (SLANSA) says a survey conducted in five chiefdoms in Kono District reveals that almost 80 percent of youth between the 18 and 35 years are unemployed.
SLANSA says the survey was carried out in November in Kamara, Tankoro, Gbense, Nimikoro and Gbeneh Chiefdoms by the Network Research Consultancy (NRC) in Freetown with funding from the Danish NGO, Ibis. SLANSA says the survey was carried out through Ibis' governance programme with the aim to participate in governance and enforce the trickledown effect of the natural resources in their localities.
Presenting the draft report to stakeholders in the district at the Koidu City Council Hall for criticism and/or contributions before concluding the report, lead researcher, Sheku Coomber said 79 % of respondents admitted that they were unemployed. He added that some of them were self-employed through alluvial mining activities and commercial bike riding in the district while 19 % told them they were jobless.
He said 59 % of youth said they were not involved in decision-making process by their local authorities and the local councils, and that only few skills training and recreational centres were available in the entire district. On security, the researcher pointed out about 46% of respondents admitted that they were enjoying relative peace in the district.
He said that a good number of youth also said that the own source revenue collected by the local councils and chiefdom administration was not “utilised for their intended purpose," a claim which sparked a huge debate between the local council and the chiefdom administrations with the latter saying it was the former in charge of collecting own source revenue and that they were only receiving a small percentage of the local tax collected by the local council.
Although the draft report was criticised by stakeholders and followed by their contribution to the report, local councils and chiefdom authorities vowed at the end of the meeting to increase the number of young people in decision-making process.
The country director of SLANSA, Florella Hazeley said the purpose of the survey was to ensure that the youth of Kono were factored into all facets of decision-making by the authorities.
The Development Programme Facilitator of Ibis, Phodie Paul Oniel Kamara said their governance programme was geared towards building the capacity of youth and women to enable them participate actively in governance issues in their communities.
(C) Politico 17/12/13
