By Prince J Musa in Kenema
The Sierra Leone parliamentary oversight committee for Local Government and Rural Development has engaged three local councils in the eastern region as fulfilment of its oversight functions.
The engagement was held at Alberson Hotel in Kenema, headquarters town of the eastern region. The purpose of the engagement was to probe into the activities of the council to ensure transparency and accountability in governance, according to officials.
The three councils under review were the Kailahun District Council, Kenema City Council and Kenema District Council.
At the opening session of the engagement, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of Local Government and Rural Development, Aaron Aruna Koroma, said that they were probing to ascertain how the three local councils were using the resources available to them. He noted that what they were about to do was part of fulfilling the function of parliamentary oversight committee mandated by sections 933 and 6 of the 1991 Constitution, which mandated members of parliament to look into the activities of Ministries, Departments and Agencies that are devolved to the local councils.
“It’s not a witch hunt but to ensure that the funds are used judiciously. One of the core responsibilities of members of parliament is to provide oversight roles for MDA's and local councils. It’s expected to monitor devolved sectors’ activities in line with the council for service delivery to our people. We are here to probe on the allocation made to councils and devolved sectors for 2019 and 2020 for service delivery ", he said.
Koroma noted that they had stood down the Kailahun District Council because they couldn’t clearly explain how they utilized the resources for the period under review.
“We have stood down Kailahun district Council for simple lack of proper coordination between devolved sectors and council. The committee has decided to reorganize them and meet them in Porto Loko. But if they fail, then legal instrument will be applied. It means there is no proper system of managing the finances allocated to Kailahun District Council, But that should change this time round," he said.
He went on: "The finance officer, Alusine Sesay and the Chief Administrator Bintu Vangahun, could not tell the committee the amount collected as home source revenue, neither to give proper account for the allocations disbursed to them for 2019-2020. Lack of proper documentation by devolved sectors with the council is nothing to write home about for Kailahun District Council.”
He added that the committee had realized a drop in revenue mobilization of local councils, noting that the councils should not expect central government to be always allocating resources to them but that they should rely on their home source revenue for tangible development projects in their localities as mandated by the Local Council Act of 2009.
Koroma alleged that some MDAs do collect revenue but do not account to the councils, noting that the Ministry of Agriculture, Health and Social Welfare are among such MDAs.
In his statement, Member of Parliament, Coalition for Change Party, Emarson Saa Lamin, said that their role as parliamentarians was not to intimidate anybody but to ensure transparency and accountability in service delivery.
"If we fail to provide oversight function for MDAs then we have failed this nation and the people. Government is spending billions on development through councils but not much is actualized. We need to change that narrative now in this country. We want to know your challenges to see how to advocate for the councils,” he said.
The Chief Administrator of Kenema City Council, Joseph Gando, noted that the oversight function by the committee is transparent and credible.
“The way MPs are probing into our activities as councils sends signal for us to be accountable to the people. Kenema City Council is pleased with the outcome of the oversight functions. Our councils stand tall in the committee hearing with bench mark of revenue mobilization,” he said.
The monitoring processes continue across all councils in the country.
Gando assured the people of Kenema that the leadership of the council is determined to protect their interest and so it would ensure transparency and accountability in all their undertakings.
"Because of the good leadership, as council we have secured fund, nearly a billion leones, from home source on property tax, which will be used for tangible development. Next time the result will be tendered to committee members," he said.
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