By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The central government has ordered the Freetown City Council (FCC) to halt a plan to roll out a new property tax regime, citing its potential effect on the livelihoods of the city’s inhabitants.
Asked whether he had blocked the implementation of the controversial policy, Minister of Local Government, Tamba Lamina said: “Yes I have!” He was speaking to Politico.
The clarification was sought after he had sent a letter to Freetown Mayor, Yvonne Aki-Sawyer dated Friday, 19th June, a copy of which was obtained by Politico. It appealed for time to further discuss the issue.
FCC announced the decision to roll out the new tax system in May this year. Last week it had already started issuing out notices to property owners in the city indicating the latest rates they should pay.
“It is the position of this Ministry that the proposed increase would inevitably result in all round increase in prizes and consequently impact the lives of Freetonians in a negative way,” the letter, signed by the Minister of Local Government, Tamba Lamina, notes.
FCC has been promoting the new tax regime, which it described as “fair” and “equitable”, since last month. The Council say the plan, which took 18 months to design, included registration of every house in the city.
In a video released by the Mayor’s office, Mayor Aki-Sawyerr said 60,000 more households have been captured in their system as a result of the review.
This at the very least guarantees the council to make at least double in property tax from previous years, which is in billions of Leones.
“We did this because the system before wasn’t really fair. We only had 57, 000 properties in a city of 1.2 million people. Now we have been able to capture all the property, so there will be fairness for all of us who live in this city,” Mayor Aki-Sawyerr says in the video.
The review of the tax system means some property could pay more or less, depending on the new point based systems FCC has developed to calculate the taxes.
The plan by the council has left residents in Freetown worried over the consequence this may have on rents in a city where housing is in acute shortage.
The Local Government Ministry, which supervises councils, has scheduled a meeting with Mayor Aki-Sawyer for Friday, June 26, to discuss the issue.
Politico reached out to the Mayor’s office to know what happens with its new property tax. But they didn’t respond to our calls and messages.
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