By Isaac Massaquoi
May be like the American city of Detroit, Freetown should file for bankruptcy protection and force the central government to cover their re-current expenditure and keep their creditors at bay for a while. The city is probably not at that stage yet but when Mayor Bode Gibson embarks on unbelievable tax collection measures like blocking the main highway leading into the city, searching commuter vehicles for people who cannot produce their tax receipts on the spot and asking them to pay or be arrested, I urge you to understand why it wouldn’t be too extreme to ask the council to file for bankruptcy protection right now. The Mayor needs money.
How else can I explain this? People commuting in and out of Freetown by way of Orogu Bridge on the eastern edge of the administrative border of Freetown were shocked to find themselves trapped near the bridge by a threatening mix of regular police and city council staff who, with their menacing looks, requested every passenger to produce their local tax receipts, pay up or risk being arrested. Many people, including those very law-abiding ones who had voluntarily paid but didn’t have their receipts during the impromptu inspection, were completely embarrassed. I am not at this stage attempting to count the financial cost of Monday’s massive disruption of activities by the FCC but I must now ask whether setting up military-style checkpoints and dispensing instant justice in no-man’s land was the only way the council could collect tax from its own people.
We’re now into the 7th month of the year and the Freetown City Council and its Mayor have still not been able to collect all the tax leones owed them. Like you, I should like to ask just how the Mayor has been running Freetown since taking up office after the elections of November 2012. He took over from a city administration that was as corrupt and ineffective as those so-called Management Committees set up by President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah to run the city during his first term as president. In one raid, the Anti-Corruption Commission indicted almost the entire top management of the local government body. The ensuing court battle ended with the conviction of Mayor Herbert George-Williams for breach of procurement rules.
The publicity generated by that case in the toxic build-up to the last elections badly battered the image of the Freetown City Council and further widened the credibility gap between the council and residents of the city. The average taxpayer, already under pressure from joblessness, the cost of living in Freetown, including the difficulties of getting basic services like transportation, education, electricity, water and living in a clean environment, is bound to ask serious questions about paying such taxes when even the basic services are hard to come by while a cloud of corruption hangs over the city administration.
I have lived in Freetown for more than 35 consecutive years excepting for a few travels, and I can say that despite all the central government has done with some roads, the state of the city’s infrastructure is very bad. Not only that, the impression one gets looking at Freetown is that the place looks abandoned. It’s mainly due to years of under-investment or neglect and mediocre management. The population of Freetown has grown beyond recognition with the new comers who were squeezed into the city by the war, choosing to remain long after the war. Instead of returning to their communities where they are guaranteed a comparably decent life, the city is now an impossible place. Here’s why I say that and I will refer only to things that can be handled quickly: As you walk along even the major streets of the city, count the number of stray dogs you see around, then add that to the number of those hanging around market centres and consider the health implications of allowing such dogs to roam free, then the reality will come home. Now, put that to one side.
In central Freetown also, checkout the raw sewerage flowing freely on some of our main streets. There’s one such free flow close to the Mayor’s office. How can such a thing be allowed to happen?
Freetown is in the midst of a garbage crisis and it's been like that for years. The most dangerous thing about this is that while rubbish is left uncollected for days, two companies, the Freetown Waste Management Company and MASADA, both certified by the government are fighting over whose job it is to clean the city. Meanwhile there are hundreds of houses in Freetown, occupied by thousands but without toilets. The people dump faeces in the streets to be washed down into other homes, contaminating food and water supplies. And we are quick to call in the international community when cholera breaks out with all the consequences for our international reputation.
A key part of the problems facing Freetown is the feeling of insecurity among residents. Crime and the fear of crime are pervasive. When I made this point at some forum not too long ago, a government official told me I was being an alarmist. But you go to a few of the informal settlements around the city and ask people whose previously peaceful neighbourhoods have been turned upside down by criminals. I am talking about Beach Road, Lumley, Model Junction, Portee and other such places.
To be fair to the Freetown City Council, it is the police that have the responsibility to fight crime. But in the face of the police almost surrendering their powers to Okada riders and Poda-Poda boys for a few pennies, it is up to the city council to stand up and push the central government to clean up all illegal settlements like car wash locations and melting pots like those I have just mentioned. They cannot hide from their responsibilities and tell us it's a matter for the police alone.
It's a pity the police do not always produce and publish crime figures in the same way police forces in other countries do. If the police released any figures along those lines, they would clearly show high figures in reported crimes. Please note that I am talking only about reported crime because many people in Freetown can't be bothered to report criminal activities anymore.
Paying tax is a must and in some countries, people are thrown into jail for evading tax. The popular singer, Lauren Hill is in jail for tax evasion. Lionel Messi the famous Barcelona and Argentina maestro is facing a potentially serious court battle on allegations of tax evasion. It's that serious. In spite of that, the Freetown City Council should be under no illusion that they will not continue to face resistance from the people in their tax collection drive. Apart from the obvious fact that nobody wants to pay any form of tax, the council has a bad record managing taxpayers' money. Under Herbert George-Williams (and the current Mayor was part of his team), the council spent a lot of money on projects that failed to impress even the most implacable of APC supporters.
Mayor George-Williams started a project to clean up and fence all of Freetown's cemeteries. The job was abandoned halfway through. People continue to encroach on the burial grounds. The then mayor brought in the reggae band, Morgan Heritage for a concert that flopped as badly as did his mayoral tenure. He also bought a football team that continues to take money away from core city council functions. He invested some council money and goodwill into the Victoria Park project that remains a big disgrace in the heart of Freetown.
So it takes more than threatening people with arrest and detention to effectively collect local tax. A tax education programme that is well thought-out and executed backed by tangible development projects that everybody can identify with is the only thing that can help.
Like many residents of Freetown, I am still waiting for Mayor Bode Gibson to signal, in words and in deeds, a clean break from the old council of which he was a key member. He doesn't have too much time to win the hearts of the people of Freetown. One final point: Mayor Gibson should not count on the votes he got in the last election to determine his popularity. He clearly flew on the wings of Dr Ernest Koroma to that seat. But he will not be so lucky in three years' time.
(C) Politico 25/07/13
