By Esther Wright
It could be recalled that on the 26th August 2021, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development constituted a group of distinguished persons to critically examine alleged concerns raised by various parties to the imbroglio at Freetown City Council (FCC).
It comprised eminent personalities in the persons of Haja Alimatu Yebbi Abdullah, a distinguished Civil Society, Women’s Rights Activist and current President of Gender Equality 50-50 Group, Mrs. Gladys Darling Hastings-Spaine, another distinguished Consultant Administrator, erstwhile Secretary to Women’s Forum (national umbrella body for all Women’s groups); Dr. Carol Labor, female Advocate Educationist & Consultant; Mrs. Neneh Dabo , a distinguished Retired female Civil Servant; Charles Joezie Silver PhD – Executive Chairman, African Peer Review Mechanism; Francis M. Fofanah-Komeh, a seasoned Accountant, Decentralization Secretariat , David Sheku, a distinguished Retired Civil Servant who served as the Chairman and Alieu Vandi Koroma Esq. – State Counsel, Law Officers Department who served as Secretary to the Inquiry.
At the end of their inquiry a Report was submitted to the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Amb Tamba Lamina on the 17th February, 2022, with recommendations in a 51-page Report that is now freely available to the general public.
During the publication of the administrative inquiry report into the Management of the Freetown City Council, the Local Government Minister ordered that the Mayor’s Delivery Unit (MDU) at the Freetown City Council (FCC) be dissolved with immediate effect on the grounds that it is not legally seated in the Council.
“As a Ministry, having gone through the recommendations of the inquiry team, which stated that FCC had a toxic and acidic working environment, dysfunctional relationship, financial mismanagement and that the MDU is a parallel administration to the statutory administration, we have resolved to disband it from the Council,” Minister Tamba Lamina pronounced.
He stated that the decision of the Ministry was in accordance with part 14 of Subsection 97 to 99 of the 2004 Local Government Act, which outlines the roles of the Local Government Ministry with regards monitoring, supervision and oversight.
The Minister added that Section 97 (4) clearly gives the Ministry the responsibility to investigate defaults in any Council, map out ways to rectify it, choose the type of actions or interventions that may be required to settle the same and support the said Council to effectively exercise its functions.
He disclosed that the Ministry is very much concerned about the underperformance of FCC and that it has developed a number of benchmarks which FCC must conform to, disclosing how the Ministry will be meeting with the FCC on Tuesday 22nd February 2022 to agree on timelines for the abduction of the said benchmarks.
Minister Tamba Lamina ended by reading a good number of recommendations from the report, including the one to restore the dignity and effectiveness of the core staff who had been redundant in the Council since the establishment of the MDU.
Members of the inquiry team read couple of sections on their findings during the investigation. Among other things they highlighted were that FCC had taken and implemented major decisions without consulting the Ministry. For instance, the decision to establish the MDU to raise property tax was a unilateral decision taken by FCC in complete disregard to the supervisory Ministry (MLGRD), that visiting dignitaries of FCC do not pay courtesy calls on the Ministry and many others.
Other interesting findings and recommendations were disclosed during the publication ceremony where members of staff of FCC, MLGRD, the inquiry team and the media were present.
In a related matter, prior to the publication of the administrative inquiry report which was done at 2:30pm, Councillors of the FCC earlier, on the same date, 17th February 2022, issued a Press Statement on the 17th February 2022 in which they stated that they have seen a memo circulating on social media from Alex Bhonapha, Director of the Decentralization Secretariat inviting the Mayor and other stakeholders in the Local Government sector to the official release of the report about the administrative inquiry on Freetown City Council.
They furthered that as Councillors, they are appalled that they were not invited to the be part of the public presentation of the administrative investigation which started from a letter of complaint against the Chief Administrator and his lack of administrative professionalism that was written by them.
The Councillors said they wish to remind the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development that they are elected representatives of the people of Freetown and have been given a mandate to serve the people.
In that respect, they said they are asking kindly that the Ministry in its supervision of the Council respects their decisions as representatives of the people of Freetown, continue to provide a platform for dialogue between political and administrative wings of Council, and in the event that there is an impasse, does not impose an administration that the Council – the elected representatives of the people – does not want.
They concluded by saying that, at a minimum courtesy, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development should have engaged the Council first on the report findings instead of making a big public display for a serious matter that affects the functioning of the Council and by extension, residents of Freetown.
