By Sorie Ibrahim Fofanah
The Institute for Governance Reforms (IGR) has launched its District Development Plan, which focuses on improving revenue and services in five districts across the country.
This event was held at the IGR head office at Spur Road in Freetown on Friday 12th April, 2024.
“This planning takes into consideration five districts and six councils, with Kono having two councils (the Kono District Council and Koidu New Sembehun City Council), the Falaba District Council, Tonkolili District Council, Moyamba District Council, and Karene District Council,” IGR Executive Director Andrew Lavalie said.
He said their focus is improving revenue and service delivery in those councils with civil society and other partners working with them in developing the plans for the said councils.
He spoke of consultations to be held at chiefdom and district levels, saying the district level will involve technical committees from the Ministries of Health, Education, and Social Welfare among others.
“In each chiefdom, we will be having fifty participants, drawn from villages and sections,” he stated, adding that the plan will give citizens at chiefdom level the opportunity to outline the social amenities they will expect their local councils to provide them.
This he said is because there is “so much mistrust” between the citizens and authorities, noting that their plan for the chiefdom and district level will be aligned with the government’s Medium Term National Development Plan, which spans from 2023-2030.
Lavalie described the development as a “journey,” saying “it’s a clear starting point and destination.” He emphasised the need for good healthcare, pipe-borne water, education, good roads, electricity, and food among others in chiefdoms and districts.
In his remarks, the Director of Non-governmental Organisation (NGOs) at the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, Eric Massally said the government’s Medium Term National Development Plan takes into consideration their Big Five Game Changers and other four enablers, and that implementation of the plan has started. He said the government by itself cannot provide all the resources to implement the plan, and called on development partners to help the government in implementing it.
Speaking about the IGR’s plan, Massally said their ministry will be working with them to ensure that priority projects in chiefdoms and districts are delivered based on a timeline by local councils, with 80% of those plans to be implemented by the councils.
He went on to say properties in all districts must be mapped out by local councils in a bid to help them generate revenues from them, and use the resources to implement development plans both at the chiefdom and district level.
Senior Programme Officer,Budget Advocacy Network (BAN), Abdulrahman M. Sesay expressed their commitment to working with the six district councils to help them increase revenue generation, recalling that they have over the period had consultations with them in that regard.
“What we have done is to develop primary data from the very councils themselves, looking at what is presently going on in those councils in terms of their capacity and ability to generate resources, and what is it that they are generating presently,” Sesay said, adding that the councils ability to generate revenue is currently very low.
Copyright © 2024 Politico (15/04/24)
