By Mathew Kanu
Bombali district traders’ union leader has expressed doubts over declarations by the Makeni City Council that it collects Le 900 million each year from market dues, fees and licenses. Alieu Conteh was reacting to the council’s pronouncement at a civil society budget hearing supported by ENCISS, the civil society government interface. He said the council was supposed to collect far more than what it declared, arguing that hundreds of people who collect dues on behalf of the council turn in Le 500,000 each on a daily basis. “Think of the many shops along Rogbaneh Road, the main lorry park and shops around the city,” Mr. Conteh queried, adding that Makeni had a booming market that could uplift council’s status. “Let them tell us the truth about how they use the money. We get very small information on the council’s budget operations. We have a problem of council explaining what they are doing with the funds collected yearly“ Conteh chided, adding: “They constructed a culvert but did not tell us the cost. The 70% they spend on project development is not visible. We need more health facilities, road maintenance and schools around the city”. But the chief administrator, Alhaji Alhaji Bangura, insisted that their annual budget target was Le 900 million which was being generated locally “to form the life wire of the council”. He said the devolution process gave some responsibilities and authority to the council to collect certain license fees and dues, as well as tap into a lot of other sources to ensure that they took ownership of their own activities. Mr. Bangura claimed that as far as the Makeni City Council was concerned, the people were tax-compliant. “In the first six months of this year, we have collected over Le 300 million, even though it is far below half of the budgeted target of Le 900 million for the year. We give 5% of that to the central government and seventy percent goes back to the people of Makeni in the form of development projects,” he said. The council administrator said they had had sessions to explain to civil society and the media their ideas and projects targeting the Le 900 million. He assured that they would account to the people and monies raised locally were being used to develop the city and increase the recreational potentials of Makeni to attract other investors. The civil society group, Sierra Leone Citizens’ Right Association, told Politico that they were keen on monitoring council’s activities in Makeni. Its coordinator, John Banato Sesay, said the council had given them documents on tax schedules and revenue generation but had failed to produce documents from the bank to ascertain same. “I will go all out to find out or investigate whether this money collected is true and I will get back to you the journalists. But I want to also talk to the people to pay their house rates and market dues to enhance development in the city,” he promised. © Politico 20/08/13
