By Septimus Senessie in Kono
The Mayor of the Kono district headquarters of Koidu, eastern Sierra Leone says that on assuming office in January he “inherited a huge debt to the tune Le 171, 953,000 with only Le 2,373,000 in the council’s account”. Addressing newsmen and civil society organizations last week, Saa Emerson Lamina also said that he had instructed his Chief Administrator, Challay Patrick Jay Kallon to give relevant documents on the last audit report, the status of the existing account, fixed assets register, status of projects (completed, on-going, in-coming and pending), procurement plan, annual work plan, monitoring and evaluation schedule, performance contract and a review of the city development plan, but that they had still not been made available to him. The allegations come in the wake of a damning report by Audit Sierra Leone accusing theKoidu-New Sembehun Council in their 2011 report, of financial impropriety amounting to Le 185 million for which proper documents were not available to highlight how the amount was spent. The mayor said that in his few months in office he had also observed that there was an unsatisfactory performance in revenue generation and mobilization in the council and chided that “monies collected from market dues and shop licenses were not used for development purposes but for individual benefits.” He said that poor financial transactions, non-compliance with procurement procedures, improper disbursement of funds, inefficacy of the internal audit department, and the lethargic attitudes of some members of staff towards official duties were among the several problems besetting the council. On the prospect of the council in the next 4 years, Mayor Lamina revealed that with the help of the central government and development partners he would revive own-source revenue, release resources on health-care service, resist partisan politics, relate well with nongovernmental organisations, civil society groups, inter-religious council and the media. He also renewed his commitment to “recharge the dynamo of women, youths and the physically challenged.” He pledged his council to fostering transparency and accountability “for the purpose of developing this battered city” and bring it to in line with other cities in the country. For his part, the chief administrator denied any wrongdoing but would not elaborate on the specific allegations. He told Politico: “I cannot comment on them in the absence of the Mayor [Saa Emerson Lamina].”
