By Septimus Senessie in Kono
The Chief Administrator of the Koidu Municipal Council, Charlie Patrick Jay Kallon has been indefinitely suspended on allegations of inciting the administrative wing of the council to boycott the council’s extraordinary monthly meeting and also failing to produce the past minutes of the previous meetings.
The decision was issued by the bipartisan 15 councillors of the city approved by the Mayor, Saa Emerson Lamina.
After the boycott of the meeting by the Chief Administrator, the councillors expressed anger over the action of the CA leading to his indefinite suspension from office.
Speaking to Politico immediately after the meeting, Mayor Lamina said that he had endorsed “the overwhelmingly” decision of his councillors in accordance with the standing orders of council.
According to the suspension letter written dated 28th March and signed by all 15 councillor, the chief administrator was sent away because of his “unsatisfactory attitudes which undermine the progress of the council.”
The mayor furthered that Jay Kallon was not willing to work with him alleging that since he took office some 4 months ago he had ordered him to submit a list of the fixed assets of the council but that “up to this moment the CA has not submitted any leaf let of paper to tell us the number of assets we owe as a council,” he said. He further alleged that the CA boycotted the meeting because he (the mayor) had refused to sign a cheque of Le 6 million for the purchase of a generator which he said did go through procurement procedure. He said he inherited over a Le 100-million debt which he said the CA could not properly account for.
According to the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Theresa Sia Ngenda, they had taken the unanimous decision of suspending the CA also because he “failed to produce minutes of past meetings,” adding that the life and existence of any council depended largely on the council’s monthly meetings. She maintained that the attitude of the CA towards the development of the council since they took up office had been “inimical and counterproductive”.
Councillor Aiah B. B. Komba a second termer, expressed dismay over the behaviour of the CA. He told Politico that “the inefficiency and poor performance of the previous council was caused by the administrative wing of the council which they have started to manifest again under this dispensation,” adding that, they were not cooperating with the political wing of the council to perform.
He maintained that the administrative wing of the conviction that they could only be transferred if they fell short “but for us we only have 4 years in office after which we go back to our people to seek another mandate”.
Komba Manga, a civil society activist working for Knowledge for Community Empowerment Organization ( KoCEPO), described the Koidu city council as “the worst” in the country. He said the boycott of the meeting by the CA was “a sign of undermining the development of the city to match with other cities in the country.”
Politico contacted the suspended CA to have his own side of the story, but he declined to comment saying only that he would not talk to any journalist or civil society until he had filed his official complaint to the Minister of Local Government and Community Development.
