Anger in eastern Sierra Leone against local gov't minister

There is anger boiling in the diamond-rich district headquarter town of Koidu following a call by the Minister of Local Government for the withholding of funds to the city council. In a letter to the Minister of Finance dated 2 April 2013, Finda Diana Konomanyi requested that “subvention to this local government body be withheld until further notice”. It follows the unanimous decision by the bipartisan council to suspend the Chief Administrator of the Koidu/New Sembehun City Council, Charlie Kallon on allegations of insubordination after he had refused to attend a council meeting. Council had also expressed concerns over alleged misappropriation of funds before they came into office early this year. The local government minister says the matter will be looked into. But the council has fired back. In a letter dated 8 April 2013 and signed by the Mayor of Koidu, Saa Emerson Lamina, it has protested angrily over the decision by minister Konomanyi. Referring to it as a “recipe for sustainable backwardness”, the letter says Konomanyi’s action is “arbitrary and contrary to the local government act” saying “the withholding of funds will not yield any good dividend” for the people of Kono. The council says however that it is “determined to relentlessly and assiduously forge ahead with programmes geared towards the bringing of sustainable development” to the Koidu/New Sembegun city council. In meetings held yesterday in the three wards that make up the council, there was anger against the action of the local government minister, herself a native of the city and former chairman of the Kono district council until late last year. Some of those who attended the meeting reportedly derided her calling her “ungrateful and a saboteur”. Diana Konomanyi’s father lost to the now-Mayor Emerson Lamina in the APC party primaries to run for Mayor.