The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) has presented a bill entitled “the Local Government Act 2021 to the Committee on Local Government in the House of Parliament for pre-legislative hearing.
It could be recalled that the Local Government Act was enacted in 2004 with the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Report to reintroduce local governance and decentralization in Sierra Leone, which according to the said report was one of the cause of the 11years brutal rebel war.
“Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members, the 2004 Local Government Act was meant to show commitment to peace, start the process of decentralization and to initiate the idea of citizens engagement in the development of their communities, makes the very act a transitional one. With passage of time, it became apparent that the said bill was losing its salt,” maintained the Minister of MLGRD, Amb. Tamba Lamina.
He supported the above statement by disclosing that it has been fourteen years since that mandate expired, which has made the devolution of functions a deadlock as the energy that is supposed to drive the process carries no authority any longer.
He continued that since the enactment of the Local Government Act was a rush process in order to trigger the process of decentralization, and the policy which was supposed to inform the Act came six years after the promulgation of the Local Government Bill of 2004, the Decentralization Policy of 2010 created so much inconsistencies in the 2004 Bill that the development partners and other stakeholders have called for the two documents to be reviewed.
Minister Lamina also stated that the restructuring in governance system over the period including the separation of joint Ministries and the emergence of new Ministries have drastically changed the governance architecture at the sub- national level.
Amb. Tamba Lamina ended up highlighting the citizen’s participation in the governance of their communities, transparency in governance amongst a host of others as the relevance of the 2021 Local Government Bill.
In summary, the Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Sierra Leone, Manuel Mulla, said the deliberations on the Local Government Act Amendment Bill 2021 will help to the achievement of local communities’ reform goals and concluded that the EU commends Parliament’s efforts to demonstrate high level of commitment in law making process and efforts towards openness and inclusiveness.
The Chairman of the Committee on Local Government, Aaron Aruna Koroma, the Leader of Government Business, Hon. Mathew Sahr Nyuma Opposition Leader, Hon. Chernor Maju Bah, strongly supported the Ministry for its stance to review the 2004 Local Government Act since they said some sections have become absolute and cannot effectively address issues of decentralization and local governance.
The program later saw an in-depth presentation of the Bill in question by the Director of Decentralization Secretariat at MLGRD, Alex Bonapha. Thereafter, a lot of deliberations, suggestions, comments and concerns were made on the Bill by the participants. Melrose Karminty the Deputy Minister, the Permanent Secretary, Director of Local Government at MLGRD were part of the Minister Lamina’s entourage, the Adviser to the President on Local Government, Dr. Emmanuel Gaima, representatives of Local Councils, the Council of Paramount Chiefs, Provincial, District and Chiefdom Administrations and other Government’s stakeholders were also at the ceremony.
