Sierra Leone News: EU Supports Port Loko District Council
Port Loko District Council on Friday September 18, 2018, launched Promoting Community Development and Effective Local Governance System Project which is funded by the European Union.
The project, which was launched in the Council’s conference hall in Port Loko, attracted senior government officials, development partners, members of parliament, councilors, chiefs, women’s groups and youths.
The 573, 000 EUR project is to enhance the capacity of the District Council through mobilization of local resources in a way to promote local economic development for effective accountable and gender responsive public services.
According to the Project Coordinator, Mr. Franklin Belmoh, the project will further improve the capacity of local authorities by enabling them to effectively perform their roles as actors in local development at the territorial level.
He said that the project will improve local democratic governance in rural service delivery as well as improving the level of participation of civil society organizations especially women and youth organization for development and decision making.
In his statement, the Head of Cooperation of the EU Delegation in Sierra Leone, Mr. Mats Liljefelt said the EU has noted with much satisfaction that Sierra Leone has made sustainable improvement in consolidating democratic good governance and sustainable peace since the end of the civil war.
He said the EU salutes the significant efforts that had been put into post-conflict economic recovery and the development of the state institutions to support overall economic development.
“We find particularly important the re-establishment of local government since it has created the opportunity for devolving key governance functions to decentralised levels, bringing them closer to the citizens,” he said.
He said, “It is also expected to allow citizens including women and youths to participate more actively in public affairs, which in turn is expected to improve public accountability and boost local economic development.”
He said that the EU has understood that young people in Sierra Leone still experience exclusion and marginalization, and as well as being unemployed or underdeveloped and that women are still under-represented in politics and decision making processes at both the national and local levels.
He said that the civil society has a key role to play in responding to these challenges particularly at the local level where it could contribute more to facilitating engagement with local authorities and improving the impact of decentralization on delivering service delivery.
“It is in this context that the EU is glad to support Port Loko District Council with the grant amount of 573, 000.00 EUR for a period of 24 months,” he noted.
In his keynote address, the Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Honorable Philip Tetema Tondoneh, said that he felt gracious to do the formal launching of the project, as his ministry is charged with the responsibility to oversee the full implementation of the decentralization programme.
He noted that the former SLPP government in 2004 introduced comprehensive decentralization with a vision for effective and sustainable use of public resources that will guarantee transparent, democratic and participatory decision making to enhance equitable delivery of basic services.
”After 10 years of the All People’s Congress party in governance, our party the SLPP inherited a decentralization programme that requires substantial strengthening,” he said.
He said that the SLPP government is highly determined to give a new lease of life to the decentralization programme as expressed in the Party’s manifesto.
He said that the emphasis on promoting gender inclusiveness, mobilization of local resources and the promotion of local development, which have been a perennial challenge for local councils, are laudable milestone as there will be no development if gender lenses are blurred in the project implementation.
”I will encourage the council to continue demonstrating this responsible attitude and performance as transparency and accountability are the key pillars of the New Direction Agenda,” he said.
He said that the important role of the ministry in monitoring these initiatives should be given due attention by all concern and that in as much as the project support is on demand basis, due cognizance must be given to the intergovernmental fiscal transfer system by the Ministry of Finance to ensure that disparity of support is not widened.
“The local councils should be given the requisite orientation on the EU financing agreement and project management requirements to ensure that unnecessary errors are not committed in the process of the project implementation and to avoid ineligible expenditures,” he said.
He said that the need to harmonize government support with other direct financing to the local councils should be given much attention, “I admonished the EU to continue its effort of operating through the established structure of the Ministry. With effective monitoring, equality of deliverables and outputs will surely improve, and adherence to timeliness will be secured,” he said. He thanked the EU for their continued partnership with the government and in rolling out the decentralization programme.
The Mayor of Port Loko City, Abu Bakarr Zozo Kamara was delighted to be the first mayor of the district to be having a decentralisation project which is not directly coming from the central government. He said the project is important because it will educate locals on the importance of paying taxes, adding that the project will also empower the district council for proactive functioning. He said, as a mayor he will ensure the proper implementation of the project.
The Mayor applauded the European Union for its tremendous support to the decentralization process. He urged the people of Port Loko to take advantage of the project.
