Forum is quite aware of the fact that the Freetown City Council (FCC) under the leadership of Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer is slowly endeavoring to live up to the expectation of residents in the Metropolis by struggling to perform certain functions that are encapsulated in its mandate as a local Government entity.
We cannot sweep the truth under the carpet that for quite a considerable period of time now the FCC has been dormant and quite inefficient in terms of the implementation of mapped out initiatives to make the Freetown Metropolis clean, attractive, provide basic facilities befitting a city and contribute towards combating lawlessness.
Forum strongly believes that nobody will fool us that FCC is absolutely financially bankrupt to make it a viable institution to undertake certain development projects that will complement the strides which the Central Government is making to foster socio-economic progress.
The Council, as a matter of fact, has several ways of generating or mobilizing revenue as outlined in the very Act of Parliament that created it. FCC has the mandate to collect license fees from business entities both medium and large business outlets. It also has “Keepers” in market places and on the streets who sell tickets to traders on a daily basis. That institution receives burial fees before the dead are buried. It as well has the power to collect local taxes, imposes Metropolitan tax, gets subventions from the Central Government, benefits from goodwill gestures from corporate institutions and other overseas partners. When all these are put together, we see that FCC is at a vantage position to generate huge revenue over a period of time but lamentably there is little to show developmentally as to how and in what ways such revenue are periodically utilized for intended purposes.
On various occasions, the Council has cried that residents within the Metropolis are reluctant to pay their local taxes. Well if that assertion should be plausible, as Council officials will want us to believe, and then the only tenable argument is that most residents have lost faith and total confidence in FCC simply because they are not getting their monies worth. Nonetheless, FCC is a legal entity that has certain powers which it can enforce and one of them is that which gives it the authority to impose and collect Local tax, payment of which is incumbent on all residents. Council must ensure that residents know about that and should try to instill the fact that failure to comply is tantamount to violation of an important bye-law.
The institution cannot continue to be lackadaisical in collecting local taxes in order to use it as cloak to hide under the fact that it is generating huge revenue from other sources. That could not be any tenable excuse!
Garbage collection, in order to keep the city clean, is a responsibility which FCC should be able to undertake effectively and efficiently. It should be in a position to acquire the requisite equipment and employ the right manpower. Regrettably, over the years the Council failed woefully in that area even when a separate entity was formed to handle that which was the Freetown Waste Management Company, under the direct supervision of the parent body, Freetown City Council.
Garbage collection vehicles were not regularly maintenance, workers salaries were not paid on time, there were personality clashes all fuelled by greed by few individuals which eventually led to the collapse the Waste Management Company. The situation became very alarming when it was noticed that day in and out the city was becoming the filthiest within the West African sub-region with dire health hazards.
With the recent transition of political power and the election as Mayor to the Freetown City Council of Yvonne Aki-Sawyer we have started to some semblance of change especially in the area of combating garbage in public places which was commonplace. Frequently now we are seeing clearing of drainages and gutters. Hiring the services of young people living within the targeted communities through their Councilors is a laudable venture in itself because it will provide outlets for them to financially benefit and above all instill in them the importance or sense of cleaning.
The Forum will like to enjoin the Council to take it as a serious venture and should not only be implemented during the rainy season but rather be a continuous project that will provide jobs for young people.
Waste collection is a very lucrative business and if well implemented could be a viable source of revenue generation. Collecting waste from dwelling houses for certain fees on a daily basis is seemingly less profitable but with a closer look it is very lucrative as there is always waste around. It would also lead to a decline in clandestine dumping of waste in public places.
It is also good that efforts are now made to improve facilities in market places and cemeteries although much needs to be done in those areas.
It is hoped that this time round FCC would rise up to the occasion and try as best as possible to make the Freetown Metropolis a fine place to visit or live in.
