By Donstance Koroma
Chairman Inter Ministerial Committee on Local Councils, Vice President, Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh in his recent engagement with Chief Administrators of Local Councils and other local governance actors stated that the government count on the ideas of the heads of local councils in actualizing and improving on local governance through President Bio’s Feed Sierra Leone and Human Capital Development initiatives, as part of the President’s ‘Big Five Game Changers’.
“Ladies and gentlemen, as I conclude, this session is organized to look for ideas as to how we can improve on the gains made in the last five years,” Vice President Dr Jalloh told districts and city councils Chief Administrators in Freetown.
According to the Dr Jalloh the session was organized for a frantic discussion with the aim of identifying the real issues affecting development at local government level.
“We don’t want the councils to lack behind in terms of implementing the ‘Big Five Game Changers’ in the manifesto,” he noted.
Reliable sources at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development reveals that last year, the line ministry requested heads of district and city councils to provide leadership in the councils. The move was gears towards actualizing the initiative in terms of the improvement of local government across the country.
The Fifth Parliament of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone legislated the new Local Government Act that the government belief will help improve the operations of local government across the country in the area of Feed Sierra Leone and Human Capital Development.
The inedible political commitment for the promotion of effective functioning of local council through the Big Five Game Changers is visible in all political quarters of the government.
The government through the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Local Councils Stock Taking Engagement extends olive branch to local councils to own President Bio’s Feed Sierra Leone and Human Capital Development initiatives.
“We are going to be very innovative in providing the necessary support to local councils towards agriculture activities,” disclosed Vice President Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh.
Dr Jalloh told Chief Administrators that President Bio remains commitment to revamp the public sector management of which he noted the councils are key players.
He continued that President Bio will deepen the Human Capital Development of which the involvement of the local councils cannot be over emphasized.
Vice President Dr Jalloh further catalogued the weak local council policies that had and continue to derail the performance of councils over the years, pointing out that the Human Capital Development drive of President Bio placed huge opportunities to local councils in terms of providing additional classrooms, improve foundational learning centers and healthcare services, Vice President Dr Jalloh said.
