By Alusine Fullah

From the international perspective, Olowu Omend defined Local council as a product of devolution as a dimension of decentralization. In any ward/ community, much is expected from councillors. A local council is the highest political authority in the locality; it has legislative and executive powers to be exercised in accordance with this Act or any other enactment. Local Councils should be responsible, generally for promoting the development of the locality and the welfare of the people in the locality with the resources at its disposal and with any resources and capacity it can mobilise from: the central government and its agencies; national and international organisations; and the private sector

In the context of Sierra Leone legally, the duties councillors are spelt out succinctly in the Local Government Act of 2021. Section 28 of the foregoing act states that local councillors are to:

(a) maintain close contact with his ward or chiefdom; (b) consult the electorate on issues to be discussed in the local council and collate their views, opinions and proposals for that purpose, and present them to the local council; (c) report to the electorate the decisions of the Council and the actions he has taken to solve problems or deal with issues raised by the electorate; and (d) promote communal and other development activities in the locality

Yes, the existence of local councils has always been defended on the basis that it is a crucial aspect of the process of democratization and intensification of mass participation in the decision-making process. No political system is considered complete and democratic if it does not have a system of local government.

Local government serves a two-fold purpose. The first purpose is the administrative purpose of supplying goods and services; the other purpose is to represent and involve citizens in determining specific local public needs and how these local needs can be met. Local representative government is a process that spans and connects representation and administration at local levels within local government structures. In order to understand the function and structure of local government, it is important to define local government and understand the meaning of local government democracy and values. The significance of local government will be addressed. With these aspects of local government in mind, attention will be directed towards the typical structure of local government as the administrative structure of local government forms the basic framework where in local public policy is determined and implemented . Therefore attention will be directed to the composition of councils and their activities.

If not all, but many Sierra Leoneans want to see local councils as the cornerstones in the structure of a democratic political system since local government serves as a vehicle for intelligent and responsible citizenship on this particular level.

Belief it or not, for the past decades, local councils have been doing their beats. Some councillors across Sierra Leone have been God fearing enough in delivering their legal and communal mandate. The constructions of feeder roads in certain communities should not to be overemphasized.

However, in recent years, local councils have been hugely implicated by high rate of local funds embezzlement. Monies that are meant for local development have been corruptibly mismanaged. Going through the Audit Report, it is very clear that local councils have mismanaged billions of Leones. The Audit Reports reads:

Bo District Withholding tax not paid to NRA 67,889.00 4.4.1; Bombali     District Salary paid to staff not available to physical verification 7,260.00 4.7.1; Payments for work not done 96,544.00 4.8.1 Bonthe District Revenue not accounted for 42,439.69 4.3.2  Bo City Revenue not accounted for 42,924.00; Payments for work not done 363,760.55 4.8.1; Falaba District Fuel not accounted for 102,376.00 4.6.1; Withholding tax not paid to NRA 65,250.00 4.4.1; Payments for work not done 29,470.00 4.8.1 Payments for goods not delivered 66,112.00 4.8.1; Freetown City Withholding tax not paid to NRA 177,313.00 4.4.1 PAYE not paid to NRA 284,132.33 4.4.1 Difference between framework contact and invoice prices 335,425.00 4.8.5; Kailahun District Assets not available for physical verification 385,960.00 4.6.2 Withholding tax not paid to NRA 126,942.00 4.4.1 Payments without supporting documents 151,352.00 4.5.1; Kambia District Transportation allowances and sitting fees paid to absentee councillors 251,725.00 4.5.2 Double payment of transportation allowances and sitting fees to councillors 14,900.00 4.5.2 Assets not available for physical verification 60,953.60 4.6.2 Fuel not accounted for 448,535.00 4.6.1 Payments for devolved sector activities not brought to account 54,555.00 4.5.2 Under payments of salaries to School Bus Conductors 12,000.00 4.7.2 Withholding tax not paid to NRA 16,098.00 4.4.1 PAYE not paid to NRA 2,049.84 4.4.1 Payments for work not done 2,004,838.00 4.8.1; Kenema District Assets not available for physical verification.

In nexus to that, it is estimated that the Local Councils should account for 9.937.461.68.