Decentralization in Sierra Leone - Research for Development

Decentralization in Sierra LeoneHere lies a key political dilemma for local councillors. On the one hand, they do not controlsufficient resources, personally, to amass political capital as patrons. The research team heardmany complaints from councillors that their allowances (currently 250,000 Leones permonth), are inadequate and that they have to draw upon private income to carry on working.They argued that being a local councillor should be a full-time, salaried job. A councillor,they pointed out, is a “public name”. Poor people flock to them for assistance in resolvingtheir problems and needs (e.g. especially emergency medical expenses) and if they don’t haveresources they will soon lose public respect. Several councillors claimed that colleagues areashamed to visit their wards because they have nothing to offer their people. One councillorwent so far as to observe that while she accepted the fact that the LGA forbids councillorsfrom having a financial interest in council contracts, councillors will never have the authoritythe LGA grants them on paper if they can’t implement projects. Another asked the researchteam to tell donors that if local councillors can’t control resources by legitimate means, theymight be tempted into corruption.Some politically well-connected councillors are, in fact, making names for themselves aspatrons. For example, a councillor met by the research team is the APC youth leader forBombali District. By chance, one of the community FGDs was held in this councillor’s ward.He was highly praised by the young men for forwarding job applications to London MiningPLC (whose main operation is in neighbouring Tonkolili District) and seeing many localyouths hired. Elite networks are also benefitting from the council-managed scheme for leasehiringtractors to Agribusiness Organizations (ABOs). The research team encountered two ofthese new tractors while travelling in the provinces. One was seen parked in the compound ofa paramount chief in Koidu, bearing the logo of an ABO chaired by the chiefs’ wife. Theother was seen arriving in a remote northern village where the local council chairman hasfamily. No impropriety is being implied here, but as a local councillor who chairs a women’sfarming cooperative remarked: “tractors are not meant for poor people”.On the other hand, councillors are also aware that that democratic decentralization has aunique selling point, distinct from patronage politics. Several interviewees observed thatdecentralization is the only system that allows local needs to be identified and minuted at theWDC level, taken to council, incorporated in local development plans and then met whenfunds allow. If councillors couldn’t deliver fast-track development to their wards, they couldat least play by the rules and champion local needs. “We councillors are grassroots peoplewho see to the problems of our people”, said one female councillor with a long career behindher in rural school teaching. Another female councillor with a CBO background spoke withvisible emotion about the frequently fatal outbreaks of dysentery in her remote rural ward.There were few watercourses in the area, and they were all used for washing, drinking andwaste disposal. If only the local council could prioritize water well construction in that area,she went on, lives could be saved. A third female councillor, again with a CBO background,spoke of the exodus of able bodied youth from the rural faming economy and the impact itwas having on the availability of food products in urban markets, especially palm oil. She feltthat central government should be making greater use of councillors’ local knowledge.The two Bo councils are actively seeking to develop this unique selling point. For example,Bo City Council (BCC) has been expanding its planning capacity with technical and financialsupport from twinned councils in the UK (Warwickshire City Council and County Council).This partnership has enabled BCC to draw up an accurate planning map using GIS andsatellite imagery. The idea is to delimit planning zones to ensure that: a) rubbish dumps andother waste accumulating sites are not located next to homes and food growing areas; b)Fanthorpe Consultancy Ltd Page 22