By BintaJaiteh
The Vice-Chairperson of Janjanbureh Area Council, Haruna Barry, has challenged the National Assembly Select Committee on regional government, lands, IEC and Ombudsman to address the plight of local government councils.
In an interaction with the committee members and representatives from different Area Councils, the vice-chairperson stressed that it is their mandate to deliver to the taxpayers, but if the resources are not available, it will be difficult to deliver as expected.
As a Council, he said they have to ensure that any fund that is generated is given back to the people.
Barry disclosed that the people of Janjubureh suffered a lot in terms of water supply while it is their responsibility to assist them and that the Councils are given responsibilities without any resources, in spite that they want to work the resources are limited
He called on the committee to start debating on the issue of area councils because they are being neglected even by the president which will have a great impact on their operation and that of the people.
In his views, HonorableFodayDanjo, Chairperson of Basse Area Council noted that government support to the Council is very minimal, noting that according to the local government act, they should give 35% of their development project and 3 grants to Councils.
‘’The government has neglected us, but last year they gave us D2 million and that was conditional fund since we came into office, waste collection continues to be a problem, not only in the KMC but across the country. If you go around the country a lot of illegal dumping sites are scattered across, but the problem is that Council cannot control the situation due to a lack of equipment and manpower’’ he said.
However, he said tariff needs to be revisited, that since the impact of COVID 19 pandemic, Councils have been suffering, and still now things are not easy.