Honorable Elizabeth Alpha Lavalie dams the reinstatement of District Officers

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Honorable Elizabeth Alpha Lavalie the Chairperson of the Human Rights Committee in Parliament, has yesterday delivered a lecture, strongly condemning the need to reinstate District officers, back to the provinces. Hon. Lavalie said the introduction of the 2004 local government Act which paved the way for the existence of the Decentralization system of government, makes provision for good governance, at all levels to meet contemporary world requirement of transparency and accountability in governance. She said the creation of the decentralization system of administration, was to devolve functions, powers, and serve local councils. Therefore, there is no need to abandon the Decentralization system of administration in order to embark on another system, which is out dated, archaic and colonial in approach”. Honorable Lavalie said records have shown in this country, how District officers connived with treasury sub accountants to siphon funds meant for development in the districts. She said examples of these were seen in districts particularly in the South where a district officer siphoned millions of Leones in what was seen as vouchergate and squandergate scandals. She further added that in the early 80s the outbreak of unrest in several parts of the country such as Sanda, Bombali district, Sinkunya in the Koinadugu district Soro-Gbema and Ndorgborwusu all in Pujehun district. “The reinstatement of district officers has not come from any local council whatsoever”. Mrs. Lavalie however concluded that the idea of bringing back these set of officers into the modern system of administration, will be a recipe for conflict and mistrust in the local council; make mockery of the decentralization policy and create a path to re-centralization thereby defeating the good intension of taking government to the people. Festus Minah from the Civil Society Organization said the installation of District officers into this modern system of democracy is too critical and that government needs to go back to the Act, that is responsible for the establishment of the Decentralization system of governance, before making the move to bring back the old system. He said the document that was responsible for its creation was taken country wide, in order to sound out the opinion of the people. “So it was not just a decision taken by the then government to suit its convenience”. Former Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone J. D. Rogers in his contribution said the government should look at the state of the economy of the country. He said the economy of the country has fallen considerably, and that government needs to take that into consideration. Contributions came from many organizations some condemning the idea, while others promised to strictly monitor the initiative, before they could come out with a statement. By Jon-Bu

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