Sierra Leone: The Lord Mayor of Kanifing, Talib Ahmed Bensouda has sealed a one week experience gathering tour in Freetown with the signing of an MOU on six thematic areas with the Mayor of the Freetown City Council, Yvonne Aki Sawyerr.
The 6 thematic areas for collaboration including waste management, revenue mobilization, public transportation, mapping infrastructure, affordable housing and climate change.
“I’m very confident that this signing would be the beginning of strong partnership between our two municipalities. We are proud to champion this cooperation as we are all aware of the cultural ties between our two people,” Lord Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda, remarked, adding that he is “very pleased to sign this historical agreement which would twin [both] two cities.”
The Lord Mayor explained that the one week visit was a fantastic opportunity for the City of Kanifing to further strengthen the cultural bond binding both cities.
“As the largest municipality in the Gambia with 500,000 residents, Kanifing is known as the heartbeat of the Gambia, it is the economic center of the country where the majority of the population lives and works.”
He said after spending a week in Freetown I now understand how vibrant life in this city is. The Lord Mayor explained that the people of Freetown have been welcoming and hospitable throughout their visit, adding that the Freetown City Council and its Mayor have been exceptional host’s in showing us how they are transforming Freetown on a daily basis.
“I had the privilege of visiting the Kingtom dumpsite where FCC has installed an innovative treatment center for fecal sludge, we visited a solid waste transfer station where FCC is working with local private collectors to better enhance waste collection and improve waste diversion,” the Lord Mayor said.
The Gambian Mayor said he was impressed “to see how the council plans to enhance an ideal market for women vendors who earn their living for their families. All these sites, I met dedicated staff of the FCC who are working hard to improve their city; my technical team and I have learnt a lot from discussions with Her Wordship, Minister, Counselors and FCC staff. We would be sure to follow up with you on what we’ve learnt and how we could implement these lessons back in Kanifing. I’m very pleased to be signing this agreement between Freetown and Kanifing.”
Mayor of Freetown City Council said that the Lord Mayor echoed “my sentiment when he said this visit has been truly amazing.”
“We are honored at the FCC that our transform Freetown agenda has taken on global proportion.”
She said “all around the world and in the sub-region there are city leaders who are looking at the model and wanting to replicate it. We know that Kanifing’s new logo which is ‘Kanifing for you’ is the same spirit as transform Freetown; an approach to city development which puts the people at the heart in what we do.”
In identifying the 6 areas of collaboration with the city of Kanifing, we have added more priorities here within transform Freetown, but recognizing that our priorities as a city in this region are so relevant to the city of Kanifing.”
OG/13/04/2021