MEDIA & SOCIETY
Decentralization Process in Sierra Leone...Whats The Way Forward
By Emmanuel Gaima
Jun 23, 2008, 10:13

In the last five years the Government, individual politicians, and other development partners have been discussing, or even advocating the concept of decentralization as a solution to the numerous problems, including widespread poverty facing the country, Sierra Leone. It was for this reason that Local Council Election were held in 2004, which marked the revitalization of local councils in Sierra Leone after almost three decades of non functionality. However, after more than two years of local council operations, the process of decentralization is still at its embryonic stage; many stakeholders involve do not still understand how the process should work. 

As a result, the decentralization process has got stocked somewhere, and in some cases the process is even being reversed. The essence of this article is to highlight key issues involved in any decentralization process. Such understanding should be able to determine the status of our decentralization, as well as evaluating its usefulness and effectiveness as a means of poverty alleviation and participatory approach to development.

Decentralization refers to any change in organization of government involving the transfer of authority, functions, responsibility, and accountability from central (national level) to local governments (local councils, sub national level); or from local council to chiefdom/ward councils/authorities. The main form of decentralization is devolution.

 In devolution the central government gives authority and responsibility for deciding, planning and implementing programmes to the local authority. The central government only coordinate, but does not in any way influence development programmes at the local level. The best example of devolution is the federal system of governance, in which each state is autonomous. The devolution should involve the following issues:

·        increase in authorities specifically reserved to local government (as opposed to central)

·        scope of responsibilities clearly defined for each level

·        enhance the local authorities to pass local laws without hindrance from central government

·        degree of assignment of functional responsibilities from central government to local government

·        existence of codes of conduct or other legally binding statements for local officials

Decentralization also has several dimensions that reflect, in general terms, increasing and often sequential stages of progress in achieving the governance objectives of decentralization. These stages are:

·        Administrative decentralization (functional responsibility),

·        Financial decentralization (access to resources), and

·        Political decentralization (accountability).

The political dimension is especially critical for decentralization because it reconstitutes the state in a democratic way. It provides a process at the local level through which diverse interests can be heard and negotiated and resource allocation decisions can be made based on public discussions. This therefore encourages participatory development in the country.

Many supporters of decentralization argue that decentralization increases popular participation and efficiency by allowing communities to:

·        Organize themselves under local leadership

·        Identify and articulate their priority needs

·        Formulate plans and mobilize local resources to collectively implement such plans

·        Hold their leader accountable at any point in time as it happened at the Makeni Town Council in 2005 when the Chairman was forced to resign by the people due to corruption allegations.

The big question for us in Sierra Leone; however is, are we succeeding in our decentralization effort? If yes, by what percentage? If no, why not?

Decentralization is measured using many performance indicators, ragging from legal reform through empowering local government to act, to improving the lives of the people. Decentralization must not stop at conducting elections, but it must include vital issues of governance that border on improving the lives of the populace. Such issues include the following: Enhancing the ability of local council authorities to function, which involves the transferring of legislative authority to local councils to collect local taxes and fees; measuring the percentage of local council staff completing relevant skills training, and evidence of that training in the development process;  the proportion of local government executive posts for which recruitment is based on clear job descriptions and merit; and measuring the public perceptions of corruption in the provision of government services, as reported in opinion polls. Enhancing Local Government Accountability, Transparency, and Responsiveness by measuring the availability of budgets and financial reports of local government jurisdiction to councilors, the public, media; the existence of internal and external auditing in accordance with required schedules; number or percentage of post-audit actions taken; the existence of a citizen complaint mechanism and use of input; the response time for citizen complaints, the increased level of monitoring of corruption, human rights violations, minimum wage and health rights for workers and many more.

Enhancing the Role of Civil Society by measuring the number and diversity of citizens who make use of local programs, benefits, and services; the frequency of or percentage of major decisions influenced by town meetings, open hearings, joint commissions, or other participatory mechanisms; percentage of eligible voters (male and female) voting in local elections; the average number and percentage of population attending town meetings organized by local government; the number or percentage of women councilors; the number and diversity of citizens involved in decision-making task forces or commissions; the number of accredited media representatives or free media outlets; the number and diversity of citizens and community-based organizations involved in strategic planning; and the level of resources devoted to support of local business, including women-owned businesses.

Improving the Quality of Life of the people by providing water sanitation; effective solid waste collection system; good road networks; public markets; good public transport system; affordable primary and secondary schools; affordable housing, health care; and the provision of economic opportunities and income generating activities for the people especially the youths. The decentralization of the past few years has presented opportunities for discussion and evaluation of the process. For comprehensive evaluation of the process in Sierra Leone and for objective ranking, range of information-gathering methods, selectively based on local circumstances is necessary to assess the complex dynamics of decentralization.

It should be noted that conducting local council elections is only the first step of decentralization process. The government and all other parties should play a helping role to ensure that the decentralization process brings a real meaning to the lives of the poor, especially those living in the rural areas.