Open Government takes MPs to electorates
Due to the perennial problem of public figures like Parliamentarians abandoning their constituents and the communities that voted them in office, the Open Government Initiative has now continued its work full time by taking Members of Parliament to their electorates, with Pujehun parliamentarians being the latest to meet their voters in a transparent and open debate.
OGI Coordinator Madam Kadijah Sesay in a brief interview with Sierra Express Media said their goal is to ensure all public figures, including government functionaries are accountable to their people in informing them about their work and how it relates to their lives.
Moving in a full force, OGI Coordinator Kadijah Sesay, together with Parliamentarians entered Pujehun amidst songs of welcome and dance as the people expressed the chance of having their representatives present to deliver their successes and plans.
Speaking to the people of Pujehun, Madam Kadijah Sesay in a brief outline of the formation of OGI said it was establishment by government “to ensure accountability and transparency in delivering services to the people as and when necessary.”
“This establishment is the first of its kind in the history of Sierra Leone, this time Parliamentarians are more closer to their people than ever before and it urges them to live up to expectation as responsible people in governance,” the OGI boss said. She called on the people of Pujehun to feel free and bring up issues affecting them and that their Parliamentarians and other ministers of government have the responsibility to answer these questions and queries.
Saidu I.B. Bangura, a resident of Pujehun Town, giving the welcome address said they are happy for the presence of OGI in their community as it shows that the present government, unlike the past has an interest in Pujehun. “This is a way to force Parliamentarians to sympathize with us the people otherwise we will not see them at work and will therefore cause us to hold them accountable for any anomaly in their disposition in executing their responsibility and that is how democracy is now working in Sierra Leone,” Mr. Bangura said.
It could be recalled that Pujehun District is one of the areas in the country that has experienced marginalization since the government of President Ernest Bai Karma’s government came to power.
Pujehun under the present government seems to be receiving full attention based on development aspects and not politically instituted violence and conflict.
The OGI debate is currently ongoing. More reports later.
Meanwhile, electorates in Pujehun District have expressed deep concern over the way their parliamentarians have abandoned them. According to a cross section of residents of the District, since the elections, the MPs, all of them representing the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party have all failed to meet the people. “Can the SLPP Parliamentarians of Pujehun say they do not have money on their own to help their people and therefore their hope is the APC and this will be far fetched as the APC politicians can never stop their archaic political disposition and this is contributing hugely to the low performance of politicians in the country,” an elderly community leader in Pujehun who asked not to be named said.
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