Local Councils debunk Government Says COPPP
Members of the Consortium of Progressive Political Parties (COPPP) over the weekend traversed the length and breadth of the country holding engagements with Councilors, Mayors and Chairpersons from various districts in the north-west and south-east regions to galvanize their position on critical issues they disagree with the Government, which include Local Government Policy, the Mid-term census and the Cybercrime bill of 2020.
A member of the Consortium told Sierra Express Media that “majority of the Councilors and stakeholders said they were never agreed to a non-partisan Local Council” and that they consider the move by Government as “recentralization, rather than decentralization”, noting that their core functions would be taken away from them.
The general feedback from the engagements, according to a Consortium member, debunked claims by the government that the controversial local government policy had been approved by Local Councils across the country.
Addressing one of the meetings, Dr Denis Bright, Chairman and Leader of the National Grand Coalition told his audience that he first heard of the approved policy on a local radio broadcast, which left him wondering as to when such policy was approved.
In Makeni, a female Councilor from the District Council informed the Consortium that they were merely informed about the policy, rather than consulted. “It was not a consultative process; it was stage managed and we were merely informed about it”, she said.
Another speaker committed to “doing everything possible to kick against all of these things” he said, adding that opposition political parties should come together “to fight a common fight; a fight against lies, a fight against bulldozing”.
Consortium members also had radio discussion programs in Kenema, Bo, Port Loko, Makeni, Kamakwe and Kabala.
Meanwhile, the Government is moving ahead with the implementation of the controversial policy, the mid-term census and the cybercrime bill.
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