Sierra Leone Telegraph: 27 February 2021:
Yesterday, at a meeting of representatives of 13 political parties held with the Parliamentary Committee on Local Government, the leader of the opposition NGC party in parliament, Hon Kandeh Yumkella, admonished the committee to treat the issues presented by the political party leaders with great seriousness.
“If 82% of all political parties in Sierra Leone (13 out of 17, including 3 out of the 4 in parliament APC, NGC and C4C), representing 70% of the Counsellors in the country have opposed the non-partisan local councils proposal from the government, why force it down their throats?” he asked.
Yumkella told the committee that their decisions and the next steps to be taken by the political parties will determine the survival of multiparty democracy in Sierra Leone.
A group photo taken after the launch The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) has launched a National Local Economic Development (LED) Policy and Action Plan to help accelerate socio-economic development and improve the livelihood of the people.
The policy would also accelerate decentralization and local governance for equitable, sustainable and balanced development.
Also, another document, known as the National Decentralization Policy and Strategy (NDPS), to facilitate the amendment of constitutional and legislative provisions that inhibit the principles of deepening local democracy and local political empowerment was out-door.
The two policies would span 2020 and 2024 and the European Union provided financial support under the Ghana/ European Union Decentralisation Programme.