USAID/Sierra Leone: Challenged By Corruption, Democracy Puts Down Roots in Kono District

AUGUST 21, 2007

Challenged By Corruption, Democracy Puts Down Roots in Kono District

Members of the Bumpe/Jiama Nimikoro ward committee learn how to redress grievances after their elected district counselor embezzles funds earmarked to build a municipal and community center.

BUMPE VILLAGE -- Tidankay Bayoh has changed the way she thinks about the democratic process in this agriculture and mining community a few miles outside Koidu in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone.

At first, Bayoh and other elected members of the ward committee that serves Bumpe and its sister village, Jiama Nimikoro, never thought to question why their representative to the Kono District Council didn't take an interest in their communities.

The councilor rarely attended district council meetings and never talked about how the villages should plan to spend the 5.5 million Leones (about $18,000) of "quick impact" funds the World Bank made available to each Sierra Leone ward in 2006.

Then Bayoh and her colleagues received training from Management Systems International (MSI) under the Strengthening Democratic Governance (SDG) program funded by USAID/Sierra Leone.

The SDG program seeks to broaden community-based political participation in a national dialogue through a variety of mutually reinforcing activities. USAID/Sierra Leone will spend $4.5 million on the program over the three years ending March 2008.

"Before the SDG program, we thought the councilor was a god or a king. We were afraid of the councilor," Bayoh said. "After a lot of training from MSI, we realized that we could call our councilor, sit with him and plan development within our ward."

The Bumpe community is represented unofficially
at the Kono District Council by Tindankay Bayoh (seated, in hat), who
intends to stand for election in 2008.

The Bumpe community is represented unofficially at the Kono District Council by Tindankay Bayoh (kneeling, in hat), who intends to stand for election in 2008.

Unfortunately, the councilor "still did not measure up -- did not live up to our expectations," she said. In fact, the communities still have seen no sign of the 5.5 million Leones that the councilor was given to build a barre, or judicial and community center.

Citizens were so incensed by the councilor's actions that they mobilized two vehicles and 20 people for a district council meeting in Koidu to ask about money for the center project.

Now it is Bayoh herself who attends the district council meetings as the unofficial ward representative from Bumpe/Jiama Nimikoro.

"Through our training in the SDG program, we were told that if the councilor was not working, we could also represent the councilor in the council," Bayoh said. "We can go and get information from the council and go back and discuss it within the community. That idea was only learned through the SDG program (training).

"Through the SDG program, we now can be boastful about talking about development through our own efforts," she said.

Implemented by MSI, the SDG program provides training for regional coordinators and local mobilizers, who pass on practical advice and information to ward committee members and other interested citizens. MSI also has opened a regional information and communications center (RICC) in Koidu to help district and town councils disseminate information.

SDG is making available matching funds for communities that access money from council for a development project.

Giving Voice To The People
MSI works in coordination with Search for Common Ground/Talking Drum Studio, which provides public-service programming for two radio stations - one private and one government owned - in the Koidu area.

Each week, the community radio program airs discussions with citizens, assisted by MSI mobilizers, raising issues of interest to the community. "People call in. They advise, they make their own contribution," said Ibrahima Moigua of Talking Drum Studio.

Another "accountability" program focuses on getting information directly from the councils to the citizens.

"We go and ask them to give us hard copies of their income and expense (statements)," Moigua said. "We allow them to voice their income and expenditures. And that information is put on a special program, so people could hear, 'This month, 250,000 came for this particular aspect, whether waste management or health.'"

Paramount Chief Conflict
Despite - or perhaps because of - the progress made in sensitizing citizens to the basics of democratic governance, the MSI training has highlighted the differences between democratically elected councils and the traditional leaders: the paramount chiefs.

"Through the SDG program, there has been a lot of sensitization. We now know our rights, but there is still a problem we need to address. The problem is between (the ward committee) and the chiefs," said Ibrahim Kadee, a Bumpe/Jiama Nimikoro ward committee member.

At a ward committee meeting in Bumpe recently, members exchanged views with the paramount chief, Y.T. Lebbie (at right).

"The chiefs are really thinking that the ward committees want to take their power from them," Kadee said. "Why? When there are NGO projects in the community, the ward committee wants to know who brought the project and how the project is going.

"There is sometimes conflict. The ward committees don't have money or the way to [fund] projects, but … the SDG program told us that through the workshops and seminars that we should be involved with every project in the community," Kadee said.

Kadee urged MSI to organize training workshops for the traditional leaders so they become aware of the ward committee's role has decision-making. "If we have the same understanding, maybe the small misunderstanding between us and the chiefs will be resolved," he said.

Chiefs Have Key Role
But the paramount chief, Y.T. Lebbie, gave another version of the story.

"We are the chiefs. We are the rulers of the area. Sometimes people bring projects … whatever arrangements [the council and ward committee] have, we are not aware of it. The cost - we don't know about it," Lebbie said. "What they do ask the chiefs for is to give land to construct what they want to do. The budget or the money involved, they don't disclose that to the community of chiefs.

"There was a training organized by MSI and the mobilizers," Lebbie said. "During the training the (trainers) told them we should be part of every project that is undertaken in our community. If we allow the contractors to do a job and it's not worthy, it affects the community. If there's a project that ongoing in the community, you need to monitor, you need to see that it's happening and properly done, because it all belongs to you.

"We're aware of what we should do now and what should be our role," he said. "Through the training we are now working together to see things happening. The chiefs are now playing a key role in any of the activities undertaken in the community."

Standing for Election
Tidankay Bayoh's role as the unofficial representative on the Kono District Council has given her aspirations that extend beyond the boundary of her community.

"The work is difficult. I thought they were going to pay me for the job. Now I know it's a voluntary job. When you want to attend council meetings or go out to the council, it's a bit long. You have to pay," she said. "When you want to attend ward committee meetings, you move to another community. You have to pay transport costs.

"But if there is love for your community, you can see sacrifice. I will sacrifice to see my community develop," said Bayoh, adding that the active involvement of citizens from the Bumpe/Jiama Nimikoro community is starting to pay off.

"We've not received money yet, but the council has promised we will get 50 million (Leones) from our own councilor," Bayoh said.

And her experience has convinced Bayoh to stand for council elections next year. "The next council, a female councilor will come from this ward," she said.

Story and photos by Richard Stirba