July 26, 2016 By Joseph S. Margai
The Western Area Rural District Council has on Saturday, 23 July, handed over a newly constructed public toilet to the people of Kissy Town in Ward 343.
The council also handed over a DSTV package, including 32 inches plasma television, a generator, among other items to the youth of Kissy Town, to enable them generate revenue that could be used to pay those that will be cleaning the public toilet and community centre.
According to Chief Administrator of the council, Ahmed Shekuba Koroma, the public toilet is one of many development projects that the council has undertaken in the district. He added that the council is currently undertaking another development project in Goderich, a bridge that will link Monkey Bush and Matindie communities, borehole and public toilet construction at Regent, and promised to replicate development projects to all the 12 wards in the district.
“The council is in a better position to deliver services because it is only when we deliver services to the people that we will be able to showcase the relevance of local governance and decentralisation process. My administration in collaboration with the Chairman and councilors have become committed to ensuring that the district is developed from the own source revenue that is generated,” he said. He added that taking development to the 12 wards is their own way of supporting the ‘Agenda for Prosperity.’
He urged residents to pay their taxes, licenses and property rates to the council so that development projects would be achieved for all and sundry in the district.
The WARDC Chief Administrator said the issue of solid waste management is a huge challenge in the district because financial allocation for it is very small and the vehicle allocated for that purpose is currently grounded.
“What we have done as a council is to fence the existing one at Waterloo, but it is not ideal. So I have summoned all the village heads and councilors in the district to allocate pieces of land to us in their communities for dumping the people’s wastes. We are in agreement with people that have expressed interest in managing the waste in the district. Once that is done, we will be able to manage the solid waste very well,” he said.
Member of Parliament of Constituency 95, Hon. Claude D.M. Kamanda, said the Waterloo Council has been doing very well in recent years. He noted that this is evident in this year’s performance assessment done by the Decentralisation where WARDC was ranked as the 9th best performing council in the country.
“The last rating saw WARDC ranked 18th out of 19th Local Councils in the country. This year’s rating has shown that the administration and the politicians of the council are working immensely to meet the demand of the people,” he said and added that this was the first tangible development that the council has done for the people of Kissy Town in many years of its existence.
He said the council has been able to deliver services to the people in the district because of pressures that have been heaped on them by the media and civil society organisations.
“The council has also donated the DSTV package, plasma television and generator to the youth of this community, so as to help them to be abreast with what is happening in the world. It is not only meant to watch football games but there are channels that could be searched that could give them a lot of materials for research purposes in their various academic field of study,” he said.
Councilor of Ward 343, Hassan A. Koroma, said he was very happy for the project to be installed in his ward. He added that the public toilet could even benefit people from other communities.
“This is one of the council’s responsibilities. When the people pay their taxes, rates and licenses, they should realise developments in their various communities. There is another public toilet that has been constructed by the council at the market, but it is yet to be commissioned and handed over to you. These projects are realised out of the monies generated from own source,” he disclosed, and urge residents to pay their taxes so that such projects would be actualised in the district.
Acting Chairperson of WARDC, Councilor Margaret Kargbo, said council’s effort to bring development to various wards would not stop until every communities gets what they expect from the council.