…To Ward Councilors
By Janet Sesay
As the public hearings with Local Councils continues, the Public Account Committee (PAC) in Parliament has ordered that, with immediate effect, local councils should not be paying sitting fees to their ward councilors without any proof of meetings and attendance lists of such councils.
The Hon Deputy Speaker of Parliament expressed disappointment that councils have been paying monies to Councilors without any documentary evidence to show attendance and minutes of meetings of issues discussed in those meetings.
He maintained that monies allocated to Councils are tax payers’ monies, adding that, as the people’s representatives, they want to ensure transparency regarding how such funds are managed on behalf of the people.
Responding, the Finance Officer, Makeni City, noted that the issue of allocating sitting fees to councilors,even though they do not attend meetings,has been a recurrent issue.He appealed to the Ministry to give them guidelines because, according to him, councilors may sometimes be engaged in other official functions other than attending council meetings.For this, he reported, they are paid sitting allowances.
Hearing continues in other local councils in the country.