1.0 The Kanifing Municipal Council is established to provide basic services, infrastructure and development to meet the needs of its inhabitants from human, financial, material resources and opportunities generated in the municipality.
1.1 Once elected Mayor I would have the mandate to head the council, preside over its meetings, exercise general supervision and management of its activities and give annual report on the state of its affairs to keep the residents in particular and the nation at large, fully informed of its policies, programmes and projects aimed at bringing prosperity and development to the doorsteps of the citizenry.
1.2 My first task as Mayor elect would be to urge the Chief Executive Officer of the Municipality to convene the first meeting of the Council without delay as required by section 28 of the Local Government Act.
1.3 My second task would be to ensure the election of the Deputy Mayor under the supervision of the IEC. I would cause the convening of a meeting of the Alkalolu of the Municipality to elect their representative in the Council. The registered youth organisations would be caused to elect the youth representative in the Council. The registered women organisations in the Kanfing Municipality would be caused to elect the woman representative in the Council as required by law in the case of two thirds representation of Males.
1.4 My third task would be to facilitate consultation with Civil Society and guide them to use democratic means to elect representatives associated with women, youth, the physically challenged, trade unions and employers’ associations and recommend them for appointment as Nominated Councillors.
1.5 My fourth task would be to commission the review and verification of the employment roll of the Municipality in order to ensure that those duly appointed by the Kanifing Municipal Council Service Commission are the ones engaged in active service.
1.6 My fifth task is to motivate the council to cause the Directorate of Finance, Administration and Development to prepare the work plan of the consultative process geared towards drafting a Comprehensive Three Year Development plan, the Kanifing Municipal Council Development Plan for validation, adoption and execution within a period of six months.
1.7 The Three Year Kanifing Municipal Council Development Plan would be preceded by the creation of a Committee to study the spatial arrangement of the Kanifing Municipality, that is, the landscape, its existing layouts for industrial, tourism, commercial, agricultural and residential purposes; its roads, sewage and drainage facilities, the positioning of transmission lines for electricity and telecommunication services, the location of pipes, canals and wetlands, the flora and fauna, the schools, markets, garages, hospitals and other social amenities; assess the state of affairs of all facilities provided by the council; acknowledge any defect in urban planning and infrastructural development and provide recommendations to address the challenges.
1.8 The Council will be steered to undertake a comprehensive documentation of all existing sources of revenue. It would propose revenue and income generation measures which could include collection of royalties from boreholes, transmission lines and pipe installations returns from investment in treasury bills, project grants through central government, general grants, grants-in-aid and equalization grants from central government.
Negotiation with Central government would be initiated to restore the authority of the Council to collect all levies, charges, fees payable in the Tourism Development Area. In return Council could offer to serve as agent of Central government in areas where it has comparative advantage to collect levies, charges and fees due to the Central body.
Council would seek to expand income from non -traditional sources such as the building of housing estates and investing in private and cooperative partnership to transform waste into energy and employ solar and wind power to generate energy for the use by productive enterprises such as Ice plants.
- The Council would be guided to strengthen its partnership with the Village and Ward Development Committees and activate its Planning and Development Directorate and Technical Advisory Committee to galvanise community participation in identifying the needs and priorities of each Community in a Ward in order to be fully capacitated to develop the appropriate Strategic Plans, Programmes and Projects.
2.1 The Council will identify service delivery institutions located on its territory in the area of health, education, youth and women empowerment and social welfare which it could take over from Central Government and run with greater efficiency and effectiveness and pursue all the grants, grants-in-aid and equalization of grants due to it to harness the human, financial and material resources to deliver them.
- The council will be motivated to consider and adopt the following development guidelines in building the Municipality we want and fit for us to live in:
3.1 The Council will mobilise all social and cultural groups and their leaders to review the names of streets and public places, confirm, restore names like Sayerr Jobe Avenue or assign names to them, cause the names to be exhibited on posts or pillars in an attractive manner ;
3.2 It would Identify compounds and each public place and give them numbers and designations respectively, cause such numbers or designations to be exhibited on the gate of each compound or exhibited on erection frontage of each public place
3.3 It would Initiate street decoration exercise and provision of shelters, temporary buildings, platforms, seats and other structures to serve as resting places for those waiting for transports or engaged in entertainment activities, processions, exhibitions, ceremonies or other displays aimed at recreation
3.4 It would ensure the identification of appropriate places for the placing of banners, transmission lines, ropes, or any other impediment to street crossing or traversing of public places in accordance with the aesthetic values.
3.5 It would identify and initiate planning to use open space for the erection of statues and fountains, the planting of flowers, trees and shrubs in order to promote environmental cleanliness and enhance sightseeing and other recreational activities.
3.6 Encourage community participation in ensuring the levelling and proper maintenance of occupied and unoccupied land and the trimming of any tree, shrubs overhanging any street and interfering with the passage of any traffic or the movement of pedestrians or the movement of transmission lines, or posing any threat to public safety
- the council will be encouraged to ensure protection of the environment from degradation and further ensure environmental sanitation by transforming the Abuko, Bundung, London, Latrikunda, Bakau, Old Jeshwang, New Jeshwang and Tallinding wetlands and waterways into clean canals and environmentally friendly habitat for flora and fauna to promote Eco- Tourism.
4.1 Such wetlands would be would serve as natural outlets for rain water from the town , a fertile place for aquaculture and horticulture and appropriate destination for ecotourism, through the clearing and levelling of the banks bordering the wetland and their decoration with shrubs, shelters, seats for recreation and sale of goods to tourists and other passers-by
4.2 It would initiate waste management measures at the domestic, industrial, commercial, community and council levels by the introduction of the sorting and separation of different types of waste such as paper, food, plastic and other items and facilitate their recycling to generate new products or reuse them
- Liquid waste would be regulated and its safe disposal ensured through the adoption of appropriate sewage facilities or through the application of appropriate waste disposal technology
- Animal husbandry would be controlled so that council will provide grazing ground for livestock ruminants without posing any risk to the environment and property
6.1 Control and regulation would be introduced in the process of cloth, tanning hides and skins and undertaking other cottage industries to promote enterprise and income generation without harming the environment
- The council will be steered to be the outlet for the provision of primary health care in collaboration with the ministry of health would grant first aid to residents
7.1 It would team up with the Ministry before the launching of its three year development programme to do an inventory of all health facilities and personnel in the municipality and assess the implementation of health policies as reflected by programmes and projects on the ground. It would sign an agreement with the Ministry for the devolution of certain health institutions to the council at central government expense to ensure greater efficiency and effectiveness in health service delivery.
7.2 It would seek to maintain a highly motivated and properly remunerated public health staff to promote the monitoring of harmful practices that contribute to pest infestations, especially mosquitoes and flies; help to control diseases, ensure the special housing of persons and the quarantining of animals of all kinds to control infectious diseases, ensure the provision of ambulance services, maintain slaughter houses, cold storage facilities, protect milk, meat and other perishables from decay, provide public lavatories and urinals, pounds to for stray animals and health facilities to treat sick ones, provide for the burial of bodies of destitute persons or unclean ones and maintain cemeteries, mortuaries and their ancillary services.
- Council would be steered to collaborate with the Ministry of the Interior to ensure provision of fire brigade services, training of council police and security on right based procedures of enforcement council by-laws; the prohibition, restriction and control of lawful behaviour which may emanate from gambling, drug use or intoxication or use of weapons to perpetrate violence; cooperate with the residents of the municipality especially their socio-cultural association to ensure the prohibition, restriction, regulation and control of any act that may be repugnant to public morality and justice.
8.2 The council will be steered to establish ad hoc committees for development purposes, key among these is the provision of public services, lighting of streets and public places; provision, private, public, commercial and public/private parking places; erection and maintenance of offices, libraries, workshops, depots, public hall, art galleries, museums, markets, canteens, social centres, clubs, botanical and zoological gardens, sporting facilities, play grounds, theatres; establish, hire, support council bands and orchestra to provide musical entertainment and other forms of public entertainment for residents.
- The Council would be steered to monitor the implementation of the 500 KM Road Project for the Urban area in order to develop a Comprehensive Secondary Road Project for the Municipality.
10.1 The Council will be steered to initiate programmes for adult education including vocational and skills training through apprenticeship and the operation of community centres.
10.2 Early Childhood Services would be given primacy in protecting the welfare of children and promoting their development.
11.1 Remedial Social Welfare Programmes would be initiated aimed at the alleviation of social distress among the physically challenged, the destitute, the ill and men and women who are left behind in the development process.
- Protection of the welfare of children especially the homeless will be a primary preoccupation of the council. Measures shall be taken to put an end to existence of destitute children. Their survival, protection and development will be uppermost in the policies, programmes and projects of the council
13.1 The council would be steered to collaborate with Central government to ensure the devolution of authority to manage and implement key youth enterprise projects such as the European Union funded initiatives to the tune of 3.9 Million Euros and 11million Euros in support of productive young people and discourage illegal migration. This amounts to 900 million dalasis. The council will seek to generate programmes to register all deserving young people, assist them to develop realistic projects and help them to get seed money individually or severally to start small and medium size enterprises which are self-reliant and sustainable
- The Council will be steered to register all women organisation and enterprising women and initiate projects which would derive funding from the cooperation between the Council and Central Government. Council would encourage Government to place funds for women in the hands of the Council for implementation.
- Transparency and Accountability would be institutionalised. Council meetings would be held in Public and access to minutes of meeting guaranteed to the Public. The By Laws of the Council will be published in the Newspapers and broadcast over the electronic media.
The Budget of the Council would be pasted in a Public place in each of the Wards as required by the Local Government Act.
