By Kebba AF Touray, reporting from CRR
As part of its ongoing tour, the National Assembly Select Committee on Local Government, yesterday visited Kaur Market and Kuntaur Area Council
Pa Ansu Daboe, CEO of the Council, said their mandate is to provide services to the people as stipulated in the Local Government Act, in line with which, they paid their counterpart contribution of D800,000 to GAMWORKS under Poverty Alleviation and Capacity Building project (PACBP) for the construction of the said market.
“Our people pay monthly fees of D500 as the market rental subscription and the shop is under the custody of the Area Council. We have three sub committees, Finance, development and establishment, each responsible for the effective execution of its prescribed mandates”, he said.
He also said that the total revenue base for Kuntaur Area Council is in the tune of 6 million dalasi, of which D3 million goes to the payment of salary. This he said is insufficient and cannot finance all the needed activities of the Council.
During the visit to the Kuntaur Area Council, he cited the construction of Office Building and Staff Quarters at Kuntaur Area Council, Construction of multipurpose center at Kaur, construction of five bore holes with hand pumps and construction of Treasury Offices and Staff Quarters within their jurisdiction as some of the major successes of the Kuntaur Area Council.
“Our basket at GAMWORS for Kuntaur Area Council is about 48 million dalasi, our counterpart contribution is 3.5 million dalasi and as at now we have paid 2.4 million dalasi”, he said.
CEO Darboe, decried lack of government subvention, mobility and Capacity as Challenges which are impacting on their work in the two Area Councils.
Mustapha Njie and Musa Bah, some of the occupants of the Kaur market thumped up the Council for their ‘tireless efforts’ in providing services to them and called for continuity.
David Gomez of the Ministry of Regional Government told the Councils that their Challenges are noted and assured that the concerns raised will be looked into.
Hon. Foday NM Drammeh said the exercise is mandatory on the Committee to probe into the activities of the Agencies under its domain to improve delivery.
The Chairperson of the Committee, Musa Amul Nyassi, reiterated that the visit aims at assessing the activities of the Councils, identify the constraints and help mitigate them. He stressed that the government should be put to task in performing its duties to the Councils and the citizenry.
Earlier, the Committee visited Farafenni Meat and Fish Market and vendors decried lack of storage facilities, poor conditions and location of the market inter alia as Challenges affecting their work and called for remedies.
The tour continues today at Janjangbureh in CRR.
