ANGER AND DISBELIEF SHOWN IN BASSE

On The Sale Of Basse Area Council Premises

any people in the Upper River Division (URD), especially in Basse, are now
preoccupied with the report that the Basse Area Council premises have been
tendered for sale. Dissatisfaction is being expressed irrespective of
political affiliation. The Basse Area Council premises have become a
regional issue.
The government must, therefore, bear in mind that it has failed miserably to
carry out its democratic mandate to facilitate the establishment of a Local
Government Act which would ensure the emergence of Councils comprising
democratically elected representatives who can be subjected to recall by
their electorate for maladministration or misrepresentation.
The government must, therefore, take responsibility for any action taken by
the current Council which has been imposed on the people in the URD.
The reliable information reaching FOROYAA puts into question the whole
exercise of tendering the Area Council premises for sale. Let us examine the
sequence of events.

AGREEMENT TO SELL BEFORE TENDERING
What is strange to many people is the knowledge that a meeting took place on
28 August 2000 as a result of which the members of the Management Committee,
the chiefs and the Chairman of the Council are reported to have agreed to
sell the old Basse Area Council premises to Mr Ba Saho of Kulari village at
a cost of D300,000.
According to the report, the members of the Committee took the decision in
order to raise funds to enter into partnership with GAMWORKS to finance what
they termed as "priority projects", which include the following:

Sotuma/Gambissara road network counterpart contribution of   D109,088.00;
Basse main market phase II
D39,036.64
Light Industrial Area Basse:
D60,000.00
Staff pending salaries plus gratuities
D20,000.00
Staff salaries for September 2000
D70,000.00

Total
D298,124.64

This was said to have been communicated to the Secretary of State for Local
Government and Lands in a bit to seek his approval. What is not clear is
whether the Secretary of State has given his approval or not.

Notwithstanding, he visited Basse on Monday, 28 August 2000 as part of his
nation wide tour. During the visit, the priority projects were mentioned by
the Local Government Officer. Interestingly enough, on 29 August 2000,
people in Basse heard the following announcement from the Local Government
Officer:


"INVITATION FOR TENDER FOR SALE OF THE OLD BASSE AREA COUNCIL PREMISES

"The Management of the Basse Area Council hereby invites tender from
interested individuals, companies for the sale of the above property in
Basse town, Upper River Division.

"Those interested are to submit their tender in sealed envelop marked:
"TENDER FOR THE SALE OF OLD BASSE AREA COUNCIL PREMISES

"For any other information that the bidder consider relevant please contact
the Local Government Officer on 668281/057.

"The closing date for the Tender will be the 15th September 2000.

"Thanks you.

"Eduwarr Seckan
"Local Government Officer."

This gave rise to voices of protest against the intention.

THE VIEWS OF THE PEOPLE

According to many people, there is no justification for the sale of the
Council's premises; that previous sale of Council premises had neither been
transparent nor beneficial to the Council; that the Immigration Department
of in fact renting in one of such premises at great cost to government.

Some question whether the Council has become bankrupt and is unable to meet
its obligations, thus resorting to the sale.

There is general opposition to the sale. It is, therefore, absolutely
essential for the government to recognise that tendering after agreeing to
sell something connotes gross lack of transparency. The whole arrangement
should be shelved and the matter left for a democratically elected Council
to decide.

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