Reports reaching this medium have revealed that the government of Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma will be put under serious scrutiny for three weeks by Sierra Leoneans who have been yearning for such an opportunity to look into the performance, challenges and prospect of Sierra Leone since his administration took up office more than four years ago.

The Citizens' Report Cards (CRC), which was introduced by the Open Government Initiative (OGI), has attracted civil society groups, the media, physically challenged persons, and students from both tertiary institutions and universities to participate in order to ensure that the process is transparent and accountable.

Director of OGI, Ms Kadijah Sesay, said a special training on the CRC will start today at the National Stadium hostels to give a background to the process so as to allay the fears of some Sierra Leoneans that the country's CRC programme is political.

"We want to ensure that the ministries and departments are able to harness all the available resources to carry out their responsibilities for the benefit of Sierra Leoneans. All the line ministries have been invited to be part of this programme. We are doing this exercise without any political intention but rather for the development of our country," she said.

Madam Sesay further noted that the outcome of the survey will help government to either redouble their efforts or to strengthen certain ministries or departments for the development of the country, adding that prominent ministries including energy and water resources, health and sanitation, housing and infrastructure, education and agriculture are among the line ministries that have been targeted for the said survey.

"The energy sector was one of the key priority areas of the government. Shortly after his election in 2007, President Koroma promised to provide a reliable and sustainable power supply across the country," Ms Sesay said. "The aim of this survey primarily is to allow citizens to make fair comments on what government has been doing."

She added that an independent consultant has been hired to design the questionnaire which was validated by paramount chiefs, civil society groups and other relevant stakeholders.