Acting Chief Administrator of the Freetown City Council (FCC), John Amadu Conteh, has informed members of the Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Local Government and Rural Development that the FCC has disbursed the sum of Le2billion to clean the municipality.

Mr. Conteh told the Committee that the said amount was paid to the Freetown Waste Management Company from revenue collected by the council, claimingthat the central government had only remitted the sum of Le400million for cleaning of the city.

Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Abu Bakarr S.A.T Koroma, cited Section 93 of the 1991 Constitution which grants oversight responsibility to select committees in Parliament over the activities of ministries, departments, agencies, and local councils, as the rationale for their probes.

A member of the Committee, Hon. Alimamy G. Kargbo, said the Committee was looking at the level of compliance within councils, including transparency and accountability measures put in place to regularize councils' financial capacity. He said they were also concerned to know the challenges councils and councilors face in their routine operations.

The acting Chief Administrator told the Committee that the FCC would have delivered on their core responsibilities but were hampered by the huge amount of debt they incurred from the last administration. He revealed that the current administration has honoured twenty percent of the sum of about Le17billion debtowed to their creditors.

He further revealed that council now has a policy that MDAs should pay their city rate directly to the banks, adding that the central government owes the FCC Le3billion.

"If in time we are able to clear off all our arrears, I believe we will be able to move on with our public service delivery by at least 50%," Contehstated. He maintained that councilors and staff of the council are on good terms.

The Committee concluded that they would present their findings to Parliament for more deliberations, as despite the huge amounts expended by both the government and FCC, Freetown remains a filthy city and an eyesore to residents and visitors alike.