Sierra Leone 

Key facts

POPULATION: (Census 2004) 4,976,871
AREA: 71,740 sq km
CAPITAL: Freetown
LOCAL GOVERNMENT CONTRIBUTION TO GDP: 0.7%
CURRENCY: leone (Le)
HEAD OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT: President Ernest Bai Koroma
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: constitutional republic
PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM: unicameral
STATE STRUCTURE: unitary
LANGUAGES: English (official) Krio, Mende, Temne, Limba (recognised)
NATIONAL ELECTIONS: last: 2007; turnout: 75.8%
(Parliamentary and Presidential first round); 68.1%
(Presidential run-off); next: 2012
LOCAL ELECTIONS: last: 2008; turnout: 38.9%; next: 2012

Summary

Sierra Leone is a constitutional parliamentary republic with three spheres of government: central government, local councils and chiefdom councils. There is no constitutional provision for local government therefore the Local Government Act 2004 is the main legislation that provides the legal framework for local councils. The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) has responsibility for implementing decentralisation and local governance reforms. There are 19 local councils made up of five city councils, one municipal council in the urban areas and, 13 district councils in the predominantly rural areas. The Local Government Act 2004 gives both the local councils and the chiefdom councils powers to raise revenue including local taxes, property rates, licences, fees and charges, mining revenues, interest and dividends etc. Transfers from central government include recurrent and development components. There are three broad types of transfers: administrative grants, grants for devolved functions and local government development grants. Under the Local Government Act 2004, 80 functions were devolved to local councils. By the end of 2010 46 of the 80 had been devolved, with the intention that the remainder of functions will be devolved by the end of 2012. The 46 currently devolved functions include but are not limited to, primary and secondary health, primary and junior-secondary education, environmental health, agriculture extension services, rural water supply, solid waste management and community development.

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Related links

Commonwealth Local Government Good Practice Scheme in Sierra Leone

Additional information since publication:

no information at present