By Alieu Jallow
Papa Tunkara, the Chairman of the Kerewan Area Council, in an exclusive interview discussed with The Fatu Network his journey from obscurity to leading a vibrant and functional council, reflecting on the challenges he faced as a former ward councillor of Farafenni, the strategic initiatives that fuelled their success, and his vision for the future.
He explained that when he took office, he inherited a council struggling with significant issues, including limited resources, inadequate infrastructure, and a lack of community engagement.
“The time we came into office, we made inquiries through the director of finance and the former CEO who were here. It was only D400,000 I found in our account which was very limited, and it was the end of the month and paying salaries was challenging. So, after a meeting with my council, we decided to go out with my councillors to make collections from the various markets and ‘lumos’ to test and gauge the amount the collectors were collecting a day.”
Guided by perseverance, the KAC Chairman embarked on a mission to transform the council. A pivotal strategy he employed was the establishment of a transparency and accountability framework to mitigate financial discrepancies.
“From my experience as a former ward councillor and the chairman of the finance committee, when I just came, I knew that what they were generating and what was on the ground was different. That [is] why I mobilised my councillors and started the collection. When we did this, we doubled the amount they used to collect. Secondly, in those days the collectors did not bank but kept the money in their offices and personal custody and when the need arose, they were called to complete a transaction, but I decided to stop it completely. I instructed them to bank all the monies they collected daily as it will help us to account for finances,” he said.
Chairman Tunkara further emphasized the council’s struggles with mobility, leading him and the CEO to resort to using their personal vehicles for the council’s official duties.
“We came and realised that there was no vehicle that was road-worthy again. We used our vehicles [and] eventually those vehicles got stuck, but we had to negotiate with Super Sonic to [get a] loan [to] buy vehicles which we are using now and paying by instalment,” Tunkara told The Fatu Network.
Today, the Kerewan Area Council serves as an exemplar of effective governance, highlighting the significance of women’s empowerment through the appointment of seven women to the tribunal court.
“We realised that there were no women representatives in the tribunal court which is very bad because a female may have an issue and cannot discuss that with a man, so we deemed it necessary and appointed seven women in the tribunal court,” he said
The Kerewan Area Council’s ongoing evolution stands as a testament to the power of dedicated leadership and community engagement, transforming a previously underperforming council into a dynamic centre of progress and optimism for the coming generations.
