Administrative Decentralization in Post War Sierra Leone

Despite central government stated efforts in their defense that they have interest and believe in the process of decentralization and they are supporting it to ensure its effectiveness, it is still not being felt by the locals. Many believes that the national government is not interested in supporting decentralization in Sierra Leone, if one can consider that devolution is still not complete after 11 years since the reintroduction of decentralization. The LGA of 2004 is still not reviewed, even though gaps have been identified for so long, and national government continue to bypass the process and still see the Local Councils as parallel government structures to the national government especially in opposition held areas of the country. National MDAs see the Local Councils as occupying their space, and coming to take away the responsibilities that were held by them and centralized for so long, and they no long hold the authority they had before the reintroduction of decentralization.