Freetown is not merely a city. It is the heartbeat, the history, and the hope of Sierra Leone. It is where freedom first found a home in West Africa, where our independence was proclaimed, and where the voices of our people meet the world.
For more than a century, the Freetown City Council (FCC) has shouldered the responsibilities of local governance, delivering public local services, representing the people, and safeguarding the heritage. These are not temporary roles; they are the results of decades of institution-building, public investment, and community struggle.
When the SLPP Government announced its intention to divide the Freetown Municipality, I voiced strong opposition — and I continue to hold that an abrupt, politically motivated division would be reckless and counterproductive.
Yet we must also be honest. Freetown was designed as a settlement for around 100,000 inhabitants. Today, it is home to well over 1.5 million people. This rapid demographic expansion, much of it unplanned, has stretched every system to breaking point — from housing, drainage, and waste management to policing, transport, and health care.
The question we must now confront is whether one mayor, one council, and one centralised political management system can truly govern such a vast, diverse, and complex metropolis. The honest answer is that it is increasingly complex. But the solution is not to fracture the city. The solution is to reform and modernise its governance in a strategic, evidence-based, and inclusive manner.
Why Rushed Division is the Wrong Answer
Institutions are not built overnight. They are nurtured through years of trust, investment, and collective practice. To divide Freetown suddenly would be to dismantle institutional memory and replace it with weaker, competing entities. Where this has been attempted elsewhere, the results have been disappointing.
For instance, when Lagos was divided into multiple local government areas without a strong metropolitan authority to coordinate them, waste management and traffic regulation became more chaotic, not less.
The danger is not only institutional weakness, but also the politicisation of development. When reform is motivated more by political calculations than by careful planning, it risks eroding public trust. In Côte d’Ivoire, when Abidjan’s municipal structures were altered to suit political interests, rivalry between councils replaced cooperation, weakening the city’s ability to deliver basic services until a stronger metropolitan structure had to be restored years later.
Even more worrying is the risk of fragmented services. The challenges Freetown faces — from flooding and housing shortages to congestion and environmental degradation — are not problems of neighbourhoods alone. They require city-wide solutions.
Dar es Salaam once experimented with dividing responsibility for solid waste across several councils, only to find that duplication and confusion worsened the problem. A more centralised system had to be reintroduced to ensure efficiency.
Finally, we must not underestimate the loss of global voice that would come from division. Today, Freetown has successfully attracted international partnerships on climate resilience, flood management, and urban governance, because it is recognised as one city, one capital. If it were fragmented, its negotiating power would diminish, and weaker councils would be left competing for recognition.
Lagos itself only regained a strong international profile after the establishment of Lagos State, which coordinated metropolitan governance across multiple councils.
A Strategic Path Forward
The challenges facing Freetown are real. But they cannot be solved by hasty fragmentation. They demand a deliberate, long-term strategy anchored in national dialogue, international learning, and phased reform.
First, Sierra Leone must launch a national dialogue. Every Sierra Leonean has a stake in Freetown. The city is not only home to its residents; it is the seat of government, the country’s central economic hub, and the destination for students, workers, and families from every district.
Reforming its governance cannot be reduced to a decision taken in Cabinet or Parliament alone. It must involve residents, community leaders, civil society, business actors, academics, and political parties.
When South Africa reorganised Johannesburg into a metropolitan municipality in 2000, the process was preceded by broad consultation and debate, which gave the reform legitimacy, even in the face of political resistance. Sierra Leone should do no less.
Second, reform must be informed by international best practices and learning. Many African capitals have faced similar dilemmas.
Accra, for example, introduced metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies to bring government closer to people, but because there was no strong metropolitan coordinating body, fragmented decision-making weakened service delivery.
Nairobi’s attempt in the 1990s to restructure city governance created more confusion than clarity, leading to further reforms decades later.
By contrast, Kigali in Rwanda pursued a metropolitan city government that devolved responsibility to districts while keeping strong central planning and coordination, ensuring both local responsiveness and metropolitan unity. These examples show clearly that fragmentation alone is no solution. What is needed is a system that balances local responsiveness with city-wide coordination.
Third, Sierra Leone must rethink Freetown’s political management system. The current model of one mayor and one centralised council is proving inadequate for a city of more than 1.5 million people.
Alternatives exist
One option is a metropolitan authority model, like London, where the mayor provides overall city leadership while borough councils handle localised issues.
Another option is a devolved administrative zone system, where Freetown could be organised into zones — East, Central, and West — each led by deputy mayors or commissioners who are accountable to the central mayor. Kigali has used this model to good effect, balancing unity with local responsiveness.
Even without complete restructuring, the FCC could be strengthened by introducing executive deputies responsible for key portfolios such as housing, climate resilience, and waste management, giving the mayor the bandwidth to oversee a complex and growing city.
Fourth, reform must be guided by a long-term vision. A 25-year Capital Development Strategy for Freetown should be developed, mapping out how the city will manage population growth, housing needs, infrastructure development, and environmental sustainability.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, adopted a 25-year master plan to guide urban expansion, ensuring that new housing and transportation projects were not left to chance, but were aligned with demographic realities. Freetown, too, needs such a guiding vision.
Fifth, any restructuring must be phased and adequately resourced. Johannesburg’s transition into a metropolitan government was carefully sequenced: first harmonising financial systems, then integrating institutions, and only later consolidating political structures. Sierra Leone should take note of this gradual approach rather than rushing into wholesale division.
Finally, while longer-term reforms are debated, the immediate priority must be strengthening the FCC. Greater financial autonomy, investment in infrastructure, and enhanced technical capacity are now essential. No governance model, however well designed, will succeed if the council itself is underfunded and undermined.
Renewal, Not Fragmentation
The SLPP Government’s proposal to divide Freetown is not development-oriented; it is short-sighted, politically motivated, and counterproductive. But this is not to deny that Freetown, in its current form, is struggling under the weight of rapid urban growth.
Reform is indeed necessary. The real question is not whether to reform, but how.
Sierra Leone faces two paths
The first is the path of haste: to rush into dividing Freetown, weakening institutions, fragmenting services, and eroding the city’s global standing.
The second is the path of strategy: to embrace national dialogue, to learn from international experiences, to reform political management thoughtfully, and to anchor it all in a long-term vision for renewal.
Let us be wise. Let us choose the strategic path. Freetown belongs to us all. It is our capital, our pride, and our shared future. Let us strengthen it together — not fracture it apart.
God bless our nation, Sierra Leone and protect our Capital from short sighted political reforms.