by ibakarr | Apr 1, 2014 | Blog
The Bo Remand Home situated within the Benemix Community is intended to house juveniles who come in conflict with the Law and are on remand awaiting commencement of trials, during trials and while serving their punitive term of detention. According to the Remand Home Ordinance, in-mates should not exceed six months on remand; they should be bailed, released or committed, except for offenders kept for felonious offences. Sentenced male and female offenders serve their terms here too as facilities exist to house them.
While the Child Rights Act requires Remand Homes to provide rehabilitation for in-mates as their primary focus, such facilities as schooling, literacy classes and skills training facilities are entirely lacking here, much as provisions for recreational activities (football, checkers, Ludo and physical exercises) are, added to their lack of medical attention, water supply and foam mattresses.
At the time of interview the remand home in Bo had 13 in-mates (all males) 2 serving sentences and 11 on remand. Female in-mates are said to be seldom brought in, the latest having been brought in between December and January 2013. The most pronounced facility enjoyed by the boys is the three square meals of tea and bread for breakfast and rice for lunch and dinner. Little wonder that they look comparatively good as confirmed by their female cook and the boys themselves. Two compartments (rooms) exist for sleeping, with a male and female guard dwelling by the in-mates separately. This is intended to guard them from escaping since four boys broke through the iron bared windows and escaped last December. The foam mattresses, 2 inches thick, are old, tattered and not enough for them all. So the concrete-bed structures are now abandoned as the plank crossings over them are absent; so they spread the foam on the bear floor without sheets and coverings. The facility is protected by a ten-foot high fence run over with barbed wires and there is infrequent electrical supply. There is no safe drinking water such as runs from a tap; and the only well from which water is hand-pumped is out of use, and the in-mates go out to fetch water from other neighbourhoods in the community.
The CARL/SL observer visiting this Home met the boys playing a handball game called ‘Tent’ or ‘Sox-ball’. No football, checkers, Ludo or other facilities for physical exercise exist. Worse still is the absence of formal or non-formal training facilities for the youngsters. So they are virtually condemned to confinement without going through any reform process. They leave the Remand Home traumatised, hardened and having learned nothing other than varieties of criminal skills from their in-mates, their only role models. The sad result is that they return to their communities without having learned any job skills, or continued education of any kind.
In the recent past Defence for Children International (DCI) was providing these youngsters some forms of non-formal education (Literacy Classes), and CARL/SL offering them paralegal services to assist them in their court trials. Other forms of assistance have been in the form of a set of DVD players and a medium sized deep freezer in September 2011 donated by Prison Watch, and then a portable bedroom fridge offered by the Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children’s Affairs (MSWGCA).
The Home has eight (8) staff members: five (5) from the MSWGCA and 3 from the government prisons department, the latter running security protection on weekly shifts. In past years only once had 3 in-mates escaped at night (last December), at a time when a part of the high walled fence had broken, but the escapees were caught not long after.
Three of the in-mates interviewed, all aged 16, were on remand for adult-like offences ranging from house breaking and larceny to assault and wounding with intent. The first among them had just graduated from serving a two years sentence in Kenema prison and within a forthright was caught in Bo city carrying a bag containing an iron bar and a knife, mazing between houses after 2:00 am. The second stabbed his fellow in a mere scuffle at Tokpoi Town Section in Bo city. A third confessed that he had a case that had been committed to the Bo High Court and for which he was standing trial. It is as if Lucifer has pronounced doom on the youth of our age!
The Remand Home is credited for its impressive separation of in-mates from adult and more seasoned criminals save for their joint cells during police investigation and detention. However, there are a number of challenges facing staff of the facility. The more urgent challenges for the MSWGCA staffs are the lack of sufficient furniture in the office for their use and for accommodating visitors, and the low salaries they are paid. The virtually broken steel bars across the windows need urgent rehabilitation to secure the unit and prevent in-mates from escaping. The Remand Home needs to have additional staff to augment the effort of the 2 prison guards that work twenty four hours and throughout the week on rotational shifts, and their salaries need to be increased.
The in-mates urgently require a rehabilitation of their concrete-walled beds, and they need to be provided with bed sheets, bed covers, plank crossings, sufficient foam mattresses, soap, buckets for bathing, drinking water, cooking spoons and more. Most importantly, there need to be provision for their formal education or non-formal skills training, to equip them and make them fit for proper re-integration into society after their remand period, and enable them to readily return to school, as provided for in the Child Rights Act. Further, transportation facilities need to be put in place to take these detainees to and from courts for their trial.
That this Home lacks the forementtioned repairs, sufficient furnishing, schooling and skills training, suggests that the MSWGCA needs to reawaken its efforts and be more proactive in improving the conditions in which juvenile detainees are kept. Holding them under such odd conditions amounts to abusing and violating their rights, as well as flouting international principles on juvenile justice, including the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (the Beijing Rules), and the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juvenile Deprived of their Liberty (the JDL Rules).
by ibakarr | Apr 1, 2014 | Uncategorized
There have been persisting questions about the commitment of the leadership of the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) to foster accountability within the force since the conflict ended more than a decade ago. Questions about police accountability have prompted calls for more civilian oversight of the decision-making and accountability mechanisms of the police. At the moment, the police is essentially run by politicians. For instance, the highest decision-making body of the police, the Police Council, is headed by the Vice President. The Internal Affairs Minister serves as Secretary to the Council. In fact, seven of the eight members of the Council are directly or indirectly selected by the President. The Council has enormous responsibilities. Pursuant to Section 158(1) of the Constitution of Sierra Leone, the Council advises the President on “all major matters of policy relating to internal security, including the role of the police force, police budgeting and finance, administration and any other matter as the President shall require.” Such are the powers of the Council that it is inconceivable that it is still run and controlled by politicians. This is an anomaly that the Constitutional review process will hopefully address.
Consistent with its oversight responsibilities, the Police Council set up the CDIID as an internal accountability mechanism that investigates complaints against police officers. It is worth recognizing that the CDIID has successfully carried out a number of investigations, and recommended disciplinary actions against a host of badly behaved police officers. In spite of these apparent successful cases, there are questions about the absence of civilian presence on the committee and the lack of transparency in or access to its proceedings. These questions keep coming back because the CDIID consists entirely of police officers, and hardly does it make its proceedings accessible to the public.
Discussions about the widening impunity gap in the police heightened in the last three years, particularly after the alleged unlawful killings by security personnel attached to mining companies or those ordered to put down riotous conduct. In the recent past, there have been tragic stories of police officers allegedly pulling the trigger for no justified reason. The result has been the loss of civilian lives. Many of these shootings have been followed by state-sanctioned investigations into the circumstances leading to them. Each of those investigations has come out with a report, but sadly little has been done in terms of implementing those recommendations. In essence, most of the violations have gone unpunished. Instances of violations without any genuine effort by the leadership of the police, including the Police Council, to foster accountability are many. For instance, police personnel shot dead an unarmed motorcycle rider and wounded several others during a September 2011 politically-motivated violence in Bo. Despite a recommendation for investigation and disciplinary action by a Presidential Committee set up to investigate the incident, no action was taken. It is a shame that civilians who were allegedly responsible for the acts of violence ‘are/were being tried’, while the police officers were simply shielded. In addition, police personnel shot dead a woman and injured at least six others in Bumbuna, northern Sierra Leone, following a protest by mine workers. An investigation report by the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone (HRCSL) recommended that the police identify and investigate all personnel involved in the incident. Many of the key recommendations have still not been carried out. There have also been alleged unlawful killings by police officers in Goderich and Wellington, and in Ferengbeya and Koidu, in Freetown and the provinces, respectively. Still, little has been done to bring the perpetrators to justice. In May 2013, the police also shot dead a U.S-based Sierra Leonean who was on vacation in Sierra Leone in circumstances that are still being investigated. Never mind the Inspectoral-General of Police roundly justified the action of his officers at the time.
Perhaps in recognition of the jurisdictional incapacity of the CDIID to undertake an independent and complex investigation as well as the growing public pressure to end impunity in the police, the Police Council, Ministry of Internal Affairs and other actors partnered to develop regulations for the establishment of an Independent Police Complaints Board (IPCB). Among other things, the regulations make provision for the establishment of an independent police complaints board mandated to investigate:
– the death of any person in the custody of the police
– a shooting incident where a police officer has discharged a firearm or killed a person
– incidents of injuries and assault or wounding caused by a police officer
– allegations of misconduct involving an officer of the rank of Superintendent or higher
Other critical functions of the board include advising the police force on ways in which negative incidents involving the police may be avoided or eliminated. Each of these functions is important, but in light of recent incidents relating to police brutality, there would be little or no argument about the fact that the Board’s most difficult function would be to investigate shooting incidents where police officers have discharged firearms or killed a person. To do so would require adequate funding, independent and well-driven leadership, and sustained oversight from the public. Civil society organisations and Police Partnership Boards have a key role to play. There is an unfortunate tendency of public officials sometimes going out of their way to show allegiance to their direct employers – rather than the people whose interests they are expected to protect. My genuine hope is that members of the IPC Board will think and act differently. They must always remember that their primary responsibility is to promote accountability for perpetrators, and more importantly, ensure that victims get justice. The worst possible outcome of such a commendable initiative is to allow police officers to commit serious violations and shield the alleged perpetrators from facing justice.
This is quite a laudable effort, and the CARL entirely commends everyone or institution that has been involved in the process. There are, however, some grey areas in the regulations that have the potential of undermining the Board’s independence to freely and fairly dispense its obligations. First off, it is simply a regulation – not a law. That is not good enough. We should have been more ambitious and committed to addressing the problem through an Act of parliament. The regulation provides a useful step forward, though, in terms of addressing the impunity gap that has characterised the police for decades, it is still work in progress, and going forward, strong efforts are required to ensure that the Board is truly independent. The issue of independence is important because four of the seven members of the Board will be directly or indirectly appointed by the President. It is curious that no civil society group is represented on the Board. There will be representatives from the national human rights commission, the Bar Association and the inter-religious council. That should provide some consolation.
Funding is another potential source of challenge for the Board. The Regulations do not set out a distinct funding mechanism for the Board. It is, therefore, very likely that the funding for the Board will be subsumed either in the budget of the Sierra Leone Police or another state organ. It is public knowledge that the Legal Aid Board has not been set up because the state has not provided funds for its operations. We might avoid that unfortunate experience by designing a workable strategy for bankrolling the IPC Board. The danger about allowing funds for the Board to come from the annual allocation to the police, for example, is that it might easily give the police leadership an undue leverage over the Board. That should not be allowed to happen.
The Board should promote public interest in, and support for the Board by ensuring that public hearings are decentralized and members of the public are given unlimited opportunities to follow the proceedings. Since the regulations give the Board the power to make decisions regarding the conduct of public hearings, it is recommended that hearings are ideally held in the communities or districts where the incidents took place. After all, justice should not only be done, it must be seen to be done.
The Board is also limited in terms of the class of personnel whose alleged misconduct can be investigated. The Board can only investigate allegations of misconduct involving an officer of the rank of Superintendent or higher. In other words, personnel who fall below the aforementioned rank will continue to be subject to the current accountability mechanisms in the police, i.e. the CDIID. This obviously requires the need to make the CDIID’s complaints hearing procedures more transparent and more accessible to the public. I understand the need to reduce the number and types of complaints that can be handled by the IPCB, but without corresponding changes in the way the CDIID works, efforts at ensuring accountability for police officers would be incomplete. This is particularly important in light of the numerous complaints that are reportedly filed by motorcycle riders against traffic police officers. Many of the officers involved in the alleged violations are below the rank of Superintendent. Regardless of their rank, there needs to be a reliable method of holding them accountable in a fair, transparent and timely manner.
The approval of regulations for the establishment of an independent police complaints board is clearly a laudable effort, but as with many brilliant initiatives in Sierra Leone, effective implementation will be a key challenge. If it is allowed to function as a truly independent complaints board, it could help tighten the impunity gap and restore public trust and confidence in the police.
by ibakarr | Apr 1, 2014 | Uncategorized
Sexual violence continues to be one of the greatest crimes committed against girls in Northern Sierra Leone. Although there are laws in place aimed at protecting and promoting the rights of children in the country, yet girls continue to struggle in the hands of perpetrators. Most children between the ages of two and fourteen continue to grapple with the increasing trend in unlawful carnal knowledge or rape, having little or nothing to do due to the effect of sexual violence on their lives.
In the north, especially in the Bombali District, sexual violence continues to have adverse effects on the lives of the vast majority of girls.
The lack of adequate laws to deal with sexual violence is contributing to the increase in the number of rape and indecent assault cases.
Most of these cases are resolved by out-of-court settlements, a situation which in itself continues to pose a serious threat to the administration of justice in not only the north, but in the country as a whole. Worse still, many of the few that make it to the courts either fail as a result of lack of sufficient evidence to convict the perpetrator or the litigants are frustrated by unwarranted delays and the cost of transportation to cover travel expenses amidst the many repeated adjournments. The attitude of some parents by compromising the cases, either because they have been bribed by the accused or offered a pleasant promise, has also continued to deny the rights of victims, mostly very young girls, to justice. Some family members even receive money from the perpetrator and stop pursuing the latter’s conviction, failing to realize the effect this attitude will have on the girl later in life and even the community as a whole, since it will only encourage recurrence of the act once perpetrators continue to evade justice.
The effect of sexual violence and the often stifled victims’ access to justice in these cases, particularly in the north, has had a number of devastating effects on the victims, quite apart from and in addition to denial of justice. First, there is the psychological effect that follows a sexual attack. Here, as in most parts of Sierra Leone, victims of rape are often scorned by parents, relatives and other members of society. They may be accused of indecent exposure or recklessly dressing, and perhaps most outrageously, even blamed for being “too often in the company of men”. Some are stigmatized and made objects of derision. The victim is regarded in families in the north as a shame and a disgrace to the family, and where the victim is an unmarried girl, she might not attract any suitors in that community, and marriage becomes a tough possibility for her in the future. Also, the victims’ lives are folded inwards, with self-restrictions on their involvement with their peers in school or their immediate neighbours. In fact, this causes many to leave school and in some cases to move to other places in self-imposed exiles. Those who manage to stay in school have to cope with stigmatization. All these have a rippled effect on access to justice for victims, as many rape victims, for the reasons discussed above, often shy away from the police or the courts for fear of publicity and the subsequent social stigma that is bound to come with it.
There are also health implications. In most cases, girls who are sexually abused contract Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). For example, the 9 year-old victim of Alimamy Sesay of Magbaimba Ndohahun Chiefdom (now serving a jail sentence after his conviction), was diagnosed to have contracted an STI after her encounter with the accused.
Some teenage pregnancies in the north have often been caused by rape. Sadly though, some parents would rather force their victimized children on the perpetrator in marriage than pursue the matter in court, although the Child Right Act makes it a crime for anyone to impregnate a girl of minority age. But this law will only be operational when the victim’s parents or representatives are ready to pursue the matter in court.
The Sexual Offences Act is a very big step forward, but needs to be vehemently implemented in every community throughout the country, and locals need to be properly educated on particularly the need for victims to go to court after a sexual attack. They must also be made aware that out-of-court settlement is often at the detriment of the victim and will encourage a recurrence of sexual violence in the community. The law will be more effective if all potential victims know their rights and have the support of their family and the society as a whole, and if the courts will cut down on the persistent delays through unnecessary adjournments.
Without these and other proactive measures, Sierra Leone will remain far behind in the match up to international standards in protecting and promoting the rights of children. The government has to be firm in the fight against sexual violence in the country by establishing close partnerships with NGOs, civil society organizations, and other humanitarian efforts to establish more community structures that will help in bringing out sexual abuse matters to the attention of the appropriate authorities. It is therefore recommended that, more education/ sensitization be done on the Sexual Offences Act, and the Child Right Act be properly implemented at all levels within the district.
by ibakarr | Apr 1, 2014 | Uncategorized
Sexual and gender based crimes are some of the menaces threatening human security in Sierra Leone as a result of the 11 years civil war that tore the country apart. During the war, women and girls were raped, sexually assaulted and tortured and intimidated through with weapons such as guns, sticks, machetes, etc. by all the fighting factions involved in the war. After the war, these crimes became more common and persistent, with the perpetrators in most cases going unpunished. The impunity gap became so wide that incidents of Sexual and gender based violence continue to increase drastically in the country as a whole. Access to justice for victims of these crimes is could be described as grossly stifled but for the increasing efforts of CARL and other partners fighting for the protection and advancement of the rights of vulnerable groups.
In an effort to combat this menace in our society, the government of Sierra Leone has passed a lot of laws, prominent among which are what are referred to as the Three Genders Acts passed in 2007, to promote parity between men and women; the Child Right Act 2007, to promote the rights of the child; and the Sexual Offences Act 2012, with a view to providing more legal protection for women and girls to overcome sexual violence, intimidation, indecent assault, as well as to advance accountability for perpetrators of such crimes.
In order to compliment the effort of the government, Centre for Accountability and the Rule of Law (CARL-SL) has taken the fight against sexual gender based violence to Kambia District, with support for the Secretary Global Women Issues (SGWI) funded by American Embassy, to hold perpetrators of sexual gender-based crimes accountable, to reduce the prevalence of sexual gender based violence and enhance access to justice for victims of such violations. CARL has carried out a number of activities aimed at ascertaining the level of sexual and gender based violence prevalence, public attitude towards women’s rights and access to justice in the local courts. The outcome of these effort shows that there is need to transform social and cultural norms, rebuild community structures and support systems, and strengthen the capacity of justice service providers such as the local court, to ensure that they conform to international human rights standards. In order to sustain the project in Kambia, CARL employs the services of some of the beneficiaries to serve as community monitors.
This way CARL was able to operate in three Chiefdoms namely- Magbema, Gbilleh Dixing and Masungbala and in twelve (12) communities in Kambia District communities. Forty-two (42) volunteers received training in different skills that relate to preventing and responding to sexual and gender based violence. These skills include advocacy, mediation, intervention, and training on the four gender laws, namely; the Domestic Violence Act, the Devolution of Estates Act, the Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce Act, plus the Sexual Offences Act and other human rights issues. At the end of the training, 30 persons were encouraged to serve as community-based monitors and 12 court monitors (inclusive of the Local Court and the Magistrate Court) in their respective communities.
These monitors helped staff to conduct video screening on the Gender Laws during the outreach sensitisation in their communities. This in turn allows community members to report on issues affecting them on SGBV and human rights related problems to the monitors, who in most case assist them to access justice by filling complaints to the Family Support Unit (FSU) in Kambia Town. The community based monitors work in collaboration with the local authorities in their respective communities as they have been able to refer cases to the FSU through the aim of the Paramount Chiefs and Local authorities in their different communities. A case at hand presently involves the son of the chief in one of our target communities, who allegedly sexually penetrated an 8-year old girl. The chief himself notified the community based monitors about the incident and informed them that during the outreach session he learnt that he was not supposed to mediate on such a case. He then handed over the accused to the monitors who later helped the victim file a complaint with the police and currently the alleged perpetrator is helping the FSU personnel with their investigation.
CARL’s intervention in our targeted communities in Kambia District has helped community members, especially women and girls, to know about the laws and how to seek redress when their rights are being violated. With the help of the monitors, the community members are very cooperative and willing to minimize incidents of SGBV in their communities by willingly coming out to file complaints, though there are a few challenges along the line. For example, a case of sexual penetration was filed to the police involving a 35-year old man who sexually penetrated an 8-year old girl. The matter was referred to the FSU in Kambia and the victim was given a form to take to the government hospital for examination, treatment and report. Unfortunately for the victim , the Community Health Officer that was in charge asked the parents of the victim to pay a sum of Le 150,000 before administering treatment. It took the intervention of CARL’s Coordinator for the victim to be taken to the theatre. Later, the victim’s father was asked to buy drugs for his daughter, which he could hardly afford. This is not an isolated case because during our outreach session in the communities, a lot of issues were raised concerning the free treatment (or the lack of it), that SGBV victims are entitled to.
On this note, CARL would like to draw the attention of the Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children’s Affair to the issue of free treatment and report for victims of SGBV as stated in Section39 of the Sexual Offences Act 2012. CARL is aware of the fact that the Ministry and its development partners have developed a document called the National Referral Protocol on Gender-Based Violence, which is an agreement of cooperation among the respective ministries of the government of Sierra Leone to ensure an effective response to and coordination of service for victims of SGBV. It will please CARL if this document is disseminated to the various institutions and implemented accordingly, as this will enhance access to justice for victim of SGBV.
by ibakarr | Jan 10, 2014 | Uncategorized
In February 2013, the Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL) launched the ‘Accountability and Citizens Participation in Local Councils’ project. Funded by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), the project seeks to foster increased transparency and citizens’ participation in local government consistent with Sections 107 and 108 of the Local Government Act 2004. Local government administration, after a thirty-two year hiatus, was revived in 2004. Regrettably, nearly a decade after the law was promulgated, implementation of most of its key provisions, including Sections 107 and 108, remains a huge challenge. As part of the project, CARL seeks to empower citizens to demand accountability from their leaders as well as work with the relevant local councils to be more willing to disclosing information to the public. The project is implemented in the Western Urban, Western Rural, Bombali, Bo, Kenema and Pujehun Districts.
For the sake of effective delivery, CARL has partnered with reputable district-based organisations, including Movement for Restoration and Rural Democracy (MORRD) in the East, Human Empowerment and Development Foundation (HEMDeF) in the South, and the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CDHR) in the North. The project is being implemented in the Western Area by CARL. In an environment where accountability, transparency and effective citizens’ participation are weak, any efforts at bringing about radical or even moderate changes can be quite challenging. In spite of the obvious challenges, there have been some gains. Among others, our consultative conferences helped us to fully understand the concrete steps councils are taking to address some of the perennial challenges relating to participation and transparency.
In the Western Urban District, for instance, where there was only one notice board prior to the commencement of the project, thanks in part of the project’s constant awareness raising and other efforts, the Freetown City Council has now erected thirteen notice boards that can be found in the following wards: Wards 389, 393, 370, 364, 382, 386, 369, 364, 390, 378, 360, 385 and 391. In the Western Rural District, in spite of complaints of lack of funds, noticeboards have been erected in each of the five constituencies, including Waterloo, York, Koya and Mountain Rural. In Kenema district, due to increased and sustained advocacy by our partners, both the Kenema City Council and Kenema District Council have approached IFAD to support the construction of offices in each ward and part of the plan is that each ward office will have a notice board.
Kenema town now has notice boards at the following locations: Kenema City Council office; Kenema Government Hospital; Kenema Post Office; Kenema Police Station; The Eastern Polytechnic Campus; KDEC Primary School at Moiwo Street.
For the Kenema District Council, there are still some challenges, including the lack of suitable and protected areas where these notice boards could be located without being vandalized or damaged, a fear pointed out by District Council officers.
Key areas where IFAD has constructed Ward Committee offices and where notice boards could possibly be displayed under high protection include; Ward 51 – Kandu Leppiama Chiefdom; Ward 56 – Dama Chiefdom; Ward 59 – Gaura Chiefdom; Ward 57 – Malegohun Chiefdom; Ward 48 – Simbaru Chiefdom; Ward 58 – Koya Chiefdom; Ward 35 – Nongoma Chiefdom; Ward 61 – Tunkia Chiefdom; and Ward 49 – Dodo Chiefdom.
In Pujehun District, notice boards have been erected in 19 of the 20 wards. In Bo District, nineteen (19) out of twenty-nine (29) wards now have notice boards; and Bombali District, which has been the most reluctant to adhere to the law on the erection of notice boards, now has notice boards under construction. Comparatively, there has been considerableprogress in all the six districts that this project is being rolled out. While there are still challenges in terms of disclosure of information, some councils have responded to our message and are willingness making key information available or accessible to their residents. In some ways, there has been an improvement in terms of citizens’ participation in the running of councils. Ward Development Committee elections were held in all the districts and CARL and its partners witnessed a good number of them. Monthly meetings, which were quite few and far in-between, have now become the norm rather than the exception. The project’s awareness raising efforts, including jingles and radio discussion programmes, have also been helpful. Our radio discussion programmes have also been quite helpful in fostering interaction between citizens and council officials who are regularly invited to participate in the discussion sessions. Transparency in councils has also increased as all the councils under review now have a Council Hour, a radio programme used by local councils to explain their operations to as well as give citizens the opportunity to make their input by asking questions or making recommendations.
There are still challenges, of course. It is hoped, however, that the organisation will build on these gains and help transform not only how the councils are run but also the level of public interest and participation in them.
