A mayor is reforming Sierra Leone’s rotten property tax
Other African cities should follow suit
WHEN ASKED why she wanted to be mayor of Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr answers without hesitation: “My heart was breaking at what the city was becoming.” In her two years a lot has improved. Gutters have been dug in flood-prone districts. Dustbins have proliferated throughout the city. Grass is sprouting from a roundabout once strewn with litter. But there is still much to do. Electricity flickers. Taps run dry. Rubbish heaps bigger than football fields still fester.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “A tax on all your houses”
From the June 20th 2020 edition
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