Sierra Leone

RDF has supported the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Resources and the National Minerals Agency (NMA) from 2009 and have gone on in five phases until the end of 2018. The German government, through GIZ funded the last three phases, while prevous phases of the project were funded by the European Commission, UNDP, and RDF.

RDF has worked with NMA to strengthen the agency’s management and governance of the mining license process. Through the project, the NMA has streamlined the entire licensing process to make it efficient and more accountable with a goal to increase mining investment in the country. NMA use MCAS for all licenses and permits, including large ans small scale licenses, dealers and export permits, as well as artisanal
licenses issued at the four NMA regional offices.

All license data is published automatically to the GoSL Online Repository, where the majority of mining sector stakeholders are frequently using to look up and keep up to date about the license regsitry. The portal is considered best practice in terms of public disclosure and contributes to EITI mainstreaming.

RDF has also support the National Revenue Authority (NRA) with ha new payment system for non-tax revenue that integrates with the MCAS system. Non-tax revenue is government revenue in the form of fees for services provided. This was an area that has been stressed repeatedly by the Auditor General as requiring urgent improvement in accountability.

A link between the Revenue Authority and the National Mineral Agency has been established and, as a result, all orders to pay are received electronically and payments are recorded in the Non-Tax Revenue System (NTRS) digitally. The NTRS system receives electronic orders to pay issued in the MCAS system and records payments following the revenue code classification of the National Revenue Authority. When a payment has been made an electronic confirmation is given back to the MCAS system.

RDF has also supported seven local councils with a system for managing property taxes and business licenses, improving the efficiency and accountability in revenue and tax collection. The lightweight, user-friendly system allows governments to manage property tax and business license data, with the associated revenue streams. RDF’s main property tax project has been in collaboration with Bo City Council, with its origins as early as 2009. The largest phase was funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in 2012 and was completed in 2014.

START DATE

2009

OBJECTIVES

Enhance Revenues and Efficiency of Natural Resource Administration

Enhance Local Government Revenue from Property Tax and Business Licensing

Ensure Transparency of Concession and Payment Data

Process Cumulative Revenue of $100m by 2015

CLIENTS

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security

Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources

National Revenue Authority

Bo City Council