Property taxes remain one of the most underperforming sources of revenue for urban development across Africa. One reason is that they are often opposed by the economic elites and large property owners. Freetown, the economic and administrative hub of Sierra Leone, has successfully implemented a property tax regime aimed at raising revenue the city needs for its development.

Freetown is where 15% of the country’s population lives, out of a total population of nearly 9 million. The city accounts for 30% of Sierra Leone’s economic output as measured by gross domestic product (GDP). GDP in 2024 was nearly US$7 billion.

Urban economist Astrid R.N. Haas asked Manja Kargbo, who leads the Mayor’s Delivery Unit in the Freetown City Council, how Freetown pulled it off.

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Can you walk us through the process Freetown went through to design and implement its property tax reform, from the initial idea to where you are today, including why you decided to focus on property tax reform?

Freetown’s property tax reform began in September 2019 with a recognition that the city’s revenue base was severely underutilised, and property tax offered a sustainable, locally controlled source of funding. Freetown could not rely on central government transfers to finance core urban services. In recent years these grants to the city have continued to fall.

Therefore, the reform was designed to increase the city’s own source revenue by improving fairness, transparency and compliance while modernising outdated property identification, valuation, billing and enforcement systems.

The reform process included:

• Creation of a digital platform, (Moptax), to manage assessments, billing and payments.

• A comprehensive valuation cycle supported by satellite imagery, field discovery and digital mapping.

• Development of standard operating procedures for each stage of the tax cycle, from the identification of a new property within the city’s boundaries to enforcement.

• Strategic engagement with stakeholders, including councillors, community leaders and taxpayers, to build trust and understanding.

• A phased rollout of the new property tax system, starting with pilot testing, training of council staff and continuous feedback loops.

The reform has now reached a point where the city has institutionalised many of these processes, with the Freetown City Council administration taking the lead and the reform team providing technical support.

Property tax is often referred to as the “tax people love to hate”. How did you attain the necessary buy-in and a sense of fairness around Freetown’s new system?

Stakeholder engagement was central to the reform’s success.

Key strategies included:

• digital town hall meetings across 31 wards to explain the reform and gather feedback

• radio, posters, WhatsApp and community meetings to demystify the tax

• transparent communication about how revenues would be reinvested locally, including a commitment to allocate 20% of ward-level revenue to community projects

• engagement with councillors and the Communications Committee to ensure political buy-in and local ownership

• a help desk and appeals process to address taxpayer concerns and ensure fairness.

Digital tools have been central to your reform. How did you ensure that technology worked for the city rather than the other way around?

Technology was designed to serve the reform, not drive it, reflecting lessons drawn from earlier property tax reforms in Sierra Leone and comparable cities where technology-led approaches had underperformed in the absence of political buy-in, administrative capacity and public trust.

We ensured this by:

• building Moptax around the city’s operating cycles, so that digital processes aligned with operational needs

• training Freetown City Council staff through a “train the trainer” model, ensuring local capacity to manage and adapt the system

• using satellite imagery and GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping to improve accuracy, but validating data through fieldwork and appeals

• creating dashboards and audit trails that supported transparency and accountability

• ensuring that all digital tools were backed by policy decisions, council resolutions and community feedback.

What were some of the most unexpected challenges your team faced along the way, and how did you adapt?

Some of the key challenges included:

• resistance to change from internal departments. This was addressed through structured training and leadership engagement.

• bank reconciliation with property tax payments issues. This required deep dives with finance teams and meetings with bank representatives to resolve.

• data tampering by enumerators and audit capacity gaps. This led to the creation of an internal audit framework and training for the audit department.

• limited internet and technological infrastructure, such as sufficient data storgage capacity. This was mitigated by cloud hosting and procurement of equipment like MiFi devices and power banks.

• repeated outreach efforts began to lose their effectiveness and residents became disengaged. The city then shifted towards multimedia and community-led messaging.

What advice would you give to other African cities that want to embark on property tax reform but feel daunted by where to start?

Start with clarity of purpose and build from the ground up:

• Map your processes before digitising them. Technology should follow strategy.

• Engage stakeholders early and often – reform is as much about trust as it is about systems.

• Invest in training and documentation to build institutional memory.

• Pilot, learn and adapt – don’t wait for perfection before starting.

• Use data to drive decisions, but always validate it with field realities.

• Celebrate small wins to build momentum and confidence.