Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698831162031.pdf (Sierra Leone)
OAU DRIVE, TOWER HILL, FREETOWN P A R L I A M E N T A R Y D E B A T E S ____ [HANSARD]______________ OFFICIAL HANSARD REPORT FOURTH SESSION - THIRD MEETING THURSDAY, 8TH DECEMBER, 2016 SESSION – 2015/2016 OAU DRIVE, TOWER HILL, FREETOWN P A R L I A M E N T A R Y D E B A T E S ____ [HANSARD] ______________ OFFICIAL HANSARD REPORT VOLUME: IV NUMBER: 49 Third Meeting of the Fourth Session of the Fourth Parliament of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone.
Proceedings of the Sitting of the House Held on Thursday, 8th December, 2016.

2 CONTENTS I. PRAYERS II.

CORRECTION OF VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS FOR THE PARLIAMENTARY SITTING HELD ON FRIDAY, 7TH DECEMBER, 2016 III.

BILL THE COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY THE APPROPRIATION ACT, 2017 BEING AN ACT TO AUTHORISE EXPENDITURE FROM THE CONSOLIDATED FUND FOR THE SERVICES OF SIERRA LEONE FOR THE YEAR 2017 AND OTHER RELATED MATTERS.
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT [FIRST ALLOTTED DAY] 3 THE CHAMBER OF PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE Official Hansard Report of the Proceedings of the House _____________________________________________________________ FOURTH SESSION – THIRD MEETING OF THE FOURTH PARLIAMENT OF THE SECOND REPUBLIC _____________________________ Thursday, 8th December, 2016.

I. PRAYERS [The House met at 10:45 a.m. in Parliament Building, Tower Hill, Freetown].

[The Clerk of Parliament, Hon.


Ibrahim Sesay, Read the Prayers].

[The Speaker, Hon.

Sheku Badara Basiru Dumbuya, in the Chair].

The House was called to Order 4 Suspension of S. O.

5[2] II.

CORRECTION OF VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS FOR THE PARLIAMENTARY SITTING HELD ON WEDNESDAY, 7TH DECEMBER, 2016.

COMMUNICATION FROM THE CHAIR THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, we go through the record of Votes and Proceedings for the parliamentary sitting, held on Wednesday, 7th December, 2016.
As usual, we go page by page.

Page 1?

Page 2?

Page 3?

Page 4?

HON.

CLAUDE D. M. KAMANDA: Mr Speaker, the numbering on Page 4 and the other pages is wrong.

THE SPEAKER: Mr Clerk, please have that corrected.

Page 5?

Page 6?

There being no other amendment or correction, would somebody move for the adoption of the record of Votes and Proceedings for the parliamentary sitting held on Wednesday, 7th December, 2016 be adopted as amended?

HON.

LAHAI MARAH: Mr Speaker, I so move.


THE SPEAKER: Any seconder?

HON.

KEMOKOH CONTEH: I so second, Mr Speaker.

[Question Proposed, Put and Agreed to] [Record of Votes and Proceedings for the parliamentary sitting, held on Wednesday, 7th December, 2016 has been adopted as amended] III.
BILL THE COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY THE APPROPRIATION ACT, 2017 MR MOMODU KARGBO [Minister of Finance and Economic Development]: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I move that the following Vote Heads stand part of the schedule: 5 411 00 Sierra Leone Roads Authority Le18, 481,900.000 110 00 Office of the Secretary of the President Le15, 045,759,600 118 00 Judiciary Le10, 422,874,600 121 00 Audit Service Sierra Leone [AASL] Le5, 481,758,700 124 00 Office of the Solicitor General Le4, 812,366,800 125 00 Local Courts Le1, 152, 000, 000 129 00 Ministry of Finance and Economic Development Le51, 199, 504, 000 132 00 Accountant General Department Le4, 994, 588, 800 208 01 National Fire Authority Le8, 814, 882, 700 301 04 Tertiary Education Commission Le2, 806, 391, 100 305 00 Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children Affairs Le5, 226,752,000 311 00 Health Service Commission Le918, 900,000 401 00 Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security Le62, 526,651,400 401 02 Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Forestry Division Le738, 100,000 404 00 Ministry of Transport and Aviation Le10, 435,589,700 411 00 Road Maintenance Fund Administration Le128, 101,000,000 418 00 Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute Le5, 284,765,100 701 01 Freetown City Council Le7, 813,145,733 701 01 Western Area Rural District Council Le2, 962,772,345 701 01 Kenema District Council Le3, 044,664,341 Various Development Activities Electrification of District and provincial Headquarter Towns Le150, 000, 000,000 i.
Rehabilitation of Trunk, Cities and District Headquarter Towns streets Le62,900,000 6 ii.

Devolve Functions Education Service Le41, 471,500,000 [Question Proposed] [The Chairman Sub-Appropriation Committee I] THE CHAIRMAN: Mr Chairman, I had better tell you that the Appropriation Sub- Committee would go strictly to the essential matters of the Report, strictly since that has been distributed to Members.

Proceed!

HON.

CLAUDE D. M. KAMANDA: Thank you, Mr Chairman.


Mr Chairman, Honourable Members; I present Committee of Supply Report of Sub-Appropriation Committee One.

1.
1.

INTRODUCTION Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, as required under Section 111, sub-sections [3&4] and Section 112 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone, [Act No.6] of 1991, S.O 64 [3] and S.O 66 [1] of the revised Standing Orders of the Sierra Leone Parliament, it is my pleasure to present to this House, the report of the Sub Appropriation Committee No.1 on the recurrent and development budget estimates for the 2017 financial year [FY].

2.
2.

VOTE HEAD AND AMOUNT Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the under mentioned budgetary allocations were committed by the House for examination by the Sub Appropriation Committee I. MDAs ACCOUNTS HEADS [INCLUDING SUB-HEADS] FOR 2017 Vote Div.
Vote Description Sum Voted [Le] 110 00 Office of the Secretary to the President 15,045,759,600 118 00 Judiciary 121 00 Audit Service Sierra Leone [ASSL] 124 00 Office of the Solicitor General 10,422,874,600 5,481,758,700 4,812,366,800 7 125 00 Local Courts 1,152,000,000 129 00 Min.

of Finance & Economic Development 51,199,504,400 132 00 Accountant-General‟s Department 208 01 National Fire Authority 301 04 Tertiary Education Commission 4,994,588,000 8,814,882,700 2,806,391,100 305 00 Min.
of S/Welfare, Gender & Children‟s Affairs 5,226,752,000 305 05 Min.

of Social Welfare [Gender & Children‟s Affairs 1, 761,105,900.

Div.]

311 00 Health Service Commission 918,900,000 401 00 Min.

of Agric.

Forestry & Food Security 62,526,651,400 401 02 Min.

of Agric.

Forestry & Food Security [Forestry 738,100,000 Div.]
404 00 Ministry of Transport & Aviation 10,435,589,700 411 00 Road Maintenance Fund Administration 128,101,000,000 418 00 Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute 5,284765,100 411 00 Sierra Leone Roads Authority 18,481,900,000 701 01 Freetown City Council 701 01 Western Area Rural District Council 701 01 Kenema District Council 7,813,145,733 2,962,772,345 3,044,664,341 8 3.
PROCEDURE Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee adhered to the relevant provisions contained in Section 93 and Section112 [6] of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone and S.O.

66 [1] of the Parliament of Sierra Leone.


In reviewing the 2016 financial year budgetary allocations for MDAs, the Sub- Appropriation Committee 1 considered a total of 21 Votes and held sittings with all Vote Controllers and accounting officials, during which they were asked to provide clarity on specific issues contained in their submissions.
Vote Controllers were also requested to give further breakdowns, justifications and raised issues for response on other matters incidental thereto by the respective MDAs on draft estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for FY 2017.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, major observations and recommendations arising from these deliberations are included in this report.

4.
OBJECTIVES Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the hearings were conducted with the aim of achieving the following objectives:  to examine critically the Ministries/Departments/Agencies [MDAs] recurrent and capital budget estimates and make recommendations on them for general debate in the House;     to ascertain whether the 2016 allocations were judiciously expended; to appraise the MDAs budgetary allocations for 2017, whether they are in compliance with their work plans as presented to the Committee; to highlight challenges and constraints faced by the MDAs; and to enhance transparency and accountability in the management of public funds.
5.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS 1.

Hon.

Claude D.M.

Kamanda - Chairman; 2.

Hon.

Patrick L. Kargbo - Deputy Chairman; 3.

Hon.

P.C.

Brima Victor S. Kebbie; 4.

Hon.

Abdul Salaam Kanu; 9 5.

Hon.

Amadu Fofana; 6.

Hon.

Mimi Sobba-Stevens; 7.

Hon.

Bockarie Nomole Salamy; 8.

Hon.

Albert Deen Kamara; 9.

Hon.

Nicolas Kamara; 10.

Hon.

Senesie Fawundu; 11.

Hon.

David Johnson; 12.

Hon.

Moses B. Jokie; 13.

Hon.

Aaron A. Koroma; 14.

Hon.

Solomon S. Thomas; 15.

Hon.

P.C.

Fasuluku Sonsiama; 16.

Hon.


Alfred Brima Katta; 17.

Hon.

Mohamed Kamara; 18.

Hon.

Patricia U. Dancay Bangura; and 19.

Hon.

Sahr Tengbeh.

IN ATTENDANCE Hon.

Hassan Sheriff, Chairman, Parliamentary Committee on Finance Mrs Finda Fraser, Representative, Integrity Management Committee [IMC] SECRETARIAT 1.

Augustine Sesay – Lead Clerk; 2.

David Saffa; 3.

Mannah K. Berewa; and 4.

Christiana Syl-Turay.

6.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee extends its gratitude to all representatives from the Executive arm of government who appeared before it and also acknowledges the insightful contributions made by the Committee Secretariat by way of written submissions, representative from the Integrity Management Committee [IMC] and the Parliamentary Press.
I am also particularly grateful to all Committee Members 10 who participated in the process and worked tirelessly to ensure that the work was accomplished within the stipulated time.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, it is therefore my pleasant duty and privilege, on behalf of the Sub-Committee to present the findings and recommendations made from the exercise.

7.
7.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, before presenting the specific findings and recommendations for the MDAs, I wish to draw the attention of this House to the following general observations in respect of the MDAs that appeared before the Sub- Appropriation Committee 1.
[i] Fiscal Discipline – Expenditure Management The Committee notes that the 2017 Budget Speech and Estimates highlighted the need for public expenditure reforms so as to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the utilisation and execution of the budget.

During scrutiny, the Committee observed that most MDAs interviewed have started implementation of austerity measures instituted by the Government such as cut on fuel, imprest, travelling claims etc.
The Committee therefore, commends their effort in reducing expenditures and encourages them to embark on revenue mobilisation.
[ii] Compliance with Treasury Single Account [TSA] Section 47 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 makes provision for the establishment of a Treasury Single Account which is a financial policy introduced by the GoSL to consolidate all inflows from the country‟s ministries, departments and agencies [MDAs] by way of deposit into commercial banks, traceable into a single account at the Central Bank of Sierra Leone.
The Committee noted with grave concern that most MDAs interviewed are yet to comply with this provision and therefore, recommends that the Ministry of Finance and Accountant General’s Department should put in place all the necessary structures for the onward implementation of the TSA.
11 [iii] Own Source Revenue Generation by Councils The Committee observes that all the three councils interviewed were unable to adequately deliver services to their respective localities either as a result of poor own source revenue collection or lack of capacity to deliver good services to its people.

The Committee recommends that Local Councils should engage in educating taxpayers about the role of taxes and why people need to pay them.
Also, monitoring and evaluation from the top administrators should be done and measures should be put in place to ensure that those involved in revenue collections meet the set targets.
[iv] Disclosure of Closing and Opening balances of MDAs accounts [Rollover] The Committee observes that submissions made by most MDAs interviewed could not adequately explain total amounts of monies held in their accounts at the end of the Financial year [Closing balances] that are to be carried forward to the ensuing Financial Year [Opening balances].
In order to ensure full accountability and transparency in the management of public funds, the Committee therefore recommends that all closing and Opening balances should always be reported on when making submissions to Parliament.

The Committee further recommends that the Committee on Finance factor into the Appropriation’s Questionnaire “Closing Balance”.
[v] Off-budget Support to MDAs While the MDAs receive off budget support in the form of donations from their strategic partners, this is largely un-reported to Parliament.

This implies that activities or output accruing to such off-budget support is largely out of the purview of Parliament.

Parliament will continue to engage the MDAs in view of acquiring more details on the nature of this support.
The Committee therefore recommends that in future the MDAs should report on the off-budget support they receive.

12 8.

SPECIFIC OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The proceeding section delves into the salient issues that the Committee observed and its subsequent recommendations.

The following analysis contains both budgetary and policy issues and is structured by vote.

129 00 Ministry of Finance & Economic Development Mr Chairman, Hon.
Members, the mandate of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development [MoFED] is to formulate and implement sound economic policies and public financial management and ensure efficient allocation of public resources to promote stable economic growth and development in the context of a stable macroeconomic environment.
2015 and 2016 in Retrospect For the Financial Year [FY] 2015, Le47, 668,132,400.00 was actually allocated to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development of which Le29, 159,500,000.00 was actually received and expended Le28,680,000,000.00.

The Ministry received donor funds amounting to $4,002,621.24 under the Public Financial Management Improvement and Consolidation Project [PFMICP] and expended $2,713,519.76 leaving a balance of $1,289,101.48.
An additional funding was also received by the Ministry for strengthening National Monitoring and Evaluation, from the World Bank, to the tune of $145,848.00 and $68,866.08 has been expended leaving a balance of $76,782.

Funds allocated to the Ministry for the FY 2016 totalled Le33, 597,504,400.00 but Le32, 875,334,400.00 was actually received, of which Le29, 646,729,093.00 has been expended as at 16th November, 2016.
The sum of $7,270,794.84 was provided to the Ministry under the PFMIC Project for procurement of goods and non-consulting services, training workshops, seminars, study tours, cleaning of civil service payroll, Local Councils etc.

for MDAs supported by the Project.

To fully account for the remaining funds on those projects, the Committee, therefore, requested financial reports on the PFMIC Project for 2015 and 2016 and the National M&E Strengthening Project in 2016.
13 The Committee considered amounts expended under various heads for the FYs 2015 and 2016 as alarming and therefore requested further breakdown on the International contributions and obligations, construction services to MoFED, Non-Governmental activities and others.
Also, further examination of the Ministry‟s documentations reveals that the sum of Le1, 675,628,636.00 spent on overseas travel attached as “Annex 5” could not be traced under expenditure on various Heads [Item 7.3 on the Questionnaire] for FYs 2015 and 2016.

The Committee wishes to also report that the Ministry exceeded its revenue target in 2016 with a total collection amounting to Le 1,250,017,820.00, as against its initial projection of Le 1,000,000,000.00.
However, the Ministry was able to exceed its target mainly as a result of the liquidation of the Ebola disease which saw the return of some NGOs and increase in efforts to monitor these NGOs.

Budget Estimates for 2017 For the FY 2017, to carry out its intended activities, the Ministry made a budget submission of Le79, 965,290,000.00 but was allocated Le 51,199,504,400.00.
The Committee observes that:  in compliance with the Treasury Single Account, an inventory of all Government Bank accounts held in commercial banks has been compiled, software has been installed on desktop computer of the senior management of the Accountant General‟s Department and connectivity has been established in twelve commercial banks; and  by way of implementing the austerity measures the Ministry provided the Committee with evidence of 50% cut in fuel allocation to its staff.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee agreed that the Le 51,199,504,400.00 allocation provided to the Ministry is fairly adequate and in that vein, recommends its approval.

14 305 00 Ministry of S/Welfare, Gender & Children’s Affairs Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the mandate of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children‟s Affairs, among others, as expressed in the Gazette No.

73 of December 2002 is to ensure Social Development; provide Welfare Services i.e.
care for the aged, disability issues etc.
; formulate national policies for the empowerment of young men and women to develop their potential creativity and skills as productive and dynamic members of Society and the promotion of national values; address the problem of drug abuse among the youth population in collaboration with other relevant government and non-governmental institutions; coordinate the efforts of NGOs, UNICEF and other donor agencies in addressing the needs of children and women including those affected by the war, etc.
FY 2016 in Retrospect Mr Chairman, Hon.

Members, for the FY 2016, the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children‟s Affairs, to effectively perform its functions, with a budgeted ceiling of Le6.3billion made a budget submission of Le 11.9billion but was provided an allocation of Le3.8b.

Out of its allocation, the Ministry has actually received Le2.9billion as GoSL Regular Budget and Le9.6billion as donor funding for the implementation of the Presidential Recovery Priorities and other programmes.
To date, the Ministry has expended its allocations for 2016 as follows: Division Annual Provision [LE] Expenditure [LE] Balance [LE] Office of the 893,910,000 307,138,581 586,771,419 Permanent Secretary Policy Dev.
& 190,520,000 Strategic Planning Children‟s Affairs 709,210,000 Gender Policy and 486,600,000 Advocacy 0 0 0 190,520,000 709,210,000 486,600,000 15 Gender Policy and 486,600,000 Advocacy Social Welfare 1,303,000,000 0 0 486,600,000 1,303,000,000 Probing further on details of actual expenditure for FY 2017under various heads, the Committee noted that:  the Ministry is operating with 11 bank accounts;  a colossal amount was spent on the sub-head, “Office and General”;  allocations for various divisions in the Ministry remained untapped;  the Permanent Secretary in post for the period was under investigation by the Anti- Corruption Commission;  there were delays in releasing the Ministry‟s allocations including fuel; and  an amount of Le707million as part of donor funds meant for the recruitment of 600 social workers, M&E and Data Officers, remained unused as a result of delays in commencement of the process.
Budget Estimates for 2017 According to the Acting Permanent Secretary, for the FY 2017, the Ministry originally made a budget submission of Le24, 272,600,000.00 but was provided with Le5, 226,752,000 as allocation equivalent to its ceiling.
The Ministry planned to utilise its allocation on on-going projects such as supply of diets for remand homes, safe homes and Approved School, incentive payment to social workers to be recruited, rehabilitation of remand homes and Approved School and coordination and monitoring of activities/programmes of the Ministry, etc.

The Committee, Mr Chairman, Hon.


Members went through the Estimates for the Ministry and came up with the following conclusions that:     the Ministry is yet to fully utilize its allocation for 2016; there were delays in repairing government owned vehicles in the Ministry; the Ministry has not received its allocation on fuel for the past three months; and the Ministry is in compliance with the austerity measures.
16 305 05: Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender & Children’s Affairs [Gender and Children’s Division] Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee noted that budgetary allocations for the Gender and Children‟s Division of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender & Children‟s Affairs were reported on by the Vote Controller (Permanent Secretary) of the Ministry.

However, the Committee notes that the 2017 FY actual allocation for this Division amounting to Le1, 761,105,900.
401 00: Ministry OF Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security was established to formulate agricultural development policies, and advise the Government on such policies relating to its administration and management of the agricultural sector of Sierra Leone‟s economy.
FY 2016 in Retrospect For the Financial Year 2016, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security made an original budget submission of 55.5 billion Leones with a budget ceiling of 49.0 billion Leones to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, but were actually allocated with 40.5 billion Leones.
Budget Estimates for 2017 For the Financial Year 2017, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security made an initial budget submission of 51.9 billion Leones in line with its budget ceiling and has been allocated with Le62, 526,651,400 recording an increase of Le 10.6 billion Leones as against its original budget submitted to Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
The Committee noted that the increase in the Ministry‟s budget would play a crucial role in accelerating sustainable development and economic growth.

Probing further, the Ministry could not fully account for donor funded projects and therefore requested financial reports on those projects.
In order for the Government to accelerate sustainable development and economic growth, the Committee further recommends that the Ministry should embark on the following: 17  Sustainable land and water management system;  Rural infrastructure and trade related capacities for improved market access;  Improved food production to reduce hunger, including emergencies and disasters that require agricultural support;  Agricultural technology development, dissemination and adoption, for example, introduction of mechanized farming techniques;  Sustainable use of forestry, fisheries and livestock resources;  Cross-cutting issues: policy formulation and review, agricultural statistics, M&E; and  Youth, Women and Young graduates involvement in agricultural extension and Education.
401 02 Ministry of Agric.

Forestry & Food Security [Forestry Division] Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee noted that budgetary allocations for the Forestry Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security were reported on by the Vote Controller [Permanent Secretary] of the Ministry.

However, the Committee notes that the 2017 FY actual allocation for this Division amounting to Le738, 100,000.
418 00 Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute [SLARI] was established in 2007 through an Act of Parliament as the sole government agricultural research and agricultural technology generating body, for the benefit of the farming, fishing and forestry sectors in Sierra Leone.

FY 2016 in Retrospect For the FY 2015, the Institute received Le22.6billion as GoSL Regular Budget and Le3, 011,731,766 as donor funds.
Total expenditure mainly on stationaries and office Utilities, Electricity and Water, casual labour, bank charges, etc.

amounted to Le22.8billion.

For the Financial Year 2016, the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute [SLARI] made a budgetary submission in the amount of 42.5 billion Leones but was allocated with 26.5 billion Leones which include personnel emolument, other charges and development grants.
The Institute actually received 19.8 billion Leones 18 as Government of Sierra Leone regular budget and 5.7 billion Leones as donor funding for the purpose of research and training.

The Committee noted with concern that the Institute failed to produce comprehensive source of donor funds and its various operating bank accounts.
For the purposes of ensuring transparency and accountability, the Committee strongly recommends that a breakdown on donor funds received by the Institute should be clearly stated in the Parliamentary Budgetary submissions.

Also, a list of all bank accounts including those that are dormant should be forwarded to the Committee.
Budget Estimates for 2017 The Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute has made budgetary estimates of 40.5 billion Leones which includes personal emoluments, other charges and development expenditures and has been allocated with Le5, 284765,100 as GoSL Regular Budget by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development for the Financial Year 2017.

Mr Chairman, Hon.
Members further probing prompted the Committee to recommend the following, that:  there is need for SLARI to increase small holder productivity and production by improving education and sensitization on small and medium term enterprise development among young people;  Agricultural products value chain approach should be adopted in its research and development programmes;  Precision farming through nanotechnology should be improved and promote results based research programmes;  areas of commercialisation, diversification and intensification should be expanded; and  Best-practices and leveraging on existing coordinating mechanisms should be applied as well as improve on linkages with regional and international partners.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee considers the Institute’s allocation as adequate and therefore recommends its approval.

19 411 00 Road Maintenance Fund Administration Mr Chairman, Hon.

Members, the Road Maintenance Fund Administration [RMFA] Act was enacted by Parliament on April 9, 2010.
The objective of the Act is to set up an independent Road Maintenance Fund Administration to ensure the proper, efficient, economic and sustainable management of the Fund dedicated to the maintenance of the national core road network.

The RMFA Act also makes provision for a Board of Directors being the governing body of the RMFA.

For the 2015 FY, the RMFA made a submission of Le 100,000,000,000 in line with its budget ceiling and received the same as allocation.
From what was allocated through collections from fuel levy, registration & licensing of vehicles and interest on short-term placement, the Administration received Le83.2 billion as Road User Charges, Le4.1billion as Registration & Licensing fees and Le696.6 billion as other source on interest from Utility Companies.

The total expenses by the Administration amounted to Le156, 442,659,016.
The deficit in its total expenses on road maintenance activities, operational costs, RMFA capital projects should be further accounted for to the Parliamentary Committee on Finance.

For the Financial Year 2016, the Road Maintenance Fund Administration was allocated with Le 113 billion but actually received Le 73.7 billion.
Budget Estimates for 2017 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Road Maintenance Fund Administration made an original budget submission of Le 109.6 billion to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development for the Financial Year 2017 with a budget ceiling of Le 109.6 billion and has been allocated with Le128,101,000,000.
Responding to probing questions from the Committee on the execution of its mandate, the Chief Executive Officer said the Road Maintenance Fund Administration was established for financing the maintenance of the core road networks and to provide for related matters.
He also said major trunk roads in both the city and the provinces were under consideration to be funded, and very soon the Sierra Leone Roads Authority will 20 be financed to award contracts to deserving construction companies to upkeep these roads.

The Committee notes that both the Sierra Leone Roads Authority [SLRA] and the Road Maintenance Fund Administration [RFMA] are indispensable in building a strong road network that is core to sustainable development and economic growth.
The Committee therefore notes that the tremendous growth in the road sector comes with the need for increased monitoring of road works across the country by responsible bodies including the Parliamentary Committee on Works, Housing and Infrastructure.

121 00 Audit Service Sierra Leone Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, as the Supreme Audit Institution [SAI] for Sierra Leone, Audit Service Sierra Leone‟s core mandate is to promote accountability and good governance.
The Auditor General is authorized to carry out audits on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the audited government entities use their resources in carrying out their responsibilities.

The Auditor General is the independent auditor reporting to Parliament.
Section 119 subsection 4 of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone empowers the Auditor General to audit the public accounts of Sierra Leone including all public offices such as the courts, the central and local government administrations, the Universities and public institutions, together with statutory corporations, companies, bodies or organisations set up partly or wholly out of public funds, and to submit its report to the Public Accounts Committee, which in turns lays it before the plenary for debate and scrutiny.
FY 2016 in Retrospect In the FY 2015, the Audit Service Sierra Leone [ASSL] was allocated with and actually received Le18.6billion.

The Office also collected revenues from audit fees and sale of bid documents to the tune of Le2.3billion and Le5.8billion respectively.

For the FY 2016, the Audit Service Sierra Leone made a budget proposal of 6.5 billion Leones with a budget ceiling of 5.9 billion Leones but was actually allocated with 5.5 billion Leones by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
In addition, the ASSL 21 received donor funds from the International Development Association [IDA] and Multi- Donor Trust Fund [MDTF] under the Public Financial Management and Consolidation Project [PFMICP], totalling $395,584.29 equivalent to Le2, 414,957,952.31 for the implementation of its Annual Work Plan [AWP].

The ASSL collected in 2015 and 2016, the sum of Le2, 372,800,000 and Le1, 116,150,000.00 respectively as revenue from audit fees.
On the sale of bid documents, the ASSL collected Le5, 750,000 and Le5, 000,000 in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

The Committee was informed that these monies were used for the operation of the Office.

Budget Estimates for 2017 For the Financial Year 2017, the ASSL made a budgetary estimate of 36.7 billion Leones with a GoSL regular budget ceiling of 5.6 billion Leones for.
The Committee notes that fiscal allocations to the ASSL for the Financial Year 2017 by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development amounting to Le5, 481,758,700.

The Committee noted with concern that since termination of the contract for the construction of a modern building meant to house the staff and host activities of the ASSL, which was under construction by the MODCON Construction Company at Tower Hill, Freetown, no progress has been made in re-awarding the contract to another contractor.
The Committee was however informed that there was a ruling by the Court of Arbitration that MODCON Construction Company should refund the sum of Le2.4billion from the original contractual cost of Le9billion.

The Committee however recommends that the ASSL makes a follow up on the refunds without further delay.

The Committee having noted that the ASSL expended far less than what was actually received considers its allocation as adequate and therefore recommends its approval.
124 00 Office of the Solicitor General Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, Section 64 of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone, Act No.6 makes provision for the Office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice [under which the office of the Solicitor General was created], whose functions include the provision of legal advice to the Government and MDAs.
The Office of the 22 Attorney-General and Minister of Justice is also charged with the responsibility of drafting legislations on behalf of the government and the prosecution of criminal matters for and on behalf of the State.

Mr Speaker, Hon.

Members, in 2015 FY, an administrative overhaul was instituted by the Public Service Commission in consonance with the Civil Service, wherein a Permanent Secretary was assigned to serve as the administrative head and Vote Controller of the Ministry of Justice.
This re-arrangement left the office of the Solicitor - General as the professional wing of the Ministry.

FY 2015 and 2016 in Retrospect Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the FY 2015, the Ministry of Justice made budget submission to MoFED in the region of Le4, 361,500,000.

The Ministry‟s allocation from the regular budget for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters was Le1, 327,760,000 which was confirmed received and expended for the same financial year.
The Ministry further received donor funds from the country office of the United Nation Development Program in Sierra Leone amounting to Le 122,307,000 for improving the Rule of Law and Access to Justice.

Also, the Ministry was able to generate the sum of Le 639,000,000.00 as income received from the Sierra Leone Roads Transport Authority being payment in respect of professional fee for preparation and registration of the Authority‟s landed property at Yams Farm.
The Permanent Secretary told the Committee that all the funds received as part of the Ministry regular budgetary allocation and other revenue, were fully expended as required.

In 2016 FY, the Ministry of Justice submitted a budget of Le6, 323,000,000 of which the sum of Le 1,770,071,000.00 was allocated and reportedly received by the Ministry.
The Committee observed that the Ministry expended a huge amount of its receivables, including professional fees collected, amounting to Le 131,246,150 on both local and overseas travelling.

Budget Estimates for 2017 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the FY 2017, with a ceiling of Le 1,340,900,000, the Ministry submitted a budget of Le 8,361,900,000 but has been 23 allocated with Le 4,812,366,800.00 for the implementation of its annual activities.
The Committee noted with concern that the Ministry spent colossal sums of money on foreign travels and therefore recommends that the austerity measures outlined by the government for better use of the nation’s limited resources should be strictly adhered to especially in the area of overseas travelling.
132 00 Accountant-General’s Department Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, Section [9] of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016, states that, there should be an Accountant General whose office shall receive all public moneys payable into the consolidated funds, provide secure custody for such money and make disbursement on behalf of Government in accordance with or under the authority of this and any other enactments.
The Accountant-General shall be the Chief Accounting Officer of the Government, and responsible for keeping, rendering and publishing statements of the public accounts as required by this or any other enactments.

FY 2015 and 2016 in Retrospect Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Accountant General‟s Department‟s budget allocation in 2015 was Le2, 765,999,714 and the full allocated amount was received by the Department.
The Department‟s actual expenditure for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4thquarters amounted to Le2, 799,819,609.

As other source of revenue collected by the Department during the same financial year, there is a third party arrangement that allows the Department to deduct 1% insurance commission from registered insurance companies totaling Le 42,827,000.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee observed that the policy regarding the deduction of 1% insurance commission from some selected insurance companies is not an act of Parliament and Parliament as an institution is not aware of such policy.
Reacting to the concern of the Committee relating the above mentioned policy, the Accountant General informed the Committee that his Department has authored a memorandum to the Financial Secretary seeking his approval on the said policy, but the 24 Committee disapproved this claim by the Accountant General.

The Committee therefore resolved that a motion be moved for the approval of the policy by the Committee of the whole House on this matter.
For FY 2016, the Department‟s ceiling and original budget submission to the Ministry of Finance was Le5, 594,100,000 and Le3, 463,276,400 was actually allocated to them.

The Department received all its allocation of which 85% [Le 3,152,233,228.00] has been committed.

The Committee notes that the Department has received all its allocations before the close of the financial year 2016.
In the absence of a set revenue targets, the Accountant General‟s Department collected Le119, 607,232.00 as revenue for the FY 2016.

Budget Estimates for 2017 For FY 2017, the Department made a budgetary submission in line with its ceiling of Le 5,594,100,000 of which a total sum of Le 4,994,588,000 has been voted for in the Appropriation Act 2017 as its allocation for the financial year 2017.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee recommends that the Accountant General’s Department should liaise with the relevant authorities in Parliament to fast track a motion regarding the authorization of the 1% insurance commission deduction from insurance companies.
404 00 Ministry of Transport & Aviation Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Ministry of Transport and Aviation‟s mission is to develop policies and provide effective and efficient guidelines for the delivery of safe, reliable, affordable and sustainable Maritime, Land and aviation systems throughout Sierra Leone.
FY 2015 and 2016 in Retrospect Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Ministry of Transport and Aviation‟s actual allocation was Le 18,353,820,000 of which the sum of Le 5, 839, 620, 00 was received in 2015.

The Committee observed that the Ministry expended more than what was allocated to them.
Responding to the over expenditure by the Ministry, the 25 Permanent Secretary stated that during the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2015, the Ministry received the sum of $149,940.00 and $77,527.87 respectively for the implementation of the ATU/WHARF JETTY rehabilitation from the ICF donor partner.

In 2016, the Ministry made a budget submission of Le 64,314,635,945.00 with a budget ceiling of Le 18,599,000,000.00.
The Ministry was allocated the sum of Le 20,368,676,288.00 inclusive an amount of Le 16,074,100,000.00 for the procurement of vehicles for government Ministries, Departments and Agencies [MDAs].

The Committee further observed that the Ministry received an excess amount of Le 50.652 billion for the procurement of additional vehicles for government MDAs.
Responding to questions for update on the Freetown Mamamah Airport, the Permanent Secretary informed the Committee that the project is still on-going and that the Ministry is fully committed to ensure completion of the project as intended by the government.

Budget Estimates for 2017 For 2017, after being given a budget ceiling of Le 14,364,700,000, the Ministry made a budget submission of Le 113,297,389,488.00 to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
However, the sum of Le 10,435,589,700.00 was actually allocated to the Ministry as voted in the Appropriation Act, 2017 for the implementation of its proposed deliverables for the financial year 2017.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, reacting to questions regarding compliance with the Treasury Single Account, the Permanent Secretary told the Committee that his Ministry does not generate revenue and that it is in full compliance with the policy of TSA.
Also, on the implementation of austerity measures by his Ministry, the Permanent Secretary told the Committee that most areas highlighted in the austerity policy were fully implemented.

The Committee recommends that the Ministry should develop a comprehensive policy on the use of government vehicles in order for MDAs to strictly comply with the austerity measures.
26 701 01 Freetown City Council Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Freetown City Council is the Municipal Government of the city of Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.

The Freetown City Council was established in 1893 and is one of the oldest Municipal Governments in Africa.
The Freetown City Council is responsible, generally, for promoting the development of the locality and welfare of the people in the Freetown Municipality with resources at its disposal acquired through licenses, dues, rates and the support from the Central Government.

FY 2015 and 2016 in Retrospect For the FY 2015, the Council‟s total receipt amounted to Le28, 709,052,552 and expended Le26.5 million.
For the Financial Year 2016, the Freetown City Council made a budget submission of 14.2 billion Leones to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development but was allocated Le8.40billion as GoSL, Le5.4billion as Decentralized Service Delivery Programme and Le579, 311,908 as Reproductive Child Health Programme.

However, the Council expended Le19.23 billion in 2016.
The Committee notes that negotiations are on-going between the Council and a South Korean Company for the construction of the proposed shopping mall at the demolished site of the Freetown City Council.

Responding to questions on the uitilisation of donor funds the C.A.
outlined as follows:  DSDP funds were utilized to provide basic services in Health and Sanitation, Education and Solid waste management;  Sensitisation and purchase of protective gears and equipment, construction of isolated centres and provision of chlorine;  RCHP funds were used to increase utilization of essential health services by pregnant and lactating women and children under the age of five years.
For the Fiscal Year 2017, the Freetown City Council has been allocated with Le7, 813,145,733 by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning out of an original budget submission of Le24.4 billion.
27 As a result of the foregoing, the Committee therefore recommends as follows:  That the Council should prioritise revenues generation from dues, licenses and rates and ensure the prudent use of those funds for essential services within the Municipality like cleaning, development and welfare of the people within the Council.

 The Council should ensure that revenue generation for the cleaning of the Freetown Municipality should be prudently managed.
 Cleaning of the City should be outsourced to a private company.

 The Public trash bin at Model School Junction along Circular road and the gateway to Parliament be relocated without further delay.

701 01 Kenema District Council Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Kenema District Council is one of the 19 Local Councils that is established by the Local Government Act 2004.
It functions are spelt out in Section [20] of the above stated Act, which state that a Local Council shall be the highest political authority in the locality and shall have legislative and executive powers to be exercised in accordance with this Act or any other enactment, and shall be responsible, generally for promoting the development of the locality and the welfare of the people in the locality with the resources at its disposal and with such resources and capacity as it can mobilise from the central government and its agencies, national and international organisations, and the private sector.
Conversely, the mandated functions of these Councils are not efficiently and effectively carried out inclusive of the Kenema District Council with all the direct and indirect support giving to them.

Also, considering the commercial [mining and petty trading] activities within the locality of the Kenema District Council, the Council could not generate the needed resources to run its operations [own source revenue collection].
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the following were the Kenema District Council allocations and receivables for the Financial Years 2015 and 2016: 28 Table I For Financial Year 2015 SOURCE OF FUNDING ALLOCATION AMOUNT RECEIVED Regular Budget GoSL Le 5,757,720,420.00 Le 2,240,124,694.00 Rural Community Health Program Le 249,334,636.00 Le 133,591,334.00 [RCHP] Decentralised Service Delivery Le 2,336,040,196.00 Le 1, 167,299,061.00 Program [DSDP] Road Maintenance Fund Le 2,270,579,132.00 Nil Administration [RMFA] Table (ii) For Financial Year 2016 SOURCE OF FUNDING ALLOCATION AMOUNT RECEIVED Regular Budget GoSL Le 3,531,647,109.00 Le 4,016,389,907.00 Rural Community Health Program Le 246,530,084.00 [RCHP] Decentralised Service Delivery Le 2,303,922,360.00 Le 1, 017,412,018.00 Program [DSDP]- Road Maintenance Fund Le 600,000,000.00 Le 678,330,866.00 Administration [RMFA] Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee observed that expenditure matrices for both financial years 2015 and 2016 were not submitted during the scrutiny process.
The Committee could not ascertain whether those monies confirmed received by the Council were efficiently and effectively utilised for the intended purpose and therefore requested for further breakdown to the Parliamentary Committee on Local Government.

The Committee further noted that despite disbursement made to the Council by the Road Maintenance Fund Administration for the rehabilitation feeder roads within its localities, the situation still remains a challenge.

Mr Chairman, Hon.
Mr Chairman, Hon.

Members, the Committee also noted a slight increase in revenue generation from Le 163,867,520 for 2015 to Le 344,338,841 for 2016.

The Chief 29 Administrator said that his Council is robustly implementing the austerity measures pronounced by the government.

For the 2017 FY, the Council‟s budget ceiling and allocation was Le 3,044,664,341.

The Committee recommends that the Council should be seen resilient in the area of own source revenue generation.
701 01 Western Area Rural District Council Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for FY 2016, the Western Area Rural District Council [WARDC] made a budget submission of Le 15,408,108,872 equivalent to its budget ceiling and allocation, but actually received Le 1,352,270,784 as GoSL Regular Budget.

The Council further received Le849, 107,522 and Le1, 083,238,254 as donor funding and Own Source revenues respectively.
The Council sets own source revenue targets of Le 13,726,409,625 and Le15,408,108,872 for 2015 and 2016 FYs respectively but was only able to collect Le 2,920,000,000 in 2015 and Le3,212,000,000 in 2016.
Responding to questions on reasons for not meeting its targets, the Deputy Chief Administrator said that the failure by Council to meet its projected revenue target could be attributed to partial devolution of functions to the Council, poor revenue collection methods, inadequate staff capacity in the valuation Unit, poor sensitisation, etc.

However, the Council promised to put all strategies in place in order to meet its projected Own Source Revenue target of Le17, 182,437,307 in 2017 Financial Year.
The Committee, having noted the poor revenue generation drive by the Council, sternly advised that all austerity measures pronounced by the GoSL relating to procurement, expenditure on fuel, stationaries and other consumables should be strictly adhered to.

The Council‟s total expenditure for 2015 and 2016 amounted to Le5, 964,939,346 and Le2, 000,794,435 respectively.

The Committee Members were satisfied with the Council‟s records and presentation.
30 Budget Estimates for 2017 For 2017 FY, the Council reported to have made a budget submission of Le16, 943,174,528 but was allocated Le2, 962,772,345.

The Committee observes that WARDC is under-resourced.
411 00 Sierra Leone Roads Authority [SLRA] Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Sierra Leone Road Authority [SLRA] was established with the mandate to develop plans and oversee the maintenance, rehabilitation and construction of the national road network, with the aim of providing safe, reliable and sustainable road network for the citizenry of Sierra Leone and to aid the transportation of goods and services across the country.
To accomplish its roles, the Authority made a budget submission of Le 1,597,710,519,475.00 of which Le 100,249,961,400.00 was allocated for the financial year 2015.
The Authority received releases for its activities as follows:  GoSL Regular Budget Le 56,931,973,230.00  Salaries & Wages Le 3, 088,787,945.00  Donor Funding [Le 70,038,373,353.00, $ 85,425,042.04 and Euro 6,444,911.04]  Sundry Income [other sources] Le 194,063,125.00 Responding to queries regarding sundry income/other source of income, the Director General informed the Committee that these were income received through payment made for registration and sales of bidding documents and billboards.
The Authority actual expenditure for 2015 are also categorised as follows:  Salaries and Wages Le 33,876,076,122.00  Compensation payment Le 14,824,533,172.00  Operational Cost Le 7,649,164,303.00  Road Maintenance Le 3, 733,955,720.00 Commenting on the issue of compensation payments, the Director General told the Committee that it is the mandate of the Authority to make compensation payment to all rightful owners of properties that are destroyed during construction works and 31 payments are made upon proof of evidence submitted.
The Committee observed that the Authority expended on salaries and wages more than what was actually received with variance of Le 30million.

The Director General submitted that it was an error of overstatement on the salaries & wages account and that all salaries and wages of the Authority are directly paid by the Accountant General‟s Department.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the Financial Year 2016, the Authority submitted a budget of Le 2.05 trillion of which the sum Le 64,964,761,920 was actually allocated.

The Committee notes that bulk of the contracts [mainly GoSL funded] awarded for 2016 are yet to meet with the completion date stated in the contract agreement by which the amounts involved form greater part of the Authority‟s expenditure for the financial 2016.
Reacting to the Committee‟s claim, the Director General told the Committee that some of the contracts were pre-financed by contractors and as a result there are always bottle-necks in the completion of the said contracts.

This, according to the Committee‟s view, could not be unconnected to delays in disbursement of funds by the Ministry of Finance.

The Director General furthered that the Authority is mounting pressure on all contractors to comply with the stipulated contractual period.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the FY 2017, the Committee observes that the Authority was allocated with Le18, 481,900,000 under the sub-head “Vote 411 00” on the Appropriation Bill.
301 04 Tertiary Education Commission Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Tertiary Education Commission of Sierra Leone was established by the Parliamentary Act no 8 of 2001 for the development of Tertiary Education in Sierra Leone and to provide for other matters connected therewith from the findings of a technical committee set up with the aim of reviewing policies.
The Commission has the mandate to examine the criteria for establishment and operation of a tertiary educational institution, and to examine the criteria for awards and qualifications.

These general mandates of the Commission have been categorized into 32 Directorate operations for ease of implementation.

As a result, the five directorates in collaboration with the administration carry out specific and outlined activities.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Tertiary Education Commission made a budget submission of Le 3,183,661,802 for 2016 FY to the Ministry of Finance.

The Commission was allocated Le 2,806,400,000 which is in line with its budget ceiling and actually received Le1, 403,200,000 for the 1st and 2nd quarter.

The Commission generated the sum of Le 101,500,000 from registration and annual renewal fees of Tertiary Education Institutions [TEIs].
The vote controller stated that the Commission could not meet its target of Le 301,140,000 on revenue generation as a result of failure by TEIs to pay registration and renewal fees.

The Committee was also informed that the Commission does not receive any donor funding.

The Commission expended the sum of Le 2,756,682,416.34 for which the Vote Controller stated was as a result of Le 1,127,790,231 rolled over from 2015 to 2016 FY.
The Tertiary Education Commission made a budget submission of Le 3,701,900,000 for the Financial Year 2017 but was allocated Le2, 806,391,100 by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, Stating Challenges faced by TEC, the Vote Controller stated that the Commission is challenged with the issue of TEIs refusing to pay renewal fees, he further stated that the Commission will very much appreciate an amendment to the ACT to give power to TEC to close down Institutions that fail to pay renewal fees.
As a way of complying with the Austerity Measures, the Vote Controller informed the Committee that the Commission has cut down on monthly fuel given to staff and also has not repaired a faulty vehicle.

With regards to the forgoing, the Committee recommends to the House for approval the 2017 Commission’s allocation.
208 01 National Fire Authority Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the National Fire Authority has a mission to enhance effective management, protection and swift response to fire within Sierra Leone The Authority made a budget submission of Le 14,973,800,000 to the Ministry 33 of Finance with a ceiling of Le 8,814,882,700 for 2016FY, but was allocated the sum of Le5, 761,424,810.

However, the Authority actually received Le 3,888,791,000 as GoSL regular budget for the four quarters.
The Authority however received Le 100,000,000 from the Office of National Security to improve the capacity of the National Fire Authority on counter terrorism strategy.

During the year under review, the Authority expended the sum of Le 3,888,791,000.
Budget Estimates for 2017 For the Financial Year 2017, the National Fire Authority made a budget submission of Le 13,956,600,000 with a ceiling of Le 9,006,600,000 but was allocated the sum of Le 8,814,882,700 for which the vote controller stated that the increase in budget submission of Le 5,147,717,300 is for the construction of fire stations.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, responding to the Committee‟s question as to who benefit from the sub head “medical” stated under expenditure, the Vote controller said it serves as First Aid treatment for fire fighters and fire victims.

The Committee commends the Authority for diligent service and recommends for more support to the Authority.
311 00 Health Service Commission Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Sierra Leone Health Service Commission was established in 2011 to assist the Ministry responsible for health in the delivery of affordable and improved healthcare services to the people of Sierra Leone and for other related matters.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Sierra Leone Health Service Commission made a budget submission of Le 2,404,400,000 to the Ministry of Finance for the 2016 FY.
With a budget ceiling of Le1, 058,400,000, the Commission was allocated Le 918,860,400 but actually receive the sum of Le 77,700,000 as GoSL regular budget.

The Commission did not receive any donor funding and did not generate any income for 2016 FY.

The Commission however expended the sum of Le 1,625,321,776.10 for 2016 FY which is inclusive of Salaries and sitting fees for board members.
34 Budget Estimates for 2017 For the Financial Year 2017, the National Health Service Commission made a budget submission of Le 2,527,800,000 with a ceiling of Le 918,900,000 but was actually allocated Le 918,900,000.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee recommend that the Administration of the Commission be pro-active in sourcing funds by writing projects that would attract donor funding.

118 00 Judiciary Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Supreme Court is the highest court of the land.
Section 120 subsection [4] of the Constitution of Sierra Leone Act No.6 of 1991 states the Judicature of Sierra Leone of which the Supreme Court is first among equals.

The Supreme Court shall be the final court of appeal in and for Sierra Leone and that all other courts shall be bound to follow the decision of the Supreme Court on questions of law.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Court of Appeal is one of the Superior Courts of Judicature in Sierra Leone.
Sections 128 and 129 of the 1991 Constitution Act No.6 clearly state the composition and jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal.

The court by law pursuant to Section 128[3] shall be bound by its own previous decisions and all courts inferior to the court of appeal shall be bound to follow the decisions of the Court of Appeal on questions of law.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the entirety of Sections 131 and 132 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone Act No.6 of 1991 state the composition and jurisdiction of the High Court.

The High Court has jurisdiction over civil, criminal and the determination of any matter relating to industrial Labour and administrative complaints.

FY 2015 and 2016 in Retrospect Mr Chairman, Hon.
Members, the following were the Judiciary‟s allocations for the Financial Years 2015 and 2016: 35 Court 2015 Allocations [Le] 2016 Allocations [Le] Supreme Court 993,100,000 1,200,160,000 High Court 1,080,620,000 1,525,120,000 Court of Appeal 562,900,000 1,060,910,000 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the following were the Judiciary‟s receivables and Expenditure for the Financial Years 2015 Court 2015Actual 2015 2015 Balance Receivables [Le] Expenditure [Le] Supreme Court 993,100,000 933,100,000 60,100,000 High Court 850,000,000 Court of Appeal 562,900,000 850,800,000 562,900,000 - - [Le] Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the following were the Judiciary‟s receivables and Expenditure for the Financial Years 2016 Court 2016 Actual 2016 2016 Balance Receivables [Le] Expenditure [Le] [Le] Supreme 1,200,160,000 923,200,000 276,960,000 Court High Court 1,060,000,000 814,700,000 245,300,000 Court of 562,900,000 562,900,000 - Appeal Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee observes that the Judiciary utilised most of its allocations on Electricity, Water rate, Office and General, Local Travelling, Fuel and Oil, vehicle maintenance, etc.
As a result of the foregoing, the Committee 36 recommends that the Judiciary should adhere to the austerity measures pronounced by the government.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the Financial Year 2017, the Committee notes that the Judiciary was provided with a total allocation of Le10, 422,874,600.
125 00 Local Courts Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the FY 2015, the Master and Registrar of the Courts of the Judicature informed the Committee that no budgetary allocation was made to the Local Court.

For the 2016 FY, the budgetary submission for the Local Court was Le 5,675,800,000.00, but the sum of Le 1,246,210,000.00 was actually allocated to carry out its activities and programmes for the financial year under review.
The Committee further observed that there was no expenditure incurred by the court in 2015.

Budget Estimate for FY 2017 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the Financial Year 2017 the Local Court made a budget submission of Le 1,935,600,000.00 and was allocated the sum of Le 1, 1552,000,000.00 as per Appropriation Bill, 2016.
The Committee therefore considers the budgetary allocations for the Local Court as adequate considering the austerity measures instituted by the government for proper fiscal discipline.

Conclusion In conclusion, Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee hereby recommends that the Report of the Sub- Appropriation Committee No.
1 be adopted by this Honourable House and that the Budget Heads including Sub-Heads of MDAs listed below stand part of the schedule in respect of budgetary provisions for the Fiscal year 2017: 37 MDAs ACCOUNTS HEADS [INCLUDING SUB-HEADS] FOR 2017 Vot e Div .
Vote Description Sum Voted [Le] 110 00 Office of the Secretary to the President 118 00 Judiciary 121 00 Audit Service Sierra Leone [ASSL] 124 00 Office of the Solicitor General 125 00 Local Courts 15,045,759,600 10,422,874,600 5,481,758,700 4,812,366,800 1,152,000,000 129 00 Min.

of Finance & Economic Development 51,199,504,400 132 00 Accountant-General‟s Department 208 01 National Fire Authority 301 04 Tertiary Education Commission 4,994,588,000 8,814,882,700 2,806,391,100 305 00 Min.
of S/Welfare, Gender & Children‟s Affairs 5,226,752,000 305 05 Min.

of Social Welfare [Gender & Children‟s Affairs 1, 761,105,900.

Div.]

311 00 Health Service Commission 918,900,000 401 00 Min.

of Agric.

Forestry & Food Security 62,526,651,400 401 02 Min.

of Agric.

Forestry & Food Security [Forestry 738,100,000 Div.]
404 00 Ministry of Transport & Aviation 10,435,589,700 411 00 Road Maintenance Fund Administration 128,101,000,000 418 00 Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute 5,284765,100 411 00 Sierra Leone Roads Authority 701 01 Freetown City Council 701 01 Western Area Rural District Council 701 01 Kenema District Council 18,481,900,000 7,813,145,733 2,962,772,345 3,044,664,341 Signed by Honourable Claude D.M.
Kamanda, Chairman, Sub - Appropriation Committee I 38 THE CHAIRMAN: Honourable Members, the proceedings are now open for you to give your opinions on the Minister‟s proposals, taking into account the representation in the Sub-Committee.

HON.

ALHASSAN KAMARA: Thank you, Mr Chairman.

I need few clarifications from the Chairman of this Committee, under Vote Head 305 00, Ministry of Social Welfare.

He stated that the Ministry was operating on different bank accounts.
I need further clarifications on that, Mr Chairman.

Again, if we look at Page 9, the report says the Ministry is yet to fully utilise its allocation for 2016.

The Report went further to state that the Ministry has not yet received its allocation on fuel for the past three months.

I want to know if the money is still there unutilised.

I want that to be clarified.

Mr Chairman, let us look at Page 21, Western Area Rural District Council.
It says, „responding to question on reason for not meeting its target, the Deputy Chief administrator said that the failure by Council to meet its projected revenue target could be attributed to partial devolution of functions to the council.‟ I want the chairman to really elaborate on what he meant by partial devolution to the council as a reason for not meeting its target.

Thank you, Mr Chairman.

HON CLAUDE D.M.


KAMANDA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, all Councils are complaining that there are Ministries that need to devolve especially the Ministry of Fisheries Therefore most councils could not generate revenue from those sectors.

On the area of unused funds, 50% of the amount received by the Ministry of Social Welfare for 2015 is yet to be utilised.

Also, there was a project worth seven hundred and seven million Leones to employ social workers and the like.
The money is still thee in the Ministry without utilisation.

And on the area of fuel, there was allocation from the Ministry of Finance as reported.

HON.

APHA B. LEWALLY: Mr Chairman that was the reason I stood up.

I wanted further clarification on the seven hundred and seven million Leones.

I wanted to know the reason behind the delay.

THE CHAIRMAN: Do you take it now that your question has been answered?

39 HON.

ALPHA B. LEWALLY: No sir.

I wanted to know the reasons for the delay.

Hon.


CLAUDE D. M. KAMANDA: Mr Chairman, we also posed that question for the management team, but the Committee was told that they were still waiting for clearance from, the Minister so that the funds could be utilised.

HON.

ALPHA B. LEWALLY: Mr Chairman, I would like to take the House to page17, under the Ministry of Transports and Aviation.

I would like the Minister to clarify the actual budget allocated to this Ministry for the fiscal year 2017.
There was part in the budget speech which stated that the Government is going to provide 100 buses in 2017 I would like to know if the 100 buses are part of this Le10,435,589,700 allocation to the Ministry.

HON.

CLAUDE D. M. KAMANDA: I believe that Le10, 435,589,700 is for recurrent and the4 allocation for the 100 buses should come under the development or capital budget.

HON.
HON.

ABU BAKARR KOROMA: Mr Chairman, I want to go back to the seven hundred and seventy million Leones under the Ministry of Social Welfare Mr Chairman.

I think that money has a deadline for its utilisatioin.

I want to know what the Ministry is going to do after the deadline.

I am of the opinion that the money continues to be in the Ministry without utilisation, it would be taken back to the donors.

Maybe the Ministry of Finance must ask for the money to be returned to the consolidation fund.

HON.
HON.

CLAUDE D.M.

KAMANDA: Thank you very much for that observation.

I wonder how the Chairman of Local Government Committee knows that there is a deadline for the use of the fund by the Ministry of Social Welfare.

The only assurance this sub- appropriation can give is that there is a fund at the Ministry of Social Welfare to the tune of seven hundred and seven million Leones that is yet to be utilised for the employment of social workers.

HON.
HON.

ABU BAKARR KOROMA: If there is deadline for the utilisation of the said fund, I want this House to instruct the Ministry of Social Welfare to utilise that money immediately.

40 HON.

CLAUDE D. M. KAMANDA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, there is a Parliamentary Committee on Social Welfare and I believe one of the objects for this debate is for the Committee Chairs and Committee Members to take notes of some of the issues raised here for further action.
I believe members of the Committees on Social Welfare have noted this observation.

HON.

ABU BAKARR KOROMA: I think now that we are debating the budget, this is the appropriate time for parliament to instruct the Ministry to utilise that money with immediate effect.

This is because there were social workers in that Ministry before Madam Sylvia Blyden took that office.

What she did was to redundant all those social workers.
I knew about that because some of my constituents were social workers before she was appointed as a Minister.

Presently, the money is yet to be utilised.

They said they are going to reemploy other social workers, but yet to happened.

I think Mr Chairman with your respect and power you should instruct the Ministry to utilize that money immediately.

THE CHAIRMAN: Honourable Member, you should move a motion in that respect.

HON.
HON.

ABU BAKARR KOROMA: In that case, Mr Chairman, I want to move that Parliament instruct the Ministry of Social Welfare to utilise the seven hundred and seven million Leones for the recruitment of six hundred social workers in the Ministry of Social Welfare.

THE CHAIRMAN: Any seconder?

HON.

ALHASSAN KAMARA: I so second, Mr Chairman.

THE CHAIRMAN: Any counter motion?

I want the Chairman of the Finance Committee to take note of that.

HON.

HASSAN B.
HON.

HASSAN B.

SHERIFF: Mr Chairman, I just want to observe that we are very close towards the end of the financial year; and I believe donor agencies have the tendency to withdraw their funds if those funds are unutilised before the end of the year.
So, I would suggest that since the Minister of Finance is here with us and they are responsible for coordinating all funding from international donors, to take note of this 41 and perhaps to be able to retrieve the funds from the Ministry of Social Welfare and set those funds aside at the Bank of Sierra Leone.

THE CHAIRMAN: Mr Finance Chairman, you are perfectly right.

Mr Minister, please take note of that and in your response I would like to hear something on that.

HON.
HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE: Thank you very much, Mr Chairman, Mr Chairman, in relation to what the Chairman of Local Government was saying.

I would suggest that we invite the Minister of Social Welfare to brief this nation through this Parliament about the unused funds sitting in the Ministry‟s account.

I am saying this because we are not well-equipped to know why the funds are still sitting there unutilised.

Therefore, the Minister should come and explain to us.

Thank you very much.

HON.


ALPHA B. LEWALLY: Mr Chairman, the Honourable Abu B. Koroma has already moved a motion in that regard.

THE CHAIRMAN: Well, that motion has not yet been carried.

HON.

ALPHA B. LEWALLY: Mr Chairman, there was a seconder to that motion.

THE CHAIRMAN: I know, but it has not yet been carried.

I asked for a counter motion and in the counter motion the Chairman of Finance Committee made a suggestion.
The Honourable Bashiru Silikie is very much in line with what has already been said.

Honourable Alpha B. Lewally, you know that a motion in Parliament has a force of law.

Therefore, we have to very be careful.

Mr Chairman of Finance Committee, I also want you to take note of the point made by the Honourable Basiru Silikie.

Honourable Members, we have to first of all dispose of this matter.

A motion has been moved and was seconded.


I asked for a counter motion and in the course of that a few observations were made, which amount to a counter motion.

The observation made by Honourable Basiru Silikie is in place.

He suggested that we call the Minister to come and explain, but that would not take place this session.

HON.

HASSAN B.

SHERIFF: Mr Chairman, the danger is that we cannot wait for funds to be rolled over to 2017.
42 THE CHAIRMAN: Honourable Member, you can sit down for the time being and allow the Minister to come in.

But at this point I am afraid I would have to call on you now to say something on this issue.

MR MOMODU KARGBO: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, let me see if I can help to do some clarifications.
The seven hundred and seven million Leones was provided by UNICEF to identify positions and support for the recruitment process and it was later discovered that after the recruitment, the staff recruited would have to be absorbed by Government.

As we speak, there is an embargo on employment and that is why the money is unutilized.

Presently, we are trying to negotiate its use.


When the recruitment would have been done, in terms of identifying and supporting the recruitment process of staff, and once they are recruited, they become part of government payroll.

Presently, there is a moratorium on employment that is why the money has not been used.

That is the situation, Mr Chairman.

THE CHAIRMAN: Mr Minister, a moratorium by definition is temporary.
However, I want the Minister to assure this House that when you are negotiating for next year, the money would be used for the intended purpose.

HON.

ABU BAKARR KOROMA: Mr Minister, please tell this House whether there is deadline for the utilization of this money.

MR MOMODU KARGBO: We are definitely asking for a roll-over of the money because we are all now caught in the middle of it, so we want some breathing space to determine what else to do.

HON.

MOHAMED K. THOLLEY: Thank you, Mr Chairman.


Mr Chairman, I will like us to look at page 10, a Budge Estimate for 2017.‟ It says: “Probing further, the Ministry could not fully account for donor funded project and therefore requested financial report on this project.” Mr Chairman, like the observation made by the Honourable Member from Masiaka, these are moneys when they land in this country become the nation‟s money.
If the Ministry is getting different sources of funding the officials of the Ministry should be able to update this House accordingly, 43 especially when they knew that they were to appear before this sub-appropriation Committee.

They should be able to tell this nation how they have utilized those donor funds.

I equally want to join the Member of Parliament from Masiaka for this House to summon the Minister to come and answer to this query.
The Ministry of Agriculture is one of the Ministries where huge allocations are always made.

As such, the dream of his Excellency must be seen to take place.

Therefore, I want to humbly suggest that we call the Minister here for briefing.

THE CHAIRMAN: Honourable Member, the option is yours and we can look into that next session.

HON.

ALHAJI SERAY DUMBUYA: Thank you, Mr Chairman.

I am still looking at how we can expedite spending the seven hundred and seven million Leones.
We can use that money to recruit social workers on a casual basis.

THE CHAIRMAN: Honourable Member, I think the explanation made by the Minister suffices.

HON.

MOHAMED L. MANASARAY: Thank you, Mr Chairman.

I just want to make some clarification on the money in question.

The former Minister of Social Welfare came to Parliament and most of us recommended personnel from our Chiefdoms.

THE CHAIRMAN: Did you listen to what the Minister said?

Please sit down.

HON.


SAMUEL H. BRIMA: Mr Chairman, I want to take you to page 12, under Vote Head 411 00.

The Chairman spoke about a deficit in the total expenses and that has to be accounted for to parliamentary Committee.

I want him to throw light on that issue.

HON.

CLAUDE D. M. KAMANDA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the total expenditure do not tally with the amount received.

We have asked the Committee on Finance to further look into that issue.

HON.
HON.

NAVO KAIKAI: Thank you very much, Mr Chairman, I would like to commend the Chairman of Committee 1 for this report.

If we turn to Page 5, I am especially impressed about what the Committee said about the collection of revenue by Local 44 Councils.

However, I would have expected them to tell this House what local Councils have done with the revenue they collected.
I think people are failing to pay their taxes because they have not seen any tangible developments in respect to the taxes they have paid.

For example, I come from Kailahun District and we have been encouraging people to pay their taxes, but they always complain that they don‟t see what the Council is doing with their money.
You have emphasised on collecting and monitoring the use of those revenue, but I think the Councils should really tell the people some of the areas where those revenue have been expended on, so that they could convince the people to pay their taxes.

If the people are not shown where those moneys have been expended they will continue to refuse paying their taxes.

THE CHAIRMAN: Honourable Claude D.M.

Kamanda, do you agree?

HON.

HASSAN B.


SHERIFF: Mr Chairman, we did comment the Committee‟s observation that all the three Councils interviewed were unable to adequately deliver services to their respective communities.

We have noted your point.

I want to make further clarification on the concern raised by the Honourable Member from Kailahun.

All funds raised by Councils can be spent by those Councils discretionarily for the smooth and daily operations of the Councils.
The Procedure here is, the fund raised has to be deposited first into the Bank Account of Councils before utilisation.

Every withdrawal from the bank must be reported.

In that report, you have to state clearly the amount withdrawn and how it was expended.

The Expenditure pattern is totally discretionary.

HON.

IBRAHIM BEN KARGBO: Without attempting to interfere or to bring us back to the issue on the Ministry of Social Welfare, I want to refer this House to Page 8 of the Report.
I accept the explanation made by the Chairman of the Finance Committee and the observations made by the Chairman.

However, I am concerned about the fact that no expenditure was done in very important areas within that Ministry and I want to know why that happened in the office of the Permanent Secretary.

The Policy Development and Strategic Planning is almost Zero, Gender Policy and Advocacy is 45 Zero, Gender Policy/Advocacy is Zero; and Social Welfare is Zero.
We begin to ask ourselves the question what is happening?

How is the Ministry been run?

THE CHAIRMAN: Honourable Claude D.M.

Kamanda, any explanation?

HON.

CLAUDE D. M. KAMANDA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, it was really a concern for us as a Committee, especially so when funds were allocated to the Ministry for utilisation.

Over three hundred million Leones is sitting in the Ministry‟s account while many relevant Directorate Divisions are unfunded.
Again, as I did say, the Committees on Social Welfare, Finance and Transparency should probe into all those issues.

HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE: Mr Chairman, I want to refer the House to Pages 18 to 19, under vote Head 701 01; Freetown City Council.

Mr Chairman, the second Recommendation says „Council should ensure that revenue generation for the cleaning of the Freetown Municipality should be properly managed.
The question is, is the Committee telling us from its investigation that these moneys are not prudently managed?

Secondly, the last recommendation says that the Public trash Bin at Model Junction, along Circular road, which is the gateway to Parliament, should be relocated.
Mr Chairman, being a Member of the Committee on Works, we traversed this City when these roads were under construction and we came to the realization that there is only one dustbin for the entire Mountain Cut, Leicester Road and the Circular Road.

This has posed a lot of problems for those communities and that is why the inhabitants of those communities are depositing their refuse on the streets, which is worst during the rains.
The destruction of the streets in those areas are happening as a result of the flooding.

During the rainy season, the water hardly flows and it is always destroying our main streets, especially in the Western Area.

I want to recommend that we have more trash bins in certain areas, so that the communities around Mountain Cut will not have cause to leave their area to come to Model Junction.

Again, the attitude of the parents who are giving their children trash to dispose of is unfortunate.
For instance, most of these children dispose the refuse on the streets, instead of taking them to the dustbins.

Some of the children at Mountain Cut deposit the rubbish at the cemetery because of 46 the distance.

I want to recommend that we have more of these bins located in certain areas around those communities.

Furthermore, most of the lands in the Western Area have been sold.

There are houses everywhere and it would be very difficult to have more dustbins in those communities.
I am saying this because those lands have been sold and people have built houses on those lands.

Therefore, I want to recommend that the Ministry of Lands, together with the Freetown City Council, work together in terms of finding lasting solution to this problem.

In other words, either we have more dustbins or the one at Model Junction be relocated.

Thirdly, the Report of this Committee recommended that we outsource the cleaning of the city to a private company.
I don‟t know the relationship between the Freetown City Council and Masada.

To my understanding, Masada is responsible for the cleaning of the City.

If that is so, why this recommendation in the first place?

Thank you, Mr Chairman.

HON.

CLAUDE D. M. KAMANDA: Thank you very much for those observations.

The Committee was of the view that the money for the cleaning of the city needed prudent management because according to them, there was an amount meant for the cleaning of the City.
On the issue at Model Junction, you and I know that this is the gateway to Parliament and very soon we will be having the State Opening of Parliament.

We have to ensure that more trash bins are placed around those areas.

I hope that Freetown City Council is hearing what we are saying.

The Honourable member spoke about outsourcing a private company for the cleaning of the city.

According to the Freetown City Council [FCC], I am sure there are issues between council and MASADA.
That is why we have recommended that if they cannot work together let a private company be contracted, so that at the end of the day we want to see the cleanliness of the capital city.

Thank you very much.

THE CHAIRMAN: Honourable Bashiru Silikie made a very good point with regards to finding sites.

My own reply to that is it is easier said than done.

You see, the royals 47 have a saying which I like so much; which says, “You cannot give what you don’t have.” The question is where is the land?
Formerly, almost at every point, in every corner there used to be dumping sites, but now there are houses on every site of those places.

That is the problem we are now facing.

Therefore, I would suggest that the Parliamentary Committees responsible look into this issue and report back to this House.

There are Committees on Lands, and Health and Sanitation.

HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE: Mr Chairman, I am not satisfied with the response from Honourable Claude D.M.
Kamanda with regards the issue between FCC and Masada.

He only said that there was a problem between MASADA and the Council.

I think we should recommend that the contract be terminated if the need arises.

I think that is what the Chairman was trying to say.

If there is already a Company that is cleaning the City and you are recommending that it should be outsourced when it is already outsourced, you either terminate the services of MASADA or you encourage MASADA to improve on its delivery.
You cannot outsource another company when there is already an outsourced company.

It is already outsourced and I want to state here that MASADA is still in charge.

If you are now recommending for the Council to outsource again, you should first of all terminate the Contract between MASADA and the Council.

HON.

CLAUDE D. M. KAMANDA: Mr Chairman, the intention of Council is to employ young people to carry out the job.
As a Committee, we believe that instead of employing young people, it would be more appropriate for Council to outsource a private company.

THE CHAIRMAN: From what he has said, it is clear now.

I want Honourable Members to take note that we are in Committee and rules of debate apply.

This means I should not allow you to speak more than twice.

I also want you to know that I have only been a bit flexible.

HON.
HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE: Mr Chairman, the reason why l raised this MASADA issue is the fact that every Organisation that is doing business with Government… - [Interruption].

48 THE CHAIRMAN: Honourable Member, with respect to you, this is a matter for City Council and not for the Honourable Claude D. M. Kamanda.

There is a Parliamentary Committee that is expected to take this issue up with the Council.

HON.

DAUDA J.

B. KALLON: Thank you very much, Mr Chairman.


Mr Chairman, I want to draw the attention of the Committee to Page 5, the fourth recommendation, under „Disclosure of Closing and Opening Balances of MDAs – Account Balances [Roll- Over]‟ Mr Chairman, the issue of this roll-over, as recommended by this Committees, is something we have to lay more emphasis on.

I will not surprise if other Committees recommend the same thing.

I have personally observed that MDAs hardly forward their Closing and Opening Balances.
If you ask them about their income and expenditure patterns, the next thing they will tell you is their roll-over.

They did not bring their closing balances for 2015 to ascertain their opening balances for 2016.

I want to ask this Honourable House to look into this matter and find possible ways of tackling this problem.
We should make it a condition that whenever these officials want to appear before Appropriation Committees they should come along with their closing balances and even their account numbers.

HON.

HASSAN B.

SHERIFF: Mr Chairman, this was something we discussed in Committee Room 1 that the next appropriation questionnaire would capture all roll overs‟ for all MDAs.

That has been under consideration.

HON.


FODAY T. SUMA: Mr Chairman, I want to draw the attention of this Committee to Page 23 of the Report, under Tertiary Education Commission, Paragraph 4.

It talks about the challenges of difficulties the Commission is facing in the collection of renewal fees from tertiary education institutions.

I recommend that an amendment be made, so that defaulting institutions could be closed down.
We have to consider the consequences of closing learning defaulting institutions.

I think this matter should be referred to the Committee on Education, so that they can explore other alternatives.

THE CHAIRMAN: I agree with you, Honourable Member.

THE CHAIRMAN: I now call on the Minister to react to issues raised.

49 MR. MOMODU KARGBO: I just want to use this opportunity to clarify few issues.
The first thing I want to clarify is the use of the word „Austerity Measures‟ by the Honourable Claude D. M. Kamanda.

When we had the Cabinet meeting, I took the Cabinet Paper to Cabinet and piloted it.

We did not really use the word „Austerity‟.

Austerity, by our training, is something much more serious and it is grounded on serious structural reforms.

Mr Chairman, if you introduce „austerity measures‟ without structural measures, you are only causing unnecessary punishment.
These were actually economic measures that are designed to promote efficiency within the Government.

So, if we really give them a name, we call them efficiency measures.

When I write, I call them fit for purpose measures, because those are the kinds of measures you need to pursue as far as the current situation is concerned.

I don‟t call them austerity measures.

The reason I made that clarification it seemed to have been carried in the public and people are taking advantage of it.
Secondly, I think all of us are frustrated about the poor performance of the Local Councils.

I am happy that parliamentarians are complaining seriously about the poor performance of those Councils in terms of revenue generation.

If you look at the Budget Speech, Paragraph 60, Page 12, we have proposed to get involved with Freetown City Council and the „Ward C‟, are sitting on gold mines in terms of rates for houses.
So, we are going to be helping them and hopefully in the next year‟s budget, I will be able to report based on our undertakings.

Mr Chairman, there was a question on the need for a new vehicle policy.

Again, if you go to Page 13 of the Budget Speech, Paragraphs 61 and 62, we have talked about bringing a new vehicle policy for Government.

This is part of what the efficiency measures I was talking about.

Maybe you will begin to understand why we don‟t want to use the word „austerity.
There was a question on the buses, whether the amount provided was to buy the proposed 100 new buses.

Well, the provision is meant to support the Ministry in its day to day activity and to pay the outstanding balances on the first order of buses.‟ The new order of buses is included in this budget and it is under the public investment 50 programme of the Ministry, Where a provision of about five million dollars has been laid as the initial payment for the new buses.
So what we have on paper in respect of the Ministry of Transport and Aviation is for the daily operations of the Ministry and to complete the payment of the previous buses that have been brought.

I think this could help us in understanding those issues.

Having said that, Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, and with no amendment proposed on any of the Vote Heads, I once again move that the Vote Heads, not being amended, stand part of the schedule.

I thank you.
I thank you.

The following Vote Heads as announced by the Minister form part of the Schedule.

Sub-Appropriation Committee II MR MOMODU KARGBO: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I move that the following Vote Heads stand part of the schedule: VOTE Div.
Vote Description Total Sum Voted [Le] 201 409 414 302 409 106 345 116 124 139 207 309 410 137 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 06 00 00 00 00 00 Ministry of Defence Ministry of Trade Ministry of Water Resources Ministry of Sports 90,356,852,100 4,012,079,700 11,814,909,700 6,003,749,700 Sierra Leone Standards Bureau 2,239,734,800 Office of the Chief of Staff Pharmacy Board Services Parliament Constitutional Review Committee National Commission For Privatisation 5,889,505,000 4,016,133,600 7,750,491,500 1,242,207,500 2,036,584,900 Sierra Leone Correctional Services [Prisons] 34,321,459,200 Medical and Dental Council National Protected Area Authority National Commission for Democracy 326,477,100 4,665,462,900 2,401,239,800 51 209 409 131 130 701 701 701 00 00 00 01 01 00 00 Central Intelligence & Security Unit Local Content Agency Revenue Appellate Board National Youth Commission Kono District Council Kono New Sembehun Council Kenema City Council 5,239,701,600 600,000,000 939,950,400 3,879,089,100 3,045,487,459 2,189,833,065 1,575,031,787 Various development activities [Water Supply Projects] SALWACO and GUMA Le23, 850,000,000 Various development activities – Public Health SL Le10, 000,000,000 Devolved Function – Agriculture and Food Security, Le16, 680,000,000 Devolved Function – Fisheries and Marine Resources, Le410, 200,000 Mr Chairman, Hon.
Members, I move that the vote heads and amount as has just read stand part of the Schedule [The Chairman, Sub-Appropriation Committee [II] [Question Proposed] HON.

KOMBA E.S.
KOMBA E.S.

BOYAH: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I rise to present the Report entitled: „Report of the Sub-Appropriation Committee II on the Recurrent and Development Budget Estimates for 2017 Financial Year.‟ INTRODUCTION Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I rise to present the Report of the Appropriation Sub-Committee Group Two [2] on the budget hearing of the recurrent and development expenditure estimates for the Financial Year [FY] 2017.
The Sub-Committee II derived its mandate from the generality of Section 112 of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone [Act No.

6] and Sub-Clauses 64 [3] & 66 [1] of the Standing Orders [SO] of Parliament to scrutinize the under - mentioned Vote Heads.
52 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the 2017 budget focuses on post– Ebola development and with support from development partners the phase one of the recovery plan ended in April this year and the second phase had begun with the overarching objective of fulfilling the presidential recovery priorities in the following sectors; health, education, water, energy, social protection, private sector development and democratic governance.
Therefore, the theme for the 2017 Budget is, “Recovery through Economic Diversification and Fostering Entrepreneurship” MEMBERS Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the under-mentioned Honourable Members were assigned to Sub-Appropriation Committee II to review and scrutinize budgetary estimates of line MDAs herein for the period under review: 1.

Hon.

Komba E.S.

Boyah - Chairman; 2.

Hon.

Gladys Gbappy-Brima - Deputy Chairman; 3.

Hon.

Taworo Tara Koroma; 4.

Hon.

Moses Alieu Sesay; 5.

Hon.


Dickson M. Rogers; 6.

Hon.

Silikie Bashiru; 7.

Hon.

Veronica K. Sesay; 8.

Hon.

Navo Kaikai; 9.

Hon.

Dr. Bu-Buakei Jabbi; 10.

Hon.

Thomas B. Turay; 11.

Hon.

Ibrahim Parteh Bah; 12.

Hon.

P.C.

Mohamed Sama Kailondo Banya; 13.

Hon.

P.C.

Lappia Boima; 14.

Hon.

Braima Conteh; 15.

Hon.

Alusine Kanneh; 16.

Hon.

Suahilo M. Koroma; 17.

Hon.

Frank Kposowa; 18.

Hon.

Rosky M. Mbayo; 53 19.

Hon.

Moses A. Swarray; and 20.

Hon.

Tom I. Tucker.


SUPPORT STAFF 1.

Mr Momodu Lamin Deen-Rogers – Lead Clerk; 2.

Mr Anthony C. Kamara; 3.

Mr James Kaikai; and 4.

Ms Patience Brown-Dawson.

Table 1 Recommended Vote Heads for Approval VOTE Div.
Vote Description Sum Voted [Le] 201 00 Ministry of Defence Ministry of Trade and Industry Ministry of Water Resources Ministry of Sports 90,356,852,100 4,012,079,700 11,814,909,700 6,003,749,700 Sierra Leone Standards Bureau 2,239,734,800 Office of the Chief of Staff Pharmacy Board Services Parliament Constitutional Review Committee 5,889,505,000 4,016,133,600 7,750,491,500 1,242,207,500 409 414 302 409 106 345 116 124 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 06 139 00 National Commission For Privatisation 2,036,584,900 207 00 Sierra Leone Correctional Services [Prisons] 34,321,459,200 309 00 Medical and Dental Council 326,477,100 410 00 National Protected Area Authority 4,665,462,900 137 00 National Commission for Democracy 2,401,239,800 209 00 Central Intelligence &Security Unit 5,239,701,600 131 00 Income Tax Board of Appellate Commissioners 939,950,400 130 01 National Youth Commission 3,879,089,100 54 409 00 Local Content Agency 701 01 Kono District Council 600,000,000 3,045,487,459 701 00 Koidu New Sembehun City Council 2,189,833,065 701 00 Kenema City Council 1,575,031,787 PROCEDURE OF THE SITTING Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the exercise commenced with the dispatch of questionnaires to the various MDAs to ascertain whether the 2016 Financial Year [FY] 2016 allocations were utilized in accordance with the financial regulations contained in the public financial management laws and the Public Financial Management Act of 2016.
Vote Controllers were summoned pursuant to the generality of S.O 66 to come along with their vote service ledgers and other accounting documents pertinent to revenue and expenditures in their respective MDAs for the financial year 2016.

The Committee sat from the 24th -30th November, 2016.
OBJECTIVES OF THE EXERCISE The budget hearing was done against the framework of the following objectives to:  enable Vote Controllers and their accounting personnel justify the figures factored in their recurrent and development expenditure estimates for the FY 2017;  assess the extent to which budgetary allocations to MDAs for 2017 are in compliance with the work plans presented to the Appropriation Sub –Committee;  ensure transparency and accountability in the management of public funds;  ascertain whether the 2016 allocations were judiciously expended; and  hold the executive accountable pursuant to Sections 66[1], 93[3] 93[6] and 107[2] of the Sierra Leone Constitution, Act No.6 of 1991.
GENERAL FINDINGS AND OBSERVATIONS Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, during the hearings, the Committee went by its constitutional mandate and other ancillary legislations in exercising its functions and this resulted in the following findings and observations: 55  The Committee observed that there is a perennial gap not only between budget ceiling and actual allocation to MDAs by the MoFED but also between actual allocations and actual receipts from the MoFED.
 The Committee observed with concern the cost of International travels by MDAs.

The Committee was in fact particularly bemused at the cost of Air ticket for International travelling.

The Committee noted with regret the indifference of MDAs to their responsibility of addressing this situation as the cost of overseas travelling was a key observation in the 2015/16 appropriation reports.
 The Committee noted that some of the MDAs received gifts, donations, grants and/or pledges without notifying Parliament as mandated by Section 118 [7] of the 1991 Constitution [Act No.6]; and  The Committee recommends that Standing and Select Committees of Parliament should consistently use the Appropriation Reports and work plans of MDAs in carrying out oversight functions.
201 00 MINISTRY OF DEFENCE [MoD] Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, pursuant to the generality of Section 165 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone, Act No.6 of 1991, the MOD is charged with the responsibility to provide Administrative Support and Services to the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces [RSLAF].

In the FY 2016, MoD received the sum of Le 71,379,244,476 from an original recurrent budget submission of Le101, 531,427,576.
The Ministry actually received as at November 2016, the sum of Le74, 532,375,000.

Notwithstanding the slight increase in the FY 2016 the Ministry was not able to provide any of the following:  Aircraft and professional training of Air wing personnel  Navy boats to patrol our territorial water and the EEZ  A sufficient quantity of military stores Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, in the FY 2017 the Ministry of Defence made an original budget submission amounting to Le87,000,000,000.
However, the Ministry had an increment in budget allocation for the FY 2017 totaling Le90, 356,852,100 56 from the original submission.

The above indicates that much has to be done in the area of funding if the nation is to benefit from a professional national military capable of meeting the present global challenges.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee noted that Government expends from the 8th of August 2016 to 31st December 2016, the sum of Le22,329,750,000on the procurement of the monthly take home operational rice meant to improve the welfare of soldiers and their dependents.

The Committee is of the view that Government expends annually more than the sum of Le40, 000,000,000on monthly rice supply to the Military.
The Committee therefore recommends that the military be engaged to utilize its agricultural unit located at Moyamba through the provision of machinery and other necessary support in an effort to make them produce rice to feed themselves and probably the immediate locality.
The Committee views the 2017 budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Defence as barely fair and urges government to address the challenges of the Military especially in the areas of accommodation and capability of the Air and Naval wings.

409 MINISTRY OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Ministry of Trade and Industry is crucial in ensuring the success of the post National Ebola Recovery Plan and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs].
The Ministry received a budget allocation to the tune of Le533, 808,548 for the FY 2016 from an initial budget ceiling of Le2, 052,500,000.

The gap between the budget ceiling and actual allocation amounting to the sum of Le1, 518,691,452 affected the general operations of the Ministry.

In the FY 2017, the Ministry made a budget submission to the tune of Le2, 595,900,000 to the MoFED.
An increase of Le1, 753,000,000 to the original budget submission would therefore enable the Ministry to roll out its work plan for the FY 2017.

The Committee therefore commends the MoFED for the increment in the budget allocation to the Ministry of Trade and Industry and therefore urges it to play a central role in achieving the overarching objective of the 2017 budget which is pegged to the 57 theme: “Recovery through Economic Diversification and Fostering Entrepreneurship”.
414 00 MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Ministry of Water Resources is responsible for water supply throughout the country.

The Ministry of Water Resources made a budget submission to the tune of Le6, 954,043,500 for FY 2016 and was given a budget ceiling of Le3, 184,100,000.

The actual allocation received by the Ministry as of November, 2016 from the government regular budget is Le927, 177,000.00.
The Ministry further received donor funding to the tune of $1,000,000.00 as payment to the team implementing the KOICA project.

The donor funding [KOICA project] was utilized to construct and rehabilitate wells and pumps for improving drinking water supply in Kambia and Port Loko districts.

In the FY 2017, the Ministry submitted a budget to the tune of Le 2,707,100,000 and a budget ceiling of Le2, 706,200,000 during the budget hearing of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
However, the actual allocation to the Ministry for the FY 2017 is Le11, 814,909.700.

The colossal increment in the budget allocation to the Ministry in 2017 is predicated on the implementation of SDG 6 – Providing clean water and sanitation before 2030.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee was assured that an increment amounting to Le9bn in the budgetary allocation to the Ministry will greatly improve the water sector and capacitate SALWACO and Guma Valley to improve on the following:  Overhaul the supply line/system nationwide;  Expansion of rural water supply;  Purchase of modern testing equipment to test the water quality nationwide; and  Preserve and protect the water catchment areas especially in the western area.
The Committee recommends that:  the Ministry of Water Resources reviews the legal framework and other ancillary laws in the water sector; 58  the Ministry should attract private sector investment in the water sector; and  all water producing companies in the country should be verified and licensed by the Electricity and Water Regulatory Agency.
This is so because the proliferation of water producing companies in the country if not regulated and quality assurance ascertained would pose a national health threat in-the-not too distant future.

302 00 MINISTRY OF SPORTS Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the FY 2016 the Ministry of Sports made a budget submission to the tune of Le14,000,000,000.00 and was given a budget ceiling of Le6,400,000,000.
The Ministry actually received as of November, 2016 the sum of Le4, 238,000,000 on GoSL regular budget and Le699, 292,369.00 as supplementary budget.

For FY 2017 the Ministry submitted a budget to the tune of Le20, 501,300,000 and was given a budget ceiling of Le6, 003,749,700.

A decrease of Le14, 000,000,000 or more would affect the administration of sports and the participation of the country in both local and international competitions.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Ministry of Sport is an income generating Ministry, however, this is not the case at the moment, especially with the Management of the Stadiums nationwide.

For example, the National Stadium Management generated the sum of Le463, 584,351.97 from the 1st of January to the 31st of December 2016 and expended for the same period the sum of Le 454,149,373.23.

The National Stadium Management generated only Le 9,398,978.74 from January to September of 2016.
Therefore, the Committee recommends an external auditing of the accounts of National Stadium Management and other sport facilities in the country.

409 00 DEPARTMENT OF THE SIERRA LEONE STANDARDS BUREAU Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Office of Standards Bureau was established in 2004 as provided by the Standards Decree No.

2 of 1996.

The Bureau is mandated to provide for the standardization of commodities and products.
It also has the responsibility to promote quality assurance and other related matters.

59 In the FY2016, the Standards Bureau was given a budget ceiling of Le9, 841,100,000 by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development [MoFED].

As of November 2016 the Bureau has actually received Le5, 599,125,090.06.
The decrease from the original budget ceiling affected the following areas:  Payments of subscriptions to International Standards Organisations  Recruitment of staff and training  Construction of administrative building The Bureau also had donor funding from FAO amounting to $22,404.48 which was utilized in the assessment of the national food control system in Sierra Leone.

In the FY 2017, the Standards Bureau made a budget submission totaling Le18, 902,828,529.01 to MoFED.
However, the Ministry of Finance gave a budget ceiling of Le10, 902,828,529.01 to the Bureau.

A decrease in budget allocation to the tune of Le8, 000,000,000 would affect the general operations of the Bureau in the FY 2017.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Standards Bureau is a revenue generating entity.

In the FY 2016 the revenue target was Le3, 663,000,000.

The Bureau was able to generate Le2, 348,116,188.61.
But it was not able to meet revenue target due to the following:  Reduction in the % of Direct Investment [DI] fund from 0.15% to 0.7%  Low % of fees charged for the services provided by the Bureau The Committee sees the Standards Bureau as pivotal in the Trade and Industry sector; and therefore, the Committee recommends the Bureau to review its legal framework and expand on its operations nationwide.
It will thereby improve on the standardization of commodities and products entering or leaving the shores of Sierra Leone.

The Committee is also of the opinion that if the Bureau expands its revenue sources it will be able to take care of its budgetary needs.
106 00 OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF STAFF Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Office of Chief of Staff comprises eight units in the Office of the President: Office of the Admin & Finance, Strategy and Policy Unit; 60 Communication Unit; Sierra Leone Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative; Public Private Partnership Unit/Project Development Unit; Millennium Challenge Cooperation Unit; Performance Management and Service Delivery Directorate; and Citizens Secretariat.

Mr Chairman, Hon.
Mr Chairman, Hon.

Members, in the FY 2016, the actual allocation to the Office of Chief of Staff as at 18th November, 2016 was Le1,000,000,000 from a budget ceiling of Le7,540,075.

The decrease in actual budget allocation greatly affected the programming and operational support of the members of the Office of Chief of Staff.
However, the Office of Chief of Staff received donor funding from International EITI and UNICEF to the tune of Le624, 318,040 for the production of EITI 2014 report, beneficial ownership workshop, sectoral AGM-District Sector Clustering, Annual performance Contract Assessment and pay and performance programme.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, in the FY 2017, the Office of the Chief of Staff submitted to the MoFED a budget to the tune of Le6, 884,652,000.
A budget ceiling of Le5,889,505,000 was given by the MoFED.

A decrease in the budget submission would adversely affect the overall operations of the Office of Chief of Staff.

Mr Chairman, owing to the present economic situation in the country, the Committee recommends that the budgetary allocation of Le5, 889,505,000 to the Office of the Chief of Staff is appreciable.
345 00 PHARMACY BOARD SERVICES Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone was established by the Pharmacy and Drugs Act No.12 of 2001 as a regulatory body to control the manufacturing, supply, and transportation of drugs, including the nutritional agents and cosmetics.

The Pharmacy Board submitted a budget for FY 2016 to the tune of Le9, 561,036,468.63 and a budget ceiling of Le4, 016,300,000 was given by the MoFED.
What was actually received as of November 2016 was 1,000,000,000.00 as recurrent expenditure.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, in the FY 2016, the Pharmacy Board was given a donor funding from the Global Fund Malaria Project amounting to the sum of 61 $50,000.00 for the printing of regulatory documents and external testing of anti- malaria drugs in Kenya, UPPSALA Monitoring Center provided funds to the tune of $1,217.58 as travel expenses to attend a pharmacological meeting in Sweden.
The Pharmacy Board is a revenue generating entity.

In the FY 2016, the Board internally generated funds from service fees amounting to Le3, 098,169,527.

The Board however retained Le1, 441,690,033 for its general operations.

Revenue target was exceeded as a result of efficient management interventions and enforcement of regulatory requirements to ensure licensing of persons and premises, product registration, monitoring of clinical trials and M&E in general.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the FY 2017, the Pharmacy Board made a budget submission of Le4,103,500,000 as recurrent expenditure to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.

A budget allocation of Le4, 016,133,600 was made to the Board by MoFED.

Therefore, the Committee recommends a review of the Pharmacy and Drugs Act of 2001 and urges the Board to judiciously utilize the annual retention fee for the improvement of the sector in the country.
116 00 PARLIAMENT Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, in 2007, Parliament enacted a bill for the creation of a Parliamentary Service Commission [PSC].

The Commission was established with a mandate to provide Parliament with technical and administrative support, as well as provide advisory services.

The 2007 Parliamentary Service Act is very clear on the institution of Parliament as an arm of government and the centre piece of democratic governance in the state.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, pursuant to Section 15 of the Parliamentary Service Act, Parliament is required to make annual budgetary estimates to the President only, who may make comments or recommendations where necessary.

However, over the years, Parliament has been treated as a sub-vented agency like any other MDA in the country.
The Committee frowns at the usual practice in the budgetary process which is outside Section 15 of the PSC Act; and it calls for an immediate restitution of the provisions therein.

62 In FY 2016, the Parliamentary Service Commission [PSC] made a budget submission to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development [MoFED] amounting to Le 11,852,500,000.

A budget ceiling of Le 8,921,800,000.00 was then allocated for the year 2016.
The actual amount received for the financial year under review was Le 7,750,491,500.

Donor funding for the FY 2016 was Le 69,616,739 from ACBF, $ 210,518.15 from World Bank, $ 32,000 from UNDP and £ 10,000 from WFD.

No.

Institution Activity Expenditure Beneficiaries 1.

ACBF  Purchase of bio-metric Le.

26,670,000.00 MPs and staff machines for MPs and staff  Newsletter Production [1000 Le 42,946,739 copies] Grand Total = Le.

69,616,739 2.
69,616,739 2.

World Bank  PAC Public hearings on USD 33,617.14 auditors General‟s report  PAC International conference [WAAPAC annual conference – 4MPs and a Clerk  TAC oversight visit to Local Councils on compliance with section 107 of LGA 2004 and a follow-up on implementation of committees‟ recommendations.
 TAC regional knowledge exchange [in collaboration with ACC]  PFC Oversight to MDAs and Local Councils  PFC Regional knowledge exchange for 4 MPs and Clerk  Training of TAC members on modern techniques of transparency oversight  Supply of 30 Seater bus for PFC and TAC of Parliament USD 46,498 USD 15,500 USD 28,037 USD 10,765.63 USD 21,626 USD 1,098.36 USD 53,376.02 63 3.
UNDP  Provide technical support to Grand Total=USD 210,518.15 USD 32,000 MPs and staff Promote South-South collaboration with an exposure visit to a South Parliament, Peer learning on Budget Office roles and responsibilities Support the Legislative world/bill drafting workshop Conduct outreach to selected Schools/Colleges on the role of Parliament support PACO staff with office supplies Support communications department to set up and operationalize the audio visual unit [in progress] 4.
WFD  Support Hansard department GBP 10,000 [Westminster Foundation for Democracy] with equipment  Secondment for two staff at the Isle of Man Parliament of Tynwald In the Financial Year 2017, the Parliamentary Service Commission [PSC] made a budget submission to the tune of Le 16,594,500.00 to MoFED.

A budget ceiling of Le 7,750,491,500.00 was set for the PSC.

This budget ceiling excludes Constituency Development Fund [CDF].
All this Non Interest and Salary Recurrent Expenditure of Parliament represent merely 0.6% of the entire national budget.
The decrease in the budget allocation for the FY 2017 would greatly affect the following areas:  Oversight functions of Parliamentary Committees,  Quality of estate management among others,  Provision of offices for members of parliament,  Research facilities for MPs Therefore, the Committee resolved and strongly recommends an increase in the budget allocation to Parliament for the FY 2017.
64 124 06 CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW COMMITTEE [CRC] SECRETARIAT Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for FY 2016 the CRC submitted a budget of Le4,200,000,000, but the Committee was given a budget ceiling of Le2,000,000,000.

The difference between the actual allocation and the budget ceiling for the FY 2016 was Le2, 200,000,000.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the FY 2017 the CRC submitted a budget to the tune of Le1,396,409,481 to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
The actual allocation for the FY 2017 is Le1, 243,207,500.

There is a decrease of Le153, 201,918 to the original 2017 budget submission and it would greatly affect the administrative running of the secretariat, more especially after the submission of the draft Constitutional report and public awareness raising on the process.

In light of the above, the Committee recommends a supplementary budgetary support to the CRC as and when the need arises.
139 00 THE NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR PRIVATISATION Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the National Commission for Privatisation was created by an Act of Parliament in 2002 to take responsibility for the reform and divestiture of non- performing public enterprises.

The object for which the Commission is established is to serve as the policy and decision-making body for the divestiture and reform process of public enterprises.
In the FY2016, the Commission submitted a budget estimate in the sum of Le2, 281,500,000, but the allocation was Le2, 036,584,900 from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.

The Commission actually received Le1, 081,299,999 as of November 2016.

This allocation represents 0.2% of Non-Salary and Non Interest Recurrent Budgetary Allocations.

In FY2017 the Commission made a budget submission to the tune of Le2, 081,000,000.
The actual allocation to this Commission for the FY under review is Le2, 036,584,900.

The NCP as provided by law is an income generating entity.
In the FY 2016, the Commission generated revenue as indicated below: 65 Name Of Details Projected 2016 Received Payment Project USD USD dates Container Annual rental 4,437,384 4,437,384 April each Terminal fees Concession – Bollore [Freetown Terminal Limited] year Break Bulk Bollore – License 50,000 56,000 October Licensing fees Agreement Nectar UK Ltd 50,000 56,000 October Cargo Tracking Marine Slipway 30,000 Note Project TPMS –West 3,3,660,834 Africa SL TOTALS 8,228,218 4,549,384 However, the Commission is stranded by the inaction of some agencies not honouring their financial obligations to the Commission.
For example, MSK Trading [Ferry Mahera] owes the Commission the sum of Le 160, 000,000.

Therefore, recommends that the Ministry of Finance ensures the payment of all outstanding fees, licenses or leasing agreements to the Commission in the shortest possible time.

The Committee deems the allocation for the FY2017 to the NCP as appreciable.
207 00 SIERRA LEONE CORRECTIONAL SERVICES [PRISONS] Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, in FY 2016, the Department of Sierra Leone Correctional Services made a budget submission to the tune of Le 34,953,279,285 to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development [MoFED] and a budget ceiling of Le.

31,708,100,000 was allocated.

The actual allocation received as of November 2016 is Le 22,651,561,000.
66 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, in the FY 2017, the Department submitted the sum of Le33,024,000,000 to MoFED and a budget ceiling of Le33,024,000,000 was set.

The actual allocation for FY 2017 is Le 34.3.

The increment in the budget allocation will help the centre to improve on areas that have posed perennial challenges to the operations of the department.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Sierra Leone Correctional Services has sources of income generation.
However, over the years, it has not been able to meet revenue targets due to delays in the release of allocation which made it difficult to purchase materials for manufacture and also the encroachment on the Waterloo and Masanki oil palm plantation which was a major source of revenue generation.
For example, revenue target for FY 2015/2016 for this department was Le 12.5 million but was only able to generate Le1, 100,000.00 due to the late procurement of agricultural inputs for the Prison‟s farms at Waterloo and Masanki.

Owing to the present economic state of affairs, the Committee recommends that MoFED makes available the already allocated budget in time to the Correctional Services.
309 00 MEDICAL AND DENTAL COUNCIL OF SIERRA LEONE Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Department of Medical and Dental Council of Sierra Leone is a statutory body established by the National Provisional Ruling Council [NPRC] Repeal and Modification Act of 1996.

Section 12 of the Act mandated the Medical and Dental council to provide quality health care in all medical institutions by ensuring that medical practitioners and dental surgeons adhere to acceptable medical and dental standards and practices.
In the FY 2016, the Council original budget submission was Le393, 800,000 to the MoFED.

The Ministry of Finance gave a budget ceiling to the tune of Le 212,200,000.

The Council actually received as of November 2016 the sum of Le 212,200,000.

For the FY 2017, the Council submission was Le 333,600,000.00 to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development [MoFED].

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development allocated the sum of Le326, 477,100.00 for the FY 2017.
The decrease in budget allocation would adversely affect the regular monitoring of health 67 care Institutions after inspection and registration, recruitment of additional staff and the general operations of the Council.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Medical and Dental Council is a revenue generating entity.

Revenue target for the FY 2016 was Le 150,000,000.00 but the Council cannot meet its target due to lack of transport and related logistical issues.
In spite of the above, the Council has projected a revenue target amounting to Le 170,000,000.00 for FY 2017.

The Committee agreed that the budget allocation to the Council was inadequate and therefore, recommends a supplementary budgetary allocation for the FY 2017.

410 00 NATIONAL PROTECTED AREA AUTHORITY [NPAA] Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the National Protected Area Authority [NPAA] 2016 budget submission was Le 30,286,347,552.

No ceiling was given to this Authority.


But the Authority actually received Le 5,721,410,572 for the FY 2016.

For the FY 2017, the original budget submission was Le4, 843,900,000 for recurrent expenditure budget.

On the recurrent budget for the FY 2017, the Ministry of Finance gave a budget ceiling to the tune of Le4, 843,900,000 the actual allocation from the Appropriation Act 2016 is Le4, 665,462,900.
The decrease in allocation for the FY 2017 would affect the strength and capacity of the Authority to monitor 17 protected areas country wide.

The Committee recommends that a supplementary budgetary allocation be made to NPPA and to further expedite the establishment of the National Conservation Trust Fund [NCTF] unit.
1370 00 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR DEMOCRACY Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the 2016 budget allocation for the National Commission for Democracy [NCD] is Le1,800,600,000 from a budget ceiling of Le1,213,600,000.

The difference between the actual allocation and the budget ceiling is Le1, 033,540,000.

68 Mr Chairman, the Commission submitted for FY 2017 a budget of Le3, 000,000,000 to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.

The actual allocation for the FY 2017 is Le2, 401,239,800.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the decrease made to the original budget submission for the FY 2017 would affect the following areas:  Championing the re-introduction of civil education to schools as stated in the Agenda for Prosperity, Pillar 7.

 Construction and erection of flag poles nationwide.

 The printing of civic education materials.

 The use of Outside Broadcasting (OB) vans to propagate/disseminate peace messages.

Mr Chairman, Hon.
Mr Chairman, Hon.

Members, the Committee recommends that vehicles should be provided for each of the regional offices and adequate budgetary allocation be made to the Commission.

209 00 THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE SECURITY AND SECURITY UNIT [CISU] Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Central Intelligence and Security Unit [CISU] was created by an Act of Parliament to collect and assess intelligence on the threat to national security both internal and external.
The Unit made an original budget submission to the tune of Le 5,861,814.256 as recurrent expenditure for the FY 2016.

A budget ceiling amounting to Le5, 239,700,000 was made by MoFED.

However, there was an increase to the budget amounting to Le1, 638,185,744 on recurrent expenditure.

This was so because of the expansion of Foreign Intelligence gathering and increase in salary for the recruitment of officers.
For the FY 2017, CISU made a budget submission to the tune of Le7, 500,100,000 as recurrent expenditure but was allocated a budget ceiling to the tune of Le6, 300,000.

The actual allocation for the FY 2017 was Le5, 239,701,600.

The decrease in allocation for the FY 2017 would affect the following areas: 69  Expansion of operations to adequately cover threat areas to the President‟s Recovery Priorities.

 Internal deployment to six more districts in the provinces.
 Adequate Surveillance coverage of key security target.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the role of CISU in the national security architecture cannot be overemphasized and therefore the Committee recommends a timely release of funds to this unit by the MoFED.

131 00 INCOME TAX BOARD OF APELLATE COMMISSIONERS Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, Section 138 of the Income Tax Act of 2000, Act No.8 created the Income Tax Board of Appellate Commissioners.
Section 140 of the same Act mandated the Board of Commissioners to hear and determine appeals from tax payers with respect to objection decisions.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, in the FY 2016 the Income Tax Board submitted a budget to the tune of Le3, 518,000,000.

A budget ceiling of Le300, 000,000 was set by MoFED.

The actual budget allocation received for the FY 2016 was Le454, 300,000.

There was an increment from the initial budget ceiling allocated to this Board for the FY 2016.
In the FY2017 the Appellate Board of Commissioners submitted a budget proposal to the tune of Le960, 000,000 and the same amount was allocated to the Board as a budget ceiling for the FY 2017.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, one peculiar import of the Board is that it does not generate income directly but however, the Board can be used as an instrument of revenue generation.

In FY 2016, the Board was able to enforce the payment of tax evasion by several business entities in the country.
A notable one was Toufik Hoballah who paid Le2.5 to government in respect of tax he accrued over the years.

Mr Chairman, one critical concern raised by the Committee was the taxes levied in respect of transaction with commercial banks.

The charges/taxes include but are not limited to the following:  The Goods and Services Tax [GST]  Cost of Transaction [COT] 70  Commission on Turnover The Committee invites the Board to look into the charges/taxes as stated above.
310 01 NATIONAL YOUTH COMMISSION Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the National Youth Commission was created by an Act of Parliament with the primary objective of empowering the youth to develop their potential, creativity, and skills for national development.

One of the key functions of the Commission is to develop a comprehensive National Youth Development Plan consistent with the PRSP III of the Government of Sierra Leone.
In the FY 2016, the Commission submitted a budget of Le 3,963,500,000, but it was given a budget ceiling of Le 2,677,500,000.

The Commission has actually received as of November FY 2016 the sum of Le1, 939,500,000 from MoFED.

In addition, the Commission received donor funding from World Bank and UNDP to the tune of Le 552,068,637, which was expended on the following:   Implementation of Graduates Internship Programme.

ICT and Entrepreneurship training at Obansajo Centre.
 Show-casing youth led initiative through Audio and Video documentaries.

For the financial year 2017, the Commission submitted to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development [MoFED] a budget estimate to the tune of Le 3,963,500,000.

They were given a budget ceiling of Le3, 963,500,000.

The actual allocation for the FY 2017 is Le 3,879,089,100.
The Commission expressed dissatisfaction over the decrease in the budget allocation for FY 2017 on the grounds that it would affect the following areas:  National Youth Development Programme,  Young Women‟s Empowerment Programme,  Support to Youth Agric- business,  Support to Youth Innovative initiatives.
71 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee considered the 2017 budgetary allocation to the Commission as inadequate and recommends a supplementary budget allocation during the course of the financial year.

409 00 LOCAL CONTENT AGENCY Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Local Content Agency [LCA] was created by the Sierra Leone Local Content Agency Act 2016, Act No.3 of 2016.
The object of the Agency is to promote Sierra Leone Local Content Development by effectively and efficiently managing the administration and regulation of Sierra Leone Local Content development in Sierra Leone.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, as a new institution, the Agency had had no allocation in FY 2016.

For the FY 2017, the Agency made an original budget submission to the tune of Le4, 942,392.000, but the MoFED gave the Agency a budget ceiling of Le600, 000,000.
As an emerging Agency, a decrease in the allocation amounting to Le4, 342,393,000 would affect the Administrative setup, policies and programme implementation and its general operations.

Mr Chairman, bearing in mind the critical role of the Agency and taking into consideration its profile in the areas of employment, procurement, capacity building, technology transfer and skill transfer, the Committee recommends supplementary budgetary allocation to this Agency in the FY 2017.
ALLOCATIONS TO LOCAL COUNCILS Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the under-mentioned local councils were assigned to Sub-Committee 2 pursuant to SO 66[1]:  Kono District Council;  Kono New Sembehun City Council; and  Kenema City Council.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the tabulation below provides indicative budget ceilings and actual allocation to the Councils from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development for the FY 2016 and 2017 respectively.
72 2016 BUDGET ALLOCATIONS VOTE COUNCIL BUDGET CEILING ACTUAL [Le] ALLOCATION 2016 [Le] 701 01 Kono District Council 6,700,396,641.25 3,695,819,119 701 00 Koidu New Sembehun 1,968,816,028 1,682,438,664 City Council 701 00 Kenema City Council 1,684,895,800 2,838,384,003 2017 BUDGET ALLOCATIONS VOTE COUNCIL BUDGET BUDGET 701 01 Kono District Council 3,045,487,459 3,045,487,459 701 00 Koidu New Sembehun City 4,341,372,350 2,189,833,065 SUBMITTED [Le] ALLOCATED [Le] Council 701 00 Kenema City Council 4,574,131,787.00 1,575,031,787 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, under the weight of expectations the Local Council arrangement in Sierra Leone is confronted with difficulties.
Most fundamentally, the challenges of rural poverty, hunger, illiteracy and deprivation are still largely unaddressed by the Councils, though central government had expended a huge amount of money on the process since 2004 to date.

The Committee therefore recommends that the Local Government Act of 2004 be reviewed and that the whole local government arrangement be overhauled with a view to making them relevant to the needs of their respective localities.
CONCLUSION Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, with your leave, let me humbly take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to Members of Sub- Committee II for their unreserved support and cooperation during the exercise.

I also 73 want to extend special thanks and appreciation to Momodu-Lamin Deen Rogers [Lead Clerk], Anthony Kamara, James Kaikai and Patience Brown-Dawson who provided administrative and technical support to the Committee during the process.
On behalf of Sub-Appropriation Committee II, I move that the Vote Heads of MDAs, which were scrutinised by this Committee, as listed below, stand part of the Schedule and that the recommendations contained therein be approved: VOTE Div.
Vote Description Total Sum Voted [Le] Ministry of Defence Ministry of Trade Ministry of Water Resources Ministry of Sports 90,356,852,100 4,012,079,700 11,814,909,700 6,003,749,700 Sierra Leone Standards Bureau 2,239,734,800 Office of the Chief of Staff Pharmacy Board Services Parliament Constitutional Review Committee National Commission For Privatisation 5,889,505,000 4,016,133,600 7,750,491,500 1,242,207,500 2,036,584,900 Sierra Leone Correctional Services [Prisons] 34,321,459,200 Medical and Dental Council National Protected Area Authority National Commission for Democracy Central Intelligence & Security Unit Local Content Agency Revenue Appellate Board National Youth Commission Kono District Council Kono New Sembehun Council Kenema City Council 326,477,100 4,665,462,900 2,401,239,800 5,239,701,600 600,000,000 939,950,400 3,879,089,100 3,045,487,459 2,189,833,065 1,575,031,787 74 Signed by Honourable Komba E. S. Boyah, Chairman, Sub-Appropriation Committee II THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, the proceedings are now open for debates.
HON.

ALPHA B. LEWALLY: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I would like to take us to page 12 of this Report, under Parliament.

There is a general saying that the proper first respond to a change in the world is „yourself.‟ If it is about self, I will talk about Parliament.

According to the report presented to the House, I would like to take section 15, in tandem with section 74[4] of our National Constitution.
MR CHAIRMAN: Honourable Members, Section 74[4] of the 1991 Constitution reads: “Members of Parliament shall be entitled to such salaries around its gratuities; pensions and such other benefit as may be prescribed by Parliament.” HON.

ALPHA B. LEWALLY: On that note I need not say much.

The last section of that paragraph is outside section 3 of Parliamentary Service Commission [PSC] Act and calls for an immediate restitution.
I believe the Act is there and the contents are there also, but instead of the restitution I believe we should use the appropriate word.

We need to implement the PSC and not to restitute.

THE CHAIRMAN: Honourable Member, what page are you referring to?

HON.

ALPHA B. LEWALLY: Page 12, the last sentence of the second paragraph.
THE CHAIRMAN: It reads: “The Committee frowns at the usual practice in the budget process, which is outside section 15 of the PSC Act and calls for an immediate restitution of the provision therein.” That is, to insert what should really be inserted.

The use of „restitution‟ is correct.

HON.


ALPHA B. LEWALLY: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, on that note, I believe Members of Parliament would agree with me that the monies allocated to Parliament for FY 2017 is inadequate and I believe we should take that in consideration if we want to actualize the mandate given to us by the people of this nation in terms of our oversight functions and other related matters.

I would like you, as the Speaker of 75 this House, to advice on this issue.
According to the Constitution, it is only the President who has the mandate to either make amends to whatever proposal Parliament may make.

Please, I want this House to think about it.

THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Honourable Member.

This is not something to politicise, but if the truth is to be said, the President that we have now is always prepared to support anything that Parliament wants.

He has demonstrated it as long as it is practicable.
When I talk about practicability here, it means the availability of resources.

He is prepared and he has done it before for Members of Parliament.

Everybody here can attest to that fact that he is always ready to support Members of Parliament.

Whenever anything is taken to President Ernest Bai Koroma for the enhancement of Parliament and betterment of Members of Parliament, as long as the resources are there, he is prepared to support it.

This is very true.

HON.


DICKSON M. ROGERS: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, let me take a cue from my colleague on the other side.

Now that the Minister is here, I don‟t know which Act they are using to put Parliament under subvented Agency.

I want to draw the attention of the Minister to section 171[15] of our National Constitution.
THE CHAIRMAN: Section 171[15] reads: “This constitution shall be the supreme law of Sierra Leone and any other law found to be inconsistent with any provision of this constitution shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void and of no effect.” HON.

DICKSON M. ROGERS: Thank you very much, Mr Chairman.

It is based on that section I will ask the Minister the question about the Act or legal instrument they have been using to place Parliament under subvented Agency.
This is wrong because no Act should supersede the National Constitution.

Furthermore, Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, when the Chairman of Committee II was presenting his report, he did make mention of the amount of money that government is spending on the Military in the provision of rice.

If you add that money, government is spending on the Police and the Correctional Center the sum of twenty- 76 two billion Leones.
If half of that money is given to the Military and the Police for farming, I think they would be able to feed themselves and government would save more money.

He is not saying that the Military and the Police should do the farming themselves.

I think we can commercialize that farming by creating employment for our younger folks.

We can pay them to do that farming.


The sum of twenty-two billion Leones could be used to supply rice to the Army, the Police, the Fire Force and the Correctional Center for the whole year.

Twenty two billion is not small money.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, if you calculate all of those moneys we will get over thirty billion Leones.

Therefore, I want to support the recommendation made by Committee II that government should utilise some of those moneys.
What I find very difficult in that report is that even the Army Generals in this country get the same amount of rice as the last Corporal.

I think that is very unfair Mr Chairman.

I want to suggest that we look at that area with the utmost seriousness.

We can save more money if we use that twenty two billion Leones or less to do mechanized farming.

HON.

SAHR FATORMA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to refer the House to page 8 of the Report, under Water Resources.
With permission, it reads: “That all water producing companies in the country should be verified and licensed by the Electricity and Water Regulatory Agency.

This is so because the proliferation of water producing companies in the country, if not regulated and quality assurance ascertained, would pose a national health threat in the not too distant future.” Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, when we talk about quality assurance in this country, we should refer to the Standard Bureau.
They are there for that purpose and they have the know-how and the expertise to do that.

Therefore, I want to recommend that the Electricity and Water Regulatory Agency should not be in charge of giving licenses to water producing companies.

THE CHAIRMAN: Honourable Member, they should be in charge according to the Act.

They should have the authority to do so.

77 HON.


MOHAMED KAMARA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to take this House to page 4, under „General Finding and Observations.‟ With the leave of Mr Chairman, it reads: “The Committee noted that some of the MDAs received gifts, donations, grants and pledges without notifying Parliament as mandated by section 118[7] of the 1991 Constitution Act number 6.” Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, this is very worrying and has been a very serious concern.
I think Parliament should be treated with some respect and this goes for not only the MDAs but NGOs as well.

I think they have a responsibility to come to this House and report accordingly.

THE CHAIRMAN: You said NGOs?

HON.

MOHAMED KAMARA: Yes, Mr Chairman.

I think they also have a responsibility to report to this House, moneys they receive on behalf of the people.

THE CHAIRMAN: They have Ministries that usually supervised them.

They should go through those ministries.

HON.


MOHAMED KAMARA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, in any case, whoever is receiving moneys on behalf of the people of Sierra Lorene has a responsibility to come to Parliament and report.

This is very important, Mr Chairman.

THE CHAIRMAN: That is noted.

HON.

ALBERT DEEN KAMARA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I will start with the general observations.

Our job here as MPs is to observe and come out with very good recommendations.
The last paragraph on Page 7 of the report given to us reads: “Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee was assured that an increment, amounting to 9 billion in the budgetary allocation to the Ministry would greatly improve the Water Sector and capacitate SALWACO and Guma Valley.” Mr Chairman, early this year, all of us heard about water shortage in this country.

I want to ask the Chairman of this Committee to tell us where he got that assurance.

Water has no substitute.


Electricity can be substituted.

The sum of Le68 billion has been proposed to the Ministry of Agriculture and Le11 billion to the Ministry 78 of Water Resources.

To me, the 11 billion allocated to the Ministry of Water Resources is not enough for this country.

Mind you, all what was done this year was just a tentative measure, which cannot make us get what we are supposed to get.

That is my observation Sir.

HON.


FRANCIS A. KONUWA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I will refer the House to page 3 of this Report, which I want the Minister to clarify.

I want to know the yardstick that was used to come up with these allocations because Koidu New Sembehun City Council was allocated Le2, 189,000,000.
Mr Chairman, if you compare Koidu New Sembehun City Council‟s allocation to the Le1, 575,000,000 allocated to the Kenema City Council, [which is presumably the third largest city in this country], you will agree with me that the allocation to Kenema City Council is inadequate.

If you subtract the allocation for Kenema City Council from the allocation for Koidu New Sembehun City Council, you will get a difference of Le 614,000,000.

I want to know from the Minister the rationale behind the allocation.

HON.
HON.

ALHASSAN KAMARA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I am very particular about the use of words in report writing.

If you turn to page 5 of the Report, it says: “The Ministry of Defence made a budget submission of Le 87,000,000,000.

However, the Ministry of Finance has allocated Le 90,000,000,000 to this Ministry.
The Committee views the 2017 budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Defence as barely fair after having more than what they requested.” THE CHAIRMAN: Honourable Member, which word would have been more appropriate?

HON.

ALHASSAN KAMARA: Mr Chairman, the Committee should have viewed that allocation as „adequate‟ because the Ministry was allocated more than what they requested.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chairman who presented this Report is a Soldier, so even if it were Le 150,000,000,000 that was given, in his own view, that could have still been 79 inadequate.

If he says it is just barely fair, why should it be considered wrong?

There is nothing wrong with the use of that word, Honourable Member.

HON.

FODAY I. SUMA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to refer the House to page 22 of the Report.

I would suggest that we review the whole decentralisation policy.
This is because instead of these Local Councils been channel for development; I see them as channels for eroding development.

They are costing this nation huge sums of money.

Huge amounts of moneys have been spent on capacitating the officials of those Councils, but we have not seen anything positive results from Local Council officials.

In other words, huge sums of moneys have been spent on equipping them with computers and various other logistics.
Mr Chairman, one of the reasons for reintroduction of the Local Councils is to reduce corruption.

I stand here to say the contrary because corruption has increased.

I thank you Mr Chairman.

HON.

ALHAJI SERAY DUMBUYA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to refer you to the last paragraph on page 7 of this report.
With the leave of Mr Chairman, it says: “Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee was assured that an increment amounting to Le 9,000,000,000 in the budgetary allocation to the Ministry will greatly improve the Water Sector and capacitate SALWACO and GUMA Valley to improve on the following…..” My concern here is that there is over 100% increase in the water rate in Freetown.
Is this Le 9,000,000,000 taken into consideration in respect to the 100% increase or is it just some other way of spending money?

Once the water rate is increased to that level, that money should be enough, rather than allocating more money to them.

I thank you Mr Chairman.

HON.

MUSTAPHA M. BRIMA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I just want to comment on two issues.

The first one has to do with the contribution made by the Honourable Fatorma.
He spoke about putting measures in place to regulate the water processing and production in this country.

We need to take that very seriously in this country and we need to follow it up to the later because our health is in danger.

The proliferation of these water companies is really endangering our lives.

If you take some 80 of the water and keep it for two days, you will notice that the odour coming from the water is very offensive.
They are not treating water very seriously and we need to do something about that.

Those companies should be properly monitored; otherwise, somebody would just travel to China and bring equipment and the next thing they think about is to sell water to the public.

Again, Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to comment on the Local Councils.

The Honourable Dr Foday I. Suma brought a salient point on our Local Councils.
The idea of development with our Councils is being eroded and it is also endangering Members of Parliament in their various districts.

Mr Chairman, when Members of Parliament were given Le 62,000,000, officials of these Councils were the ones telling our constituents that we have received development funds, when in actual fact, what we have received is not commensurate to their allocations.

Therefore, this Parliament should take that very seriously.
They are creating problems for Members of Parliament and other politicians.

Local Councils are responsible for development in the various districts.

This is pathetic and sometimes very confrontational.

We had the experience in one of the groups where a certain Chief Administrator was challenging and setting people against a Member of Parliament.

Therefore, we have to take that very seriously.

We also have to control the water companies in this country.

I thank you very much.


HON SHEKU AMANI SANNOH: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to take the House to pages 8 and 9.

With the leave of Mr Chairman, I read: “For example, the National Stadium Management generated the sum of Le 463,500,000 from the 1st of January to the 31st of December, 2016 and expended the same amount.” On page 9, it says: “The National Stadium Management generated only Le 9,380,000 from January to September.” Mr Chairman, I am a bit confused.
They were talking about January to December; and now they are also talking about January to September?

I don‟t know what that means, Mr Chairman.

HON.

KOMBA E. S. BOYAH: Well, the Honourable Member made a legitimate observation.

We wanted to state that the Le9, 380,000 was what was left in the Management‟s Account.

81 HON.

SUAHILO M. KOROMA: Thank you very much, Mr Chairman.

Mr Chairman I want to make some clarifications on the water sector.
I still want to join my colleagues in asking the Minister and the Government to do more for the water sector in this country.

The Government has done a lot in that regard, but more has to be done.

Mr Chairman, the sachet water people are selling to the public is very dangerous.

What the water companies are doing now is that most of them are using borehole water which they sell to the public untreated.

THE CHAIRMAN: Any proof, Honourable Member?


If something is said and you are sceptical about it, you have to go all out to verify your facts.

You cannot say something in this Well without evidence.

HON.

SWALIHU M. KOROMA: Mr Chairman, I have visited lots of places, and if I am not mistaking, I have seen four of those water companies that are selling boreholes water to the public.

THE CHAIRMAN: Honourable Member, if those companies treat the water properly, there is no need to bring that up.
I think you have been to London and the water you drink there is got from rivers.

The water in question is not very good, but they drink it after purification.

HON.

SUAHILO M. KOROMA: Mr Chairman, colleagues were just raising the issue of sachet water in this country.

A colleague was saying that when you get them after one or two days it will have an odour and it will not be fit for consumption.
I want to emphasise the fact that once these people get this water, they process the water without reference to set standards.

As the Chairman of Committee on Water Resources, we invited officials of the Ministry of Water Resources and we even went to inspect some of those water companies operating in the country.

During the visit, we were able to identify some of those issues.

The Ministry is now trying to put regulations in place for those water companies.
One of the challenges the Ministry of Water Resources is facing is involvement of institutions like the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Standard Bureau.

82 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I also want to draw your attention to page 4 of the Report, under „cost of travelling for government officials.‟ This is an issue we have discussed in this House that government has been spending more on travels.
The cost of air ticket is not small at all, particularly so for the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

I want the Minister to take note of that.

HON.

CLAUDE D. M. KAMANDA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to start with page 3 in tandem with page 24.

The Vote Head for the Local Content Agency on page 3 is 409 00 is different from what is on Page 24 [130 01].
Also, the Vote Head for Kono District Council is different from Koidu New Sembehun City Council and Kenema on page 3, I believe every Local Councils should have 701 01 as its Vote Heads.

The third point I want to make is on page 4, under findings and observations.

Under number 4, there is a recommendation without observation preceding that recommendation.

In other words, there should be an observation before the recommendation.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to briefly talk about allocation for Local Councils.

The Ministry of Finance, as we all know, we have been attending their sessions for the Local Councils with the Local Government Finance Department.

It has been a practice for all Councils to meet and determine the budget formular.

This year, they met in Bo and the Committee on Finance, Transparency Public Accounts Committee, and even other committees Chairpersons were part of that exercise.
It is a forum where all Local Councils meet to agree on a formula on the allocation of resources for every devolved sector.

The formula is usually used to determine the total amount that should be made available to every Council.

I think that is why we have these variations in the allocation of funds to Local Councils.

Those allocations are not, in anyway determined by the Ministry of Finance.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to clarify an issue on Kambia District Council.
It has been stated that Kambia District Council is highly corrupt.

I want to defer from that assertion.

The problem we are facing with most of these Councils is recording and reporting; and that is why the Ministry of Local Government has sent out 83 letters to all Councils at least to know the qualification of all staff within those councils.

I believe when those CV‟s are received, then people with the requisite qualifications would be transferred to other areas.

Thank you very much.

HON.


IBRAHIM BEN KARGBO: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to make reference to the National Commission for Democracy, which I think is the institution we used to bring back democracy to Sierra Leone.

I also believe that it is an institution that has the responsibility to promote democracy in the country.

To me, the allocation for this commission is inadequate and I want to plead with the Minister of Finance to have a second hard look at this allocation.
This is because the Commission is operating in every district in this country.

And if we must take the decentralization policy into consideration, then the Minister of Finance would agree with me that this allocation needs to be reviewed.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I also want to talk about the allocation to the Ministry of Water Resources, which is Le11.8 billion.
I want to state here that this is less than 1 billion per district, and when you take into consideration the need for us to modernize the water resource capacity of the state, an amount that is less than 1 billion per district must also be given a second thought.

Today, Members of Parliament have been talking about sachet water being not properly processed for human consumption.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, when we were growing up, every district in this country had pipe borne water.
In fact, some of the chiefdoms also had pipe borne water.

How come we are talking about boreholes water at a time when we should be improving the water capacity in this country?

Therefore, the allocation to the Ministry of Water Resources should also be reviewed.

I think Le11.8 billion is too small to modernize or improve our water resource.

Thank you, Mr Chairman.

HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to take the House to Vote Head 302 00, Ministry of Sports.
Mr Minister we have 19 sporting disciplines in this country; and the President said in this Parliament that he was going to lay his life for the young people.

In that Ministry, every youth is involved, but the Ministry is being allocated 6 billion, out of 20 billion they requested.

To me, it is very 84 ironical for you to give the whole Ministry that amount.

That amount cannot even support basketball, let alone the whole football.
That is why we have not been performing well in international competitions.

The six billion cannot even support our local leagues.

The Minister of Sport is to create employment for the youth who are going to involve in sporting activities so that they need not come and bother politicians for employment.

If we can just capacitate the Ministry of Sports, more jobs would be provided to young people in that Ministry.

That is why some of us are concentrating on the European and other leagues to find solace.
I think the Ministry of Finance should improve on the support to the Ministry of Sports.

All of us love sports and we are all benefitting from sports.

Therefore, I want to reiterate here that the allocation to the Ministry of Sports is inadequate to support the 19 sporting disciplines within the Ministry.

The 6 billion cannot even support the two international matches that the National Football Team is going to participate in other countries.
So, I will recommend that the allocation be increased for the Ministry of Sports.

Thank you very much, Mr Chairman.

HON.

AMADU FOFANAH: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to refer the House to Pages 23 and 24.

The Vote Head for the Income Tax Board of Appellate on Page 3 is different from the Vote Head for the same MDA on Page 24.

For the National Youth Commission, the Vote Head and the amount on Page 24 are different on Page 3.

HON.

KOMBA E.S.
HON.

KOMBA E.S.

BOYAH: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I have noted those mistakes and would be corrected accordingly.

MR MOMODU KARGBO [Minister of Finance and Economic Development]: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the comments have been very wide ranging and it has been very difficult to put together.

However, there have been persistence complaints about the allocations made to most of these MDAs.
Members of Parliament have been advocating for the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Water Resources, Sports etc.

Well, I want to inform this House that these allocations are provisions from the National budget.

That is, they are not the actual monies these MDAs use.

In addition to the National Budget, there are lots of supports from donors.

We are working towards 85 getting a holistic figure of what the Government of Sierra Leone and Donor Community will be providing.
For example, there has been much discussion about the Ministry of Sports and Members of this House also complained about the amount allocated to that Ministry.

As we speak, there are about 5 to 6 containers that have arrived in Freetown with materials for the repair of the National Stadium.

There are also facilities the Ministry of Sports would receive.

We are going to repair all sporting facilities within the National Stadium.
Therefore, what you are seeing in this document is what I call operational or maintenance budget.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, water is life and there is no substitute for water.. At this point, no amount of money is enough until we get water at a level where we want it.

In consultation with the African Development Bank [ABD], we are working on a programme to see whether it will be feasible to tap water from the Rokel to Freetown.
It is a massive project and it is a 300 Million United States Dollars investment.

So, these investments are there for this Ministry.

You don‟t necessarily see them, except what we put in the budget.

What we usually put in the budget is probably called operational maintenance budget.

If you look at this year‟s budget for the Ministry of Water Resources, you would agree with me that it has been increased because of the bitter experience we had last year and we don‟t want that to happen this year.
We constructed boreholes water last year that were not included in the budget.

This allocation to the Ministry is going to ensure more boreholes as a temporary solution to the permanent solution.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I am also excited about the observation made by this House on the amount of money we usually spend on buying rice for the Army, Police, Fire and Correctional centres.

I will continue to say that, we spend between 140 Million to 160 Million Dollars, whilst we are left poor.
I want to appeal to the Committee on Agriculture to bring to the Ministry of Agriculture and the Agriculture Battalion or Unit of the Army, so that the Le65 Billion which has been allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture is utilised.

I believe that is the role of the Committee of Agriculture to come and help.

86 Again, Le15Billion has been allocated to local councils for Agriculture.

I believe the Committee on Agriculture could intervene.
For example, the allocation for Moyamba District Council, certain percentage should be allocated to the Army in that district.

To me, this is how we can progress as a nation.

Honestly, the resources are being provided; it is a question of using some ingenuity to bring them together.

The importation of rice into this country is a frustrating issue.

The Dollar is rising because of these problems we are experiencing today.

However, the Dollar has started coming down for the past few days.
Somebody told me yesterday that since we are no longer smuggling fuel, it means there is less demand for dollar to buy fuel.

That is what would happen if we are able to achieve self-sufficiency in rice production.

I would not even mind to associate myself with Parliament because Members of Parliament are the only people with that kind of authority to make what I have suggested here happens.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, honestly, I want to apologise and to appeal to this Honourable House on the bases of the complaints that Parliament is being treated as a subverted agency.

I want to appeal to parliament to give me more time, so that I can understand the details of that issue and see how we can handle it in the next budget.

THE CHAIRMAN: Mr Minister, I do not understand what you are saying.

Mr Minister, may I respectfully ask that you take your seat for the time being!
Mr King, call the Clerk, let him come now.

Yes Mr Clerk.

HON.

IBRAHIM SULAIMAN SESAY [Clerk of Parliament]: Mr Chairman, if you would allow me and with the indulgence of this Honourable House, I had addressed a letter to the Financial Secretary and I copied the Minister.
It reads: “Classification of Parliament as a Subvented Agency.” The delay in the payment of salary for staff was brought to the attention of Parliament recently following enquiries that Parliament had been put under the classification of your Ministry as a subvented agency and treated as any other ordinary entity.

Pursuant to section 73, sub-section 1 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone, Act No 6 of 1991, there shall be a Legislature of Sierra Leone which shall be known as Parliament.
Parliament is therefore an arm of government and the reference to it as a subverted agency is to put 87 the institution into a position contrary to the provision of the Constitution.
The reference by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to the Parliamentary Service Commission [PSC], as a reason for the classification of Parliament as a subvented agency can be better explained pursuant to the Parliamentary Service Act, 2007: Being an Act to provide for the administration of Parliament and other related matters.

I am therefore, to request the restitution of Parliament into its legitimate position as the legitimate arm of government and not as a subvented agency.
We count on your usual cooperation and understanding while thanking you in advance.

Mr Chairman, this was the letter I sent to the Ministry of Finance.

THE CHAIRMAN: Mr Minister, with respect to you, Parliament is not asking for any favour.

We are simply asking for that which is ours, that is when the word restitution is used.

When you restitute, you are restoring to something which you have stolen from it.

That is the restitution Mr Minister.


MR MOMODU KARGBO [Minister of Finance and Economic Development]: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, please give me some time to understand the issue at stake that the Clerk of Parliament had cause to write that kind of letter is a clear indication that something had gone wrong somewhere.

THE CHAIRMAN: Honourable Members, the Minister has said the right thing because he has not been in a position to understand the issues.
MR MOMODU KARGBO: I have just checked with the Clerk of Parliament that the letter was written on the 2nd December, 2016.

It was copied to me and today is the 8th December, 2016.

I have been out of the country for the past two weeks and today is my second day in the country.

Again, I want to appeal to the Chairman and Honourable Members to give me some time.

The question is where did it go wrong?

Your right is your right and nobody has the right to take it.
Indeed, you are not asking the Ministry of Finance for a favour.

88 Mr Chairman, I want to state here that some time Members of Parliament raise issues that are very critical and there is need for responses for our understanding.

For example, sub-Appropriation Committee Two raised the issue of Kenema City Council is bigger than Koidu New Sembehun Council.

But that council got more money than Kenema City Council.

The summary of it is that as Honourable Claude D.M.
Kamanda has already said there is a formula that is put together and my description of that formula is what you might call in ordinary language “weighted average.” We may all be tall, we may all be 6 feet, but I may run faster than you; maybe my inner ability is better than you when it comes to sprinting.
In other words, a particular city may look smaller, but it is stuffed with important government facilitates that need to be supported with hospitals, money because of the lack of facilities that need to be supported with hospitals, better schools, etc.

Likewise, a Council could look small, but you have to give it more money because of the lack of facilities in that Council.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I think these are the main issues that were raised that I thought I needed to clarify.
Given that there were no amendments to the figures.

I therefore move that the vote Heads as were previously read stand part of the schedule.

THE CHAIRMAN: Honourable Members, before I put the question, the Minister has asked that we give him time to go and study the situation.

However, in helping the Minister to understand, even in the Parliament of Britain, the House of Commons and the House of Lords have a Parliamentary Commission.
In fact, other Parliaments in many parts of the World do have parliamentary Commissions.

Nevertheless, that does not make this Parliament un-parliamentary.

They are still Parliaments, even though they do operate a Parliamentary Service Commission.

That will help you in your understanding, Mr Minister.
89 [Question Proposed, Put and Agreed to] [The various Vote Heads as read out by the Minister form part of the schedule] The House resumes ADJOURNMENT [The House rose at 2:00 p.m., and was adjourned Friday 9th December, 2016.]

90