Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698830797978.pdf (Sierra Leone)
PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE P A R L I A M E N T A R Y D E B A T E S ____ (HANSARD) ______________ OFFICIAL HANSARD REPORT FIRST SESSION-FIRST MEETING WEDNESDAY, 27th MARCH, 2013 SESSION – 2012/2013 1 PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE 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: I NUMBER: 26 First Meeting of the First Session of the Fourth Parliament Of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone.
Proceedings of the Sitting of the House Held on Wednesday, 27th March, 2013.

I. PRAYERS II.

CORRECTION OF VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS FOR TUESDAY, 26TH MARCH, 2013 2 THE CHAMBER OF PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE Official Hansard Report of the Proceedings of the House ______________________________________________________ FIRST SESSION-FIRST MEETING OF THE FOURTH PARLIAMENT OF THE SECOND REPUBLIC _____________________________ Wednesday, 27th March, 2013.
The House met at 10:25 a.m. in Parliament Building, Tower Hill, Freetown.

I. PRAYERS [The Clerk of Parliament, Hon.

Ibrahim Sulaiman Sesay, Read the Prayers].

[The Deputy Speaker, Hon.

Chernor R. M. Bah, in the Chair].

The House was called to Order 3 Suspension of S. O.

5(2) COMMUNICATION FROM THE CHAIR Honourable Members, I want to apologise for coming in late this morning.

We were tied up with something official.

I must apologise for coming in late.

Thank you very much for your understanding.


II.

CORECTIONS OF VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS FOR TUESDAY, 26TH MARCH, 2013 THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, we go through the record of Votes and Proceedings for Tuesday, 26th March, 2013.

Page 1?

Page 2?

Page 3?

Page 4?

Page 5?

Page 6?

Page 7?

Page 8?

Page 9?

Page 10?

Since there are no amendments can somebody move that the record of Votes and Proceedings for Tuesday, 26th March, 2013 be adopted as presented?

HON.
HON.

ROSALINE J. SMITH: Mr Speaker I so move.

MR SPEAKER: Any seconder?

HON.

DR AIAH DABUNDEH: I so second Mr Speaker.

THE SPEAKER: Any counter Motion?

(Question Proposed, Put and Agreed to) The record of Votes and Proceedings for Tuesday, 26th March, 2013 was unanimously adopted as Presented.

4 HON.

S. B.

B. DUMBUYA: Mr Speaker, we do accept your apology for coming in late, but I am sure Mr Speaker much has been done without you elaborating on it.
You were involved with something that was not unconnected with the running of Parliament.

And there is a provision that we regulate ourselves.

Mr Speaker, with reference to Item III on the Order Paper, I regret to say that because of some technical reasons the Minister would not be disposed to pilot this Agreement.

So, we leave it out and proceed accordingly.

THE SPEAKER: Honourable Member, your request is granted III.
Bill – COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY, APPROPRIATION SUB-COMMITTEE 5 (The House revert itself into Committee Stage).

HON.

KONBA E. KOEDOYOMA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, before I start reading the Report of the Appropriation Sub-Committee 5, I will request the indulgence of this Honourable House to make a few corrections on Page 2.

Budgetary Head 143, under the Judiciary and Legal and Private Commission should be deleted.

It has already been dealt with.

Page 6 the third line from the bottom.


Also Acting Director-General, please put General.

Let us move to Page 9, the first paragraph of the last sentence.

The Committee apparently in his statement by citing example to other countries.

Put example to other countries.

Just delete „instances‟ and put ‟examples‟ and then global economist by putting „countries.‟ Let us look at Page 22, item 143.

That is, Budgetary Head – Judicial Legal Service Commission.
Please delete because that has already been dealt with.

Thank you for your understanding and indulgence.

MR CHAIRMAN: We hope we will not have more amendments.

HON.

KONBA E. KOEDOYOMA: Thank you Mr Chairman.

This is a Report of Sub- Committee 5, on the review of the Recurrent Development Estimates for the Financial Year 2013.

Submitted by Honourable Komba, Koedoyoma, Chairman.
Introduction 5 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, pursuant to section 111 subsection 3-4 and Section 112 of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone (Act No.

6 of 1991], S.O.

64 (3) and S.O.66 (1) of the Standing Orders of the Parliament of Sierra Leone, Parliament delegated the examination of the under mentioned budgetary Heads for FY 2013 to the Appropriation Sub-Committee Group-5.
The Committee sat from the 7th-15th March 2013 and scrutinized the financial allocation of the following: BUDGETARY HEADS TOTAL SUM VOTED 201 - 00 Ministry of Defence..........................………....................65,298,700,000; 305 - 00 Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender &Children‟s Affairs...... 8,640,000,000; 133 00 Ministry of Information & Communication……....….......... 2,100,000,000; 405 00 Ministry of Tourism & Cultural Affairs: Tourism Division.......840,000,000; 303 00 Ministry of Tourism & Cultural Affairs: Cultural Division…980,000,000; 407 00 Ministry of Labour & Social Security......................…….2, 980,000,200; 345 00 Pharmacy Board.......................................……………… 1,950, 000,000; 142 00 National Public Procurement Authority................……… 1,800,000,000; 110 11 Political Parties Registration Commission.........................420,000,000; 110 08 Office of the Ombudsman....................... ………….……... 400,000,000; 144 00 National Commission for Human Right.................…...... 960,000,000; 110-18 Corporate Affairs Commission.......………………..……… 216,900,000; 133 03 Attitudinal & Behavioural Change............................. 440,000,000; 117 00 Cabinet Secretariat.....................................…………….....600,000,000; 113 04 Government Spokesman....................………………….. 200,000,000; 6 208 00 National Fire Authority........................... .......………….
8,640,000,000; and 420-00 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)........................ 700,000,000.

701-01-DIRECT TRNSFERS TO LOCAL COUNCILS The following Councils were examined by our Appropriation Sub-Committee 5: 1.

Tonkolili District Council - 3,644,863,428; 2.

Koinadugu District Council - 3,699,570,603; 3.

Kailahun District Council - 3,267,400,826; 4.

Bonthe District Council 1,209,003,567; and 5.

Bonthe Municipal Council - 782,194,369.

2.

MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE 1.

Hon.


Komba Eric Koedoyoma -Chairman; 2.

Hon.

Jusufu B. Mansaray - Deputy Chairman; 3.

Hon.

P.C.

Bai Kurr Kanagbaro III; 4.

Hon.

P.C.

Sallu-Lugbu Bai Bureh II; 5.

Hon.

Dan Y. Sesay; 6.

Hon.

Kusan Sesay; 7.

Hon.

Veronica Kadie Sesay; 8.

Hon.

Dr. Michel Sho-Sawyer; 9.

Hon.

Silikie Bashiru; 10.

Hon.

Mabinty Kadija Sillah; 11.

Hon.

Lahai Marrah; 7 12.

Hon.

Solomon Segepoh Thomas; 13.

Hon.

P.C.

Sheku A.T. Fasuluku Sonsiama III; 14.

Hon.


Frederick Sandy Sourie; 15.

Hon.

Mimi Yema Mima Sobba-Stephens; 16.

Hon.

Dr. Foday I. Sumah; 17.

Hon.

Moses Allieu Swaray; 18.

Hon.

Taworo Tara-Koroma; 19.

Hon.

Umar Paran Tarawally; 20.

Hon.

Ibrahim Parteh Bah; 21 Hon.

Sahr Tengbeh; and 22.

Hon.

Saah Sangbah.

3.


PROCEDURE The Committee sent out questionnaires, relating to the 2012/2013 budget, to all Vote Controllers of MDAs under our purview for detail information on how the budgetary allocations and all monies received for and on behalf of Government for the FY2012 was expended.

In addition, vote controllers were summoned to come along with their Vote Service Ledgers and other accounting documents pertaining to revenue and expenditures for the same period.
To enhance effective and efficient scrutiny, certain „subheads‟ were separated from the main „heads‟ for examination by other sub Committees.

With regards to the Local Government and Rural Development, 701/01 all the nineteen Government Local Councils including the three Provincial Offices and the „devolved functions,‟ were evenly distributed among the five Appropriation subcommittees for scrupulous scrutiny.

8 4.
8 4.

OBJECTIVES The objective of the scrutiny exercise was to find out: i. the absorptive capacity of the various MDAs to spend their Budgetary allocations; ii.

whether there was prudent management of fiscal and material resources; iii.

whether expenditure in the last fiscal year conformed to established rules and regulations; iv.

identify weaknesses in budget preparation and performance; v. elicit justification for any increase/decrease in the current allocation; vi.
consider the need for supplementary provision in the current budgetary allocation; and vii.

whether resources were equitably distributed.


Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, Section 22 of the “Government Budgetary and Accountability Act, 2005” as amended states that:“The Budget shall be laid before Parliament by the Minister not later than two months before the financial year to which it relates ends.” S.O.63 and Section 23 of the “Government Budgetary and Accountability Act, 2005 as amended also state that the „Recurrent Estimates‟ are to be presented along with the budget on the same day.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, this simply means that the national budget must be presented to Parliament at the end of October every year, along with the Recurrent Estimates.

The 2013 Budget was presented to Parliament on Friday, 21st December, 2012 and one Volume of the Recurrent Estimates came in on the 25th January, 2013.

The second Volume of the Recurrent Estimates came in a week later.
The late submission of the Budget and Recurrent Estimates posed serious constraint for even the President who was left with no alternative but to issue a Presidential Warrant for the withdrawal of moneys out of the Consolidated Fund.

9 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, these observations are made year in and year out but to no avail.

We are making them again for emphasis until there is a „change of attitude‟ on the part of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
The Committee wishes to emphasize that failure on the part of Parliament to subject the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to comply with the provisions of the Constitution, and other financial regulations, relating to the presentation of the estimates seriously undermines the activity of Parliament.

This failure will not lend credence to the dignity and competence of Parliament.
Against this background I now wish to present to you on behalf of the Appropriation sub-Committee 5 our general observations, findings and recommendations on some of the MDAs under our purview.

5.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, during the course of our examination of the budget, Sub-Committee 5 observed certain features that were common to several MDAs.
I would want to believe that similar observations had been made in the past but it would appear that no remedial measures were taken by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to put corrective measures in place.

We will, however, continue making them until major corrections are made.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, many Vote Controllers complained about the Ministry of Finance‟s rejection of vouchers from the MDAs during the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2012.
The liabilities incurred as a result of borrowing from suppliers are now the subject of contention because provisions had not been made for them in the current estimates.

Furthermore, Vote Controllers complained that payment of those debts adversely impacted on the new budget allocation.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the effect of this practice on the service delivery capability of the MDAs is responsible for the shortfall in the budgetary implementation at the beginning of every fiscal year.
The Ministry of Finance and Economic 10 Development, it is observed, has continued to be indifferent.

The Committee recommends that this practice ceases forthwith because it is a major impediment to Government‟s capability to deliver on its promises throughout the year.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, we also observed that expenditure trends took the same form as in preceding years.

For example, gross over-expenditure in „overseas traveling, office and general ‟etc.
The Committee recommends that expenditures under these headings should be reduced.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee noted that a higher percentage of the annual subvention allocated to these MDAs was spent on procurement and that the Committee requests that MDAs should forward list of suppliers and contractors for Fiscal Year 2013.
201 - MINISTRY OF DEFENCE Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the actual allocation to the Ministry of Defence for the financial year 2012 was Le 65,298,000,000.00 and the ceiling for 2013 was as the same for 2012.

Meanwhile, there was no up-ward shift in the budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Defence for the financial 2013.
Responding to the above mentioned statement, the Acting Director General of Defence submitted that the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Sierra Leone continues to experience inadequate budgetary allocation in relation to its actual requirement for the operations of the Ministry.

He further told the Committee that the fourth quarter allocation from the Ministry is held at the Bank of Sierra Leone in the sum of Le 500,000,000.00 and the first quarter of 2013 is yet to be processed.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee observed from the submission made by the Acting Director General that 80% of the monies received from the Ministry of Finance were spent on the provision of goods and services.

In view of the above, the Committee recommends: i. that Defence Ministry should submit names and addresses of all registered 11 contractors to the Parliamentary Committee of Presidential affairs; ii.
that the Ministry of Finance should review the Strategic Plan of Action for the Defence Ministry and advice in consultation with Parliamentary Finance Committee for supplementary budgetary allocation for 2013.

345- PHARMACY BOARD OF SIERRA LEONE Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone is the National Drug Regulatory Authority established by an act of Parliament in 1988 – The Pharmacy and Drugs Act.
The Board is a semi autonomous arm of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation which is answerable to the Minister through the Chairman of the Board/ Chief Pharmacist of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation.

Currently, the mandate of the board is drawn from the Pharmacy and Drugs Act of 2001, which makes provisions for the Minister on the advice of the Board to make regulations.
In addition, all activities of the Board are conducted according to guidelines and standard operating procedures approved by the Board in accordance with the aims and objectives as set out in the National Health sector strategic Plan.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee noticed that an increase of 0.3% [from Le 1,425,000,000.00 for 2012 to Le 1,950,000,000.000 for 2013] was made to the Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone for the financial year 2013.
The Chief Pharmacist informed the Committee that there were numerous challenges faced by the Pharmacy Board which include the following:  inadequate allocation and late disbursement of funds from Government and donors to meet the needs of the Board;  insufficient trained professionals and administrative personnel;  inadequate logistic support in terms of transportation to strengthen inspection exercise at both central and regional level;  weak legislation to support actions needed to meet current demands of the pharmaceutical sector; and 12  lack of drug manufacturing units in Sierra Leone and as such the nation relies completely on the importation of pharmaceuticals and related products, thus requiring the constant monitoring of all imported products for safety, quality and efficacy.
The Committee viewed the explanation by the Chief Pharmacist tangible enough for the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to consider addressing some of the aforementioned challenges faced by the Pharmacy Board in subsequent financial years.
142 - NATIONAL PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AUTHORITY Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, in March 2004, the procurement reform Executive Secretariat prepared Interim Rules and Regulations, which were approved by Government to govern public procurement until a comprehensive legislation was enacted by Parliament.

The Interim Rules and Regulations (IRR) were the precursors and foundations of the Public Procurement Act 2004 and its implementing regulation of 2006.
A comprehensive procurement manual for the guidance of procurement officers in the public service together with a full set of Standard Bidding Documents for the use by all MDAs, including Local Government councils, in the procurement of goods, works and services were also developed.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the National Public Procurement Authority actual budget allocated for the financial year 2013 was Le 1,800,000,000.00.
For financial year 2012, Le 3,322,786,751.13 was received from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development from 1st -4th quarter respectively.

According to the expenditure matrix submitted by the Finance Manager there was a balance of Le 5,295,883.50 which was carried forward to 2013.

The Committee also noted that National Public Procurement Authority was among the few government institutions that judiciously used public funds for the financial year 2012.
13 405- MINISTRY OF TOURISM AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS [TOURISM DIVISION] Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs [Tourism Division] is amongst the revenue generating Ministries in Sierra Leone for which premium must be put on it to enhance revenue generation.

The Committee affirmed this statement by citing examples of other countries that are heavily relied on tourism.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, there was a budget of Le 840,000,000.00 for Fiscal Year -2013.
The actual amount received by the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs [Tourism Division] was Le 727,018,884.00 with a budget ceiling of Le 1, 790,200,000.00 for the financial year 2012.

Regarding revenue generation the Ministry collected Le 192,450,000.00 out of an annual projection of Le 180,000,000.00 for 2012.

An increase of Le 11,000,000.00 was collected superseding the annual projection for 2012.
The Committee recommends that the government should reactivate the tourist industry to enhance reduction in the budget for future years.

303- MINISTRY OF TOURISM AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS [CULTURAL DIVISION] Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, far too long the culture of this country had been down played due to maladministration and fiscal indiscipline of the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs [Cultural Division].
The Committee noted with grave concern that Sierra Leone is no longer enjoying good cultural heritage compared to the good old days.

The Cultural Division of the Ministry is also an income generating Department of the state but this is not now the case due to the many insurmountable challenges of the Ministry.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, there was a budget ceiling of Le 980,000,000.00 for 2013.
The Cultural Division of the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs received during the 1st -4th quarters of 2012 Le 735,951,445.00: [Le 299,600,000.00-regular budget and Le 584,745,000.00 supplementary budget].

The Committee noted that 14 there was a supplementary budget of Le 584,745,000.00 for Cultural festival in 2012.

The Committee recommends that the Cultural Division of the Ministry should submit a comprehensive Annual Work Plan with adequate justification for future budgetary allocation.
144- NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Human rights Commission of Sierra Leone is charged with the responsibility among other things to investigate/inquire into allegations of human right violations, to promote the implementation of the TRC Recommendations and other transitional justice mechanisms, promote respect for human rights, through public education, dissemination of information and awareness raising programmes.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, in 2013, the Commission submitted a budget (subvention) of Le927,322,650 but the Ministry of Finance allocated only Le960,000,000 and has not received the 1st quarter allocation for 2013.

The Vote Controller informed the Committee that even though there was an increase of Le32, 677,350 the Commission will still be unable to implement its core activities towards the promotion and protection of human rights due to logistical and other constraints.
The Vote Controller further informed the Committee that the Commission did receive the following donations and grants From: UNPBF – $ 435,309.65 UNFPA – Le215, 287,940 UNDP - Le38, 790,000 OSIWA – Le 11,665,000 All these donations were utilized accordingly for the purposes they were meant for.
15 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, following a thorough examination of the Commission‟s documents with a view to ascertaining how prudent the 2012 budgetary allocation was utilized, the Committee expressed satisfaction over the manner in which the above stated allocation was utilized.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee noted the challenges of the Commission in the implementation of its 2013 work plan and therefore recommends a supplementary budget allocation to enhance the operational needs of the Commission.
407-MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND SOCIAL SECURITY Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Ministry of Labour is charged with the responsibility to administer Labour and Social Security regulations, maintain cordial industrial relations, ensure occupational health and safety standards in work place and create employment opportunities, thereby reducing poverty.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, taking into consideration the role of this Ministry in the creation of employment and poverty reduction, the Committee carefully examined its activities in the light of the present budgetary allocation.
In doing so the Committee observed that the budgetary allocation for the FY2012 covered four major programmes (office of the Permanent Secretary, Social Safety Net, Commissioner of Labour Division and Factory inspectorate Division) with a total of Le1, 784,200,000.00 as actual expenditure for the year under review.

The Committee observed that the 2013 budget submission was Le8, 379,928,000.00 but the actual budget approved by the Ministry of Finance was Le1, 940,000,000.00.
However, the 1stquarter allocation has not been paid by the Ministry of Finance for this fiscal year.

The Committee also noted that the reduction of budget allocation would affect all their areas of operation and therefore recommends for a supplementary allocation to enhance its full operations.
Responding to question of not meeting their revenue target, the Vote Controller informed the Committee that this was attributed to the inadequacy of logistics, poor and obsolete equipment used in the inspection 16 process.

He also noted that their source of revenue was from work permit and factory inspections and told the Committee that the 2013 revenue target was determined by NRA.
Whilst the Committee recommends for a supplementary budget allocation it also urges the Ministry to levy fines on employers who fail to adhere to the Labour laws.

110-08- OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the mandate of the office of the Ombudsman is to serve as an independent complaint agency, to which the Sierra Leone Public can refer, with the assurance that complaints against government Agencies will be dealt with satisfactorily.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the office of the Ombudsman submitted to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development the sum of Le2, 066,408,090.00 for the Fiscal Year 2013.

However, the Ministry of Finance approved the sum of Le400, 000.000.00 and the 1st Quarter allocation had been made.
This reduction of Le1, 666,408,090.00 affected areas like: - Public Relations activities; - Rent for Provincial Offices; - Local and International Training; - Printing of reports, furniture & office equipment; and The Committee recommends a supplementary budgetary allocation to the office of the Ombudsman but advised the Office to be mindful of its Public debt.
305-MINISTRY OF SOCIAL WELFARE GENDER AND CHILDREN’S AFFAIRS Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children‟s Affairs is charged with the responsibility to protect and promote the rights of Women, Children, Elderly People with Disability and other Marginalized Groups through Development Review, Implementation and Monitoring of Favourable Laws and Policies.

The Ministry expended Le 5,232,904,274.00 in 2012.


In 2013, the Ministry submitted Le9,850,000,000 as its budget to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development of 17 which a regular budget of Le5,420,000,000 was approved with a decrease of Le4,430,000,000.
The Ministry pointed out to the Committee that the decrease would affect the implementation of some of their operations as stipulated in their Work Plan for the FY 2013 in the following areas: - Diet - Vehicle maintenance - Overseas travelling - Stationery - Fuel and Oil - Generator running cost - Computer running cost Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, in view of the above, the Committee recommends a supplementary budgetary allocation to this Ministry subject to the review their Annual Work Plan.
133-MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Key Mission of this Ministry is to develop all segments of the information and Communication sectors in order to keep the citizens well informed, educate and sensitize them about the activities of all branches of government and to improve the image of the country in the eyes of the outside world.

To achieve these goals, the Ministry is subdivided in to sixty (6 distinct but interrelated departments.
These are: - Administration; - Directorate of communication; - Directorate of Information; - Office of the government Spokesman; - Attitudinal and Behavioral Change; and - Sierra Leone News Agencies (SLENA) 18 Appropriation Sub-Committee 5 was mandated to examine and Report only on the following: - Attitudinal and Behavioral Change (ABC) Administration; - Office of the Government spokesman; - Directorate of Communication; and - Directorate of Information.
The Ministry in 2012 expended the sum of Le 3,750,000,000.00.

In 2013, it submitted Le 2, 100, 000, 00.00 to the Ministry of Finance.

Only Le1, 460,000,000.00 was allocated for FY-2013.

Responding to questions regarding budgetary allocations, the Permanent Secretary, informed the Committee that allocation for FY 2013 has not been released from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and he could not therefore ascertain an increase or decrease in the 1st quarter allocation.
The Committee recommends that the Ministry of Finance should fast track the payment of the 1st quarter allocations of the Ministry to enhance its operations.

133-ATTITUDINAL AND BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE SECRETARIAT [ABC] Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the office of the ABC is a subsidiary to the Ministry of Information and Communication hence, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Communication is the Vote Controller of the ABC Programme.
The Office came into being as a result of the President‟s foresight in his inaugural speech in September 2007 that sustainable socio-economic growth cannot be attained without the preparedness of Sierra Leoneans to positively transform their attitude, hence the need for Attitudinal Change.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the ABC Secretariat expended the sum of Le441, 800,000.00 as actual expenditure for 2012.
In 2013, the Secretariat made a budgetary submission to the tune of Le1, 262,526,568.39 to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and Le 440,000,000.00 was approved.
19 Following the number of issues raised by the ABC Secretariat, the Committee recommends the following:  that salaries of workers in the ABC Secretariat be paid in Leones and not in US Dollars;  the Committee noted with grave concern that most of the regional offices lack logistical supplies and recommends that those offices be provided with such facilities and staff welfare be improved; and  that the issue of staff salary relating to Mr. Sara Turay be referred to the Parliamentary Committee on Information and Communication for prompt action.
113-04-THE GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Office of the Government Spokesman is an appendage to the Ministry of Information and Communication.

It is created to provide the public with timely, accurate, clear, and complete information about government policies, programs, services and initiatives both nationally and internationally and to ensure that institutions of the Government are visible, accessible and accountable to the Public they serve.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Office of the Government Spokesman made an expenditure of Le327, 600,000.00 in the FY 2012.

The Office submitted a budget to the Ministry of Finance to the tune of Le650, 000,000.00 for the Fiscal Year 2013.

The Ministry of Finance approved a budget ceiling of Le200, 000,000 as a regular budget for the Financial Year 2013.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, responding to probing questions from the Committee the Vote Controller stated that the reduction in their original budget submission by the Ministry of Finance will adversely affect the following areas: - Public Relations expenses; - Office and General; 20 - Overseas traveling; and - Procurement of computer and accessories.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee also noted with serious concern that the staff strength of the Secretariat is weak and the office has many temporary officers whose names are not on the regular staff list The Committee therefore recommends that the office of the Government Spokesman be fully resourced and staffed for effective performance.

110-18- CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, Corporate Affairs Commission was established by virtue of the Companies Act 2009.
The Commission is a body corporate capable of suing and being sued in its corporate name.
The functions of the Commission are: a) to administer the Act, including the regulation and supervision of the incorporation and registration of companies under or pursuant to the act; b) establish and maintain a company‟s registry and offices in all the provinces as may be necessary, suitably and adequately equipped to discharge its functions under the ACT or any other enactment in respect of which it is charged with; c) perform such other functions as may be specified by this ACT or any other enactment; and d) undertake such other activities as necessary or expedient for giving full effect to this ACT.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, no money was allocated to the Corporate Affairs Commission for the financial year 2012.

An amount of Le 180,000,000.00 was budgeted for the Commission for 2013.
Responding to the above statement the Chief Executive Officer told the Committee that the institution is in an embryonic stage and she kindly pleaded through the Appropriation Sub- Committee 5 to the Ministry of Finance and 21 Economic Development to consider the Commission‟s Annual Work Plan for its appropriate implementation.
110-11- POLITICAL PARTIES REGISTRATION COMMISSION [PPRC] Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC) was established in 2005 by an Act of Parliament (Act No.4 of 2005) with the mandate to register and supervise the conduct of political parties in Sierra Leone.

The existence of the PPRC guaranteed by virtue of Sections 34 and 35 of 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone.
Since it came into being in 2006, PPRC has recorded a number of achievements in the promotion of democracy in Sierra Leone.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the budget ceiling for PPRC for the financial year 2013 was Le 420,000,000.00.

Prior to the scrutiny of the expenditure, questionnaire from the PPRC the Committee observed that the sum of Le 638,369,900.00 was expended by the Commission for FY-2012.
The Committee also noted that there was an over expenditure by the Commission to the tune of Le 238,369,000.00 for the FY-2012.

The Committee recommends that to avoid similar situation for the subsequent years the Ministry of Finance AND Economic Development should endeavour to review the recurrent expenditure of the Commission without increasing the Commission‟s allocation.
208-NATIONAL FIRE AUTHORITY Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, in 2012, the Ministry of Finance & Economic Development allocated to the National Fire Authority the sum of Le 4,785,747,785.00 but only Le 1,761,000,000.00 was received by this Department.

The fourth quarter was not made available as stated by the Chief Fire Officer.

Perusing their Questionnaire the Committee made the following observations.
 Uniform/ protective clothing – there was little or no allocation for this sub-head even though it was factored in the budget submitted for 2012.

The Chief Fire Officer explained that lack of adequate fire engines has seriously affected their performance.

22  There was no effective insurance policy in operation at the National Fire Authority.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee further discovered that there was a supplementary budget of Le 1,094,241,658.00 for the procurement of additional fire engine for the Authority.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee strongly recommends that the Ministry of Finance & Economic Development should increase the budgetary allocation of the Authority and release it on time to meet the operational needs of the Authority.
And also uniform, protective clothing, other apparatus and additional fire engines must be provided for the Fire National Authority.

420-SIERRA LEONE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY Mr Chairman, Hon.
Members, the Sierra Leone Environmental Protection Agency was created by Parliament in 2008 as an autonomous body charged with the following responsibilities: to coordinate and monitor all environmental management issues; and to be a focal point for environmental management both within and outside Sierra Leone Mr Chairman, Hon.
Members, the original budget submitted to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development for 2012 was Le1, 263,634,724.00 (for salaries and allowances and other charges) and the actual allocation was Le 1,981,388,640.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the original budget submitted to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development for 2013 was Le2, 200,000,000 for salaries, allowances and recruitment.
The Committee observed that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development gave a ceiling of Le700, 000,000.

No allocation has been made to this Agency from the beginning of this financial year.

The Committee further observed that since funds have not been provided to this Agency their operations have slowed down and their plan for a new building have been shelved for now.
The Committee therefore recommends that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development should speed up with the timely allocation process for this agency.

23 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the revenue target for Fiscal Year 2012 was Le11,536,919,570 and the Agency did exceed its revenue target from Le7,150,316,248 to Le11,536,919,570 as a result of robust measures that was put in place to generate revenue from mining companies.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Agency also received donations/grants from UNDP, UNFPA with the tune of Le707,942,339 and utilized for capacity building and mainstreaming environmental issues.

The Committee recommends a supplementary budgetary allocation to the Sierra Leone Environmental Protection Agency.

701-01-TRANSFERS TO LOCAL COUNCILS [DEVOLVED FUNCTIONS] Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, permit me to make a partial report on those subheads under the devolved functions.
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development allocated Le 80,000,000,000.00 for financial year 2013 under the devolved function compared to Le 74,043,000,000.00 for 2012.

The Committee noted that additional Le 5,000,000,000.00 has been allocated to the 19 Local Councils for the Financial Year 2013.

The Committee examined the budget and expenditure of the following Councils: 1.

Tonkolili District Council - 3,644,863,428; 2.

Koinadugu District Council - 3,699,570,603; 3.

Kailahun District Council 4.


Bonthe District Council - - 3,267,400,826; 1,209,003,567; and 5.

Bonthe Municipal Council - 782,194,369.

KOINADUGU DISTRICT COUNCIL Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, this Council expended the sum of Le5,890, 676,897 in Financial Year - 2012, the bulk of this expenditure was on social service work such as Health and Education.

Donor funds were predominantly utilized on 24 Agriculture.
For the FY-2013, the Council submitted a budget estimate of Le6, 479,785,837 to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development but the actual budget allocated wasLe3, 463,139,089.

In his response, the Chief Administrator disclosed that his Council did make returns on time.

The Committee strongly recommends that the Koinadugu District Council should adopt a sustainable and prudent revenue collection mechanism for the development of the Council.
TONKOLILI DISTRICT COUNCIL Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Tonkolili District Council has the mandate to ensure quality service delivery in the most efficient and effective manner in the entire District.

During the appropriation exercise the Committee learnt that the 2012 and 2013 budget submission was totally done by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and not by the Council.

The actual allocation was Le 5,887,377,929 for 2012.
With a supplementary allocation of Le 2,223,000,733.00, the Council expended total sum of Le8, 106,593,123 under the following devolved activities: - Health (Primary and secondary - Education; - Agriculture; - Solid Waste Management; - Rural Water Services; - Library; - Youth and Sports; - Fire Prevention; - Administration; and - Development.

The Council‟s 2013 budget submission is Le7, 616,195,935.
The Committee was impressed by the Councils performance and strongly recommends that the Council should be seen to be independent in their budget formulation to avoid mismatching or unanticipated expenditure.

25 BONTHE DISTRICT COUNCIL Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Bonthe District Council expended the sum of Le2, 476,915,485.00 in FY-2012.

The Council made a budgetary submission of Le6, 003,352,065.00 for FY-2013.
The Committee queried the contracts awarded and projects undertaken by the Council and expressed relative satisfaction over the strides taken to implements most of these projects.

The Committee further noted some of the challenges faced by the Council in terms of mobility and untimely allocations of quarterly subvention.
The Committee therefore recommends that the Bonthe District Council should be given adequate attention with regards to timely disbursement of quarterly allocations in order to enhance its operations.

BONTHE MUNICIPAL Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee noted with grave concern over the neglect of this Council by the central government of which many developmental programs are not directed to this Council.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, during the scrutiny of the Council budget, the Committee observed that the Council expended Le511, 041,251.42 for FY-2012.

This was far below the ceiling set by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and therefore could not meet the needs of the Council‟s planned activities.
The Committee observed that this Council would be likely classed as a failed Council and further urges the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and other development partners to put all the resources in place to develop the Municipality.
KAILAHUN DISTRICT COUNCIL Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Kailahun District Council‟s presented an expenditure record to the sum of Le 3,163,880,782.00 for FY-2012, bulk of which was on social services expenditure such as Agriculture, Primary Health, Energy and Power, 26 administration and Education etc.

For FY-2013, the Council submitted a budget estimate of Le10, 583,407,715.00 which included the anticipated donor funding under the Decentralized Service Delivery Programme.
The Committee queried the contracts awarded by the Council for 2012.

Responding to the Committee‟s queries, the Vote Controller told the Committee that, although some were still on-going but the Council did adhere to procurement procedures and most of their activities were in their Annual Work Plans for 2012.

The Committee recommends that the Councils should impose licenses/penalties on Miners and also urged the Council to strengthen the home source revenue drive.
117 - CABINET SECRETARIAT The Cabinet Secretariat never attended to defend their budget and prior to this, the Committee recommends that the budget head 117-Cabinet Secretariat must be with held.

CONCLUSION Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I wish to express my sincere thanks to all Members of Sub-Committee 5 for their resilience and commitments during the Financial Scrutiny of the various MDAs assigned to the Committee.
I also wish to extend my profound gratitude to the following staff of the Secretariat: Mr David Saffa; Mr Kemoh Marrah; and Mr Lamin Yansaneh.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Report of Sub-Committee 5 reflects the unanimous view of the Committee.
I therefore move that the vote Heads including Subheads of all the MDAs aforementioned stand part of the schedule with the exception of Vote 117 of the Cabinet Secretariat with the sum of Le 600, 000, 000, and that the 27 recommendations contained therein be approved.

Presented by Honourable Komba E. Koedoyoma, Chairman, Appropriation Sub-Committee 5.

MR CHAIRMAN: Mr Chairman, I want you to give reasons why the vote of the Cabinet Secretariat be withheld.

HON.
HON.

KOMBA E. KOEDOYOMA: Mr Chairman, before we started writing our Report we sent invitation to the Cabinet Secretariat.

Mr Chairman, it would interest you to know that they never showed up.

We reported this matter to parliamentary Committee on Finance and the Clerk of this House, they never came.

They did promise to come; but they did not come at all.

They did not even make any effort to come and explain why they did not come and defend their budget.
We did not interview them; and so, we said their Vote should be withheld until they make their representations here.

MR CHAIRMAN: Well, if that is the point, why was it not included in your report?

HON KOEDOYOMA: Mr Chairman, I think that was an error.

Before I make the final copy, I will like to hear the views of the Majority and Minority Leaders.

I would want to hear their views on that as far as withholding the budget of the Cabinet Secretariat is concerned.

It is a sensitive issue Mr Chairman.


HON.

DR BERNADETTE LAHAI: Mr Chairman, if we go back to the Road Maintenance Fund, it was indeed reported in this House that they failed to appear with the necessary documents.

And when the recommendation was made, it was recommended that their Vote be withheld.

But then, there was no further action given for that recommendation.

Similarly, we are now faced with the issue of the Cabinet Secretariat that failed to appear before the Committee.
There is nothing presented by the Cabinet Secretariat to the Committee.

The question is, why?

On which bases are we going to approve their budget if there is nothing presented to the Committee?

They did not appear even though they were sent for.

I even wanted to ask a question since the Report was read suggesting the withholding of the Road Maintenance Fund if they have reported back to the Committee?

These are things we don‟t know.

28 MR CHAIRMAN: I will come back to that later.


I want you to know that there is a difference between the Road Maintenance Fund and the Cabinet Secretariat.

This one is similar to the Media Service Commission that also failed to appear before the Committee.

As for the Road Maintenance Fund, they appeared before the Committee, but failed to bring supporting documents.

What I am saying is in this Report.

Like the Report we had yesterday, there was nothing stated except at the end of the Report.

HON.
HON.

S. B.

B. DUMBUYA: No Mr Chairman.

Mr Chairman they should put the Budget Head and state that the necessary Institution did not appear and therefore...- (Interruption).

MR CHAIRMAN: So, what next?

HON.

DR BERNADETTE LAHAI: We assume that he is going to put the Head and Sub-heads like all other amendments.

I would instruct that he puts the Heads for record purposes.

MR CHAIRMAN: I don‟t want you to instruct, but request.

HON.

S. B.
HON.

S. B.

B. DUMBUYA: Well, Mr Chairman, what all of us have to recognise in this House is the fact that the Honourable Komba E. Koedoyoma is one of the Veteran Members of the Public Accounts Committee.

He is a Veteran in that Committee.

He knows everything about the Finance Committee as far as I know.

This is because we have been here all along.

Some of us know him only too well.

It appears that he has just made a mistake which is most unfortunate.

He has apologised for that mistake Mr Chairman.


I would crave the indulgence of the House and to you Mr Chairman to accept his apology.

I am sure it must have been made inadvertently.

He is a very knowledgeable somebody and knowledgeable enough to know that that should have been included in his Report to form part of the Report.

Since this has not been the case, I think his apology should be accepted and ask that what has been left out be included in the Report.
Mr Chairman for the very fact that those people did not appear, their allocation must be withheld as was done in the case of the other MDAs 29 (Applause).

Mr Chairman, as you have said, there is a difference between this issue and that of the Road Maintenance Fund.

In the case of the Road Maintenance Fund, Madam Minority Leader, they did appear and for all I know there were certain documents that were not available.
As the Leader of the House they reported to me that those documents have now been made available.

The House will hear something on that.

Thank you very much.

MR CHAIRMAN: Let us proceed.
The Clerk read the Heads and Sub-heads as follows: BUDGETARY HEADS TOTAL SUM VOTED 201 -Ministry of Defence.......................……… 65,298,700,000 305 -Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender & Children’s Affairs 5,420,000,000 133 -Ministry of Information & Communication……....….. 1,460,000,000 405 -Ministry of Tourism &Cultural Affairs :( Tourism Division)... 840,000,000 303 - Ministry of Tourism & Cultural Affairs: Cultural Division…980,000,000 407 -Ministry of Labour & Social Security..........................… 1, 940,000,000 345 -Pharmacy Board.......................................……………… 1,950, 000,000 142 -National Public Procurement Authority................……… 1,800,000,000 110-11 - Political Parties Registration Commission..................420,000,000 110-08 - Office of the Ombudsman................... ………….…….
400,000,000 144 - National Commission for Human Right.................…...... 960,000,000 143 - Judicial & Legal Service Commission......................….. 150,000,000 30 110-18 - Corporate Affairs Commission.......……………….… 180,000,000 133-03 - Attitudinal & Behavioural Change......................... 440,000,000 117 - Cabinet Secretariat.....................................…………....600,000,000 113-04 - Government Spokesman....................……………… 200,000,000 208 - National Fire Authority........................... .......………5,140,000,000 420- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)................... 700,000,000 DIRECT TRNSFERS TO LOCAL COUNCILS – SUB HEAD 701/01 a. Tonkolili District Council - 3,644,863,428 b. Koinadugu District Council - 3,699,570,603 c. Kailahun District Council d. Bonthe District Council - - 3,267,400,826 1,209,003,567 e. Bonthe Municipal Council - 782,194,369 All to Stand Part of the Schedule.
MR MOMODU KARGBO: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I move that the Vote Heads and Sub-Heads and the amount thereto that has just been pronounced by the Assistant to the Clerk of Parliament stand part of the Schedule.

Thank you.

(Question Proposed) HON.


SHO SAWYER: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I believe that as a member of Appropriation Sub-Committee 5, I would like to take this opportunity to mention few things that are in this Report; and which I believe the Ministry of Finance should take into consideration.

One major thing that was mentioned often times in this Report is 31 inadequate allocation.

Another thing is the late disbursement of funds.


Mr Chairman, one of the major complaints from these MDAs is the fact that they have not even received the 4th Quarter Allocation for last year.

This is a major concern for the Ministry of Finance.

I said this in one area when we were talking about the disbursement plans or what plans they have put in place for the 4th Quarter by these MDAs.

Some included Procurement Mr Chairman.


If we are to stop corruption in this country, the Ministry of Finance should also assist in that regard.

If there is late disbursement of funds, these MDAs would meet with the Suppliers and negotiate deals with them.

Their Suppliers would give them the supplies and later pay when the Ministry of Finance would have given them the funds.

But such deals go with kick-backs.

This is because you are providing Supplier with some form of deal with an interest rate.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, another part of this deal is that, you would find out that with such kick-backs, Procurement Rules are not followed.

If the Procurement Rules are followed, the Bid is pulled out, the Bidders Bid and the funds should be available in the Account to pay.
But since that is not the case, Procurement Rules are not followed because you only go to Suppliers who would supply you these necessary equipment or stationery or whatever is needed, knowing that one or two months, the Supplier would get the money at a different rate.

That needs to be really looked into by the Ministry of Finance.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to talk about the trumpeted inadequate allocation.
When Ministries come up with budgets, they meet with certain groups and certain Stakeholders to come up with whatever the Budget that they have requested, with the hope that the Ministry of Finance will meet with all these MDAs to clarify exactly what these needs are; whether some of these needs are necessary and therefore, they should be met or not.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, monitoring is a very important component that the Ministry of Finance should pay attention to.
The Ministry of Finance needs to put a strong monitoring mechanism in place.

Although Parliament has the Oversight powers, 32 but the Ministry of Finance is the one that is providing the funds directly to the various MDAs.

Therefore, the Ministry should be monitoring the utilisation of funds provided to these MDAs.

Every penny that goes to these MDAs should be monitored.

I believe if the Ministry of Finance puts strong monitoring mechanism in place, they will know how these funds are utilised.
In fact, the Ministry would also know in advance if there are proper documentations for these funds.

I think that should be put in place for accountability purposes.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, much have been said about the Local Councils.

These Local Councils should start generating 50% to 60%.

When we looked through the Budget, it is clear that they depend on Government so much that they pay little attention in collecting taxes.
The other day it was mentioned that due to mismanagement of taxes, the citizens have lost confidence.

Therefore, the people are not paying taxes at all.

The question, have we come to that?

If you are a citizen of this country, you are supposed to abide by the rules of the country.

You are supposed to pay your tax, whether you like it or not.

And this needs to be made clear to all of us here and to the citizens of this country.

Mr Chairman, it is not a chosen day.


That is, it is not like people pay tax today and fail to pay tomorrow.

Let me give you one example, if I am driving along the road and observe that the Police are around, I will make sure that I follow traffic rules.

But if tomorrow the Police are not around, I will not follow traffic rules at all Mr Chairman.

Have we descended to a level where law and order is not maintained?

These things need to be put in place Mr Chairman.


How can I pay my tax today and fail to pay tomorrow?

If taxes are not paid, how can the Government provide us light, water, good roads and job opportunities?

Where are we supposed to get all these amenities?

Where is the revenue supposed to be generated from?

I think we have to put strong by-laws that would force people to pay their taxes.

The Ministry of Finance is saying that Local Councils should start generating 50% - 60% by next year.
I think we should be talking about this Financial Year.

Mr Chairman, I want the Ministry of Finance start working towards this proposal.

They should not wait until next year.

They should start now Mr Chairman.

Let us put strong measures in place so that if 33 a particular Council fails to meet its target, the Ministry would not allocate all the funds that Council has asked for.
If a Council is asking for 2.5 billion, the Ministry of Finance would say okay, we are willing to give that amount, but you have to meet certain targets before you receive that amount.

I think if we do this, Local Councils will do their job by collecting the necessary Revenue that is needed.

I believe some of these recommendations should be taken into consideration.

The Revenue generating MDAs should focus and adhere to the laws of this country.
We as citizens also should adhere to the laws of this country.

People should not be paying taxes today and fail to pay tomorrow.

Having said this, I would say that I support the points that have been recommended already by the Committee (Applause).

HON.

INBRAHIM KAMARA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I would want to make few observations.

The first observation I would want to make is that I am still confused with the pattern of allocation in terms of disbursement of funds.
There are some MDAs who have received all the four quarters allocations.

There are some with only the 1st Quarter and the 1st and 2nd Quarters received.

I don‟t know the formular that is being used for this.

Some MDAs received all the four quarters while others did not receive their full allocations.

They did not have even the Second or Third Quarter.

So, I want to know the formula that is being used.


Also Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to suggest that the revenue generating MDAs should be given priority.

If they are given their allocations, I strongly believe that would be a motivating factor for them to collect more revenue that is mostly needed by the Government.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I also observed that the Ministry of Finance did undertake expenditure for MDAs without their consent.
I don‟t think that is a prudent Financial Management Strategy at all.

This is because when it comes to defending the budget, the MDAs would have to defend this budget.

So, in terms of expending the money, they should also be part of that arrangement in expending whatever figure that is going to be factored into their Budget.

That is another Observation Mr Chairman.

34 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I also observed from the Report here that.… - (Interruption).

Suspension of S. O.
Suspension of S. O.

5(2), being 12:00 p.m. HON.

IBRAHIM KAMARA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, another observation is that there are allocations being apportioned to different MDAs.

We have four Quarters in the year.

You will observe that two quarters would have been given to the MDAs without the 3rd and 4th Quarters; but at the same time we hear of Supplementary Allocations.

Mr Chairman I am a little bit confused.

Maybe the Minister would give some explanations.


Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I also believe that some MDAs have not been treated fairly in the allocation process.

I happen to be a member of particular Appropriation Sub-Committee that was probing into the activities of some of these MDAs.

There was a particular MDA I was pathetic with when they narrated their story.

They were given only one Allocation.

What they did was to set that particular Allocation for their salary.
They bought a printer with what they were left with.

They managed to go on field trips to Bo and Kenema.

That was the only activity they did for the whole year.

I felt so bad when they were doing their presentation.

I even saw the frustration on their faces.

It is not that those people did not have the ability and capability to do the work, but the fact of the matter was that they were not capacitated at all.

One could notice their eagerness and enthusiasm to do their work.
Mr Chairman, I want to tell Honourable House that those people were really frustrated.

With one Allocation out of four Allocations is very frustrating.

Mr Chairman, the Department is known as the Income Tax Revenue Affiliate.

They presented the questionnaires to us.

Believe you me Sirs, those people did not follow the instructions inscribed on the questionnaires at all.

In fact, what I personally sensed from those questionnaires was that, it was just like they had given up.
It was like saying, „I don‟t care what is going to happen.‟ 35 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I strongly believe that all the MDAs should be treated fairly.

How could the Ministry of Finance give all the Allocations to some of these MDAs and leave the others with one or two Allocations.

I don‟t think that is correct at all Mr Chairman.

Everybody should be given a level playing field to perform so that they will be able to achieve the President‟s Agenda for Prosperity dream.
Everybody wants to be seen in terms of performance.

But if some are given the opportunity to perform and some are not given the opportunity, I think it is not fair at all.

Mr Minister, I want you to give explanation why this happened.

It is not correct to give an entire MDA just one Allocation.

How do you expect the MDA to perform with one Allocation for the entire year?

That has to be looked into seriously.

Mr Chairman, with those few comments I rest my case.

HON.
HON.

P. C. BAI KURR KANAGBARO SANKA III: Thank you Mr Chairman.

MR CHAIRMAN: Honourable Paramount Chief, please be brief in your contribution.

HON.

P. C. BAI KURR KANAGBARO SANKA III: Noted Mr Chairman.

I am only going to talk on one issue Mr Chairman.

I am going to talk on the Environmental Protection Agency.

The entire world is now worried about Climate Change and Global Warming.

Countries are worried about what is happening in the universe.
Developed countries are worried about the Climate Change.

Africa, Sierra Leone to be specific is one of the countries that suffers most.

But even though we are the ones suffering more than those Developed countries, we are still paying very little attention to Global Warming and Climate Change.

Our Agriculture is not doing well at all.

Those of us coming from Rural Areas that are producing enough food are suffering today.
If you go to most of these rural areas of Sierra Leone, the people are eating imported rice December, January, February and March.

We use to eat our own local food stuffs that are being produced by ourselves.

Nobody is doing anything to change that perception Mr Chairman.

We are busy destroying our natural habitat.

If we destroy nature, we are destroying everything Mr Chairman.

If you look at Freetown today, you will see what is going on along the hills and mountains of Freetown.
Almost all the trees are being cut 36 down.

The place is becoming very hot and unfriendly for mankind.

The rains are falling very seriously.

The rains do not come at the time we are expecting them.

We don‟t have the ability to predict the time when these rains are really falling.

Our forefathers used to know the exact time we experience rains.

But today we cannot because we do not have the meteorological concept to tell when the rains are coming.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, if you go to other countries, you will notice that those countries are worried about Climate Change.

Are we really waiting for people to come from abroad to teach us about Climate Change?

If you are driving from Freetown to Bo, you will find out that there are no more bushes.

All you can see is grassland.

Wild fire is taking place all over the place.

The forests are no more.

No more bushes but grassland.

You will notice the same thing in Kambia.


How are we going to manage our Agricultural production?

Mr Chairman, I want this House to know that prosperity is productivity.

You cannot prosper if you do not produce you own food.

Even a thief cannot steal from a poor man and expect prosperity.

You have to steal from wealthy people for you to prosper yourself, wife and children.

Therefore Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, prosperity means productivity.
How could Sierra Leone be self sufficient if our land is no longer productive?

And believe you me Mr Chairman we are now seeing problems with our water resources.

The water catchment areas are drying up.

We don‟t have enough fish in our fresh water any more.

The inland valleys are no longer producing as expected.

I am a farmer; and I am talking from that perspective.

This is why we are experiencing high rate of unemployment in the country.

This is happening because the land is no longer productive.
The youths in the Villages are coming to Freetown because they cannot produce enough food from their swamps or farms any more.

I am telling you from experience.

The question is, what are we doing as a Parliament?

What are we doing with deforestation and land degradation that is going on in the country?

In Freetown for example, any time the rains fall, you cannot even pass in certain areas because of the massive soil erosion that is taking place all over the place.
All the dregs are brought to the streets of Freetown.

Vehicles cannot even pass.

Erosion washes the top soil to 37 the Ocean, leaving our lands naked.

All the nutrients are gone to the oceans.

What are we doing as a Nation to control these nemeses?

What is happening at Mountain Cut and Kissy Road is unbearable whenever it rains.

The top soil from the hills and valleys of Sierra Leone are being washed away.

Vehicles cannot even ply the roads of Freetown.


The same thing is happening all over the country.

What are we doing as a Nation to control what is happening now?

(Undertones).

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the youths are leaving the Rural Areas to come to Freetown.

Mr Chairman, 98% of the bike riders in the city of Freetown are from the Provinces.

All the provincial youths are in Freetown.

Most of them have dropped from schools.

Most of them failed the BECE exams.


They don‟t want to go back to their villages and engage in Agricultural work.

They prefer staying in Freetown.

They have taken their WASCE Exams but could not make it to college.

Instead of trying in taking the exams, they prefer bike-riding.

Some prefer selling bread, water, credit cards etc.

They sell these things without productivity.

We cannot use our land to plant cassava, pine apple, oranges, mango, and oil palm because we are busy destroying our land.
These are the key components that will bring in prosperity in any nation.

Mining is not the only area that would bring prosperity.

In fact, we have almost mined in all the towns and villages of Kono.

If you go to Kono today, you will see poverty on the faces of Kono residents (Applause).

The same thing is happening at the Bauxite areas.

Why are we neglecting Agriculture?

The land is no longer fertile.

What are we doing as a Nation and as a people?


African Continent is producing less than 2% of the pollution in the world.

But the pressure and the disasters are taking place in Africa.

MR CHAIRMAN: Honourable Member, are you calling for more funds for the EPA?

HON.

P. C. BAI KURR KANAGBARO SANKA III: Mr Chairman I am not only calling for more funds for the EPA but also to address the issue of Climate Change.
MR CHAIRMAN: But since we are dealing with the Budget that is why I am asking for funds for the EPA.

38 HON.

P. C. BAI KURR KANAGBARO SANKA III: I was only giving a preamble for the EPA so that every Sierra Leonean and every Government official will look at the Climate Change as an issue that affect not only the EPA but Education, Health Agriculture etc.

MR CHAIRMAN: Honourable Member your point is noted.

HON.

P. C. BAI KURR KANAGBARO SANKA III: Note it very well Sir (Laughter).
There is massive land degradation going on in the country.

There is also deforestation taking place in Sierra Leone.

I want this House to know that deforestation and land degradation lead to desertification.

If you go to Sanda and Masingbi, all you will see is grassland.

The youths are leaving from the villages.

By 2014, Freetown will have almost up to thirty-five seats out of the one hundred seats.

This is because people are coming every day to Freetown.

MR CHAIRMAN: Honourable Paramount Chief?


HON.

P. C. BAI KURR KANAGBARO SANKA III: Yes Mr Chairman.

MR CHAIRMAN: I want to suggest that you go through the Committee on Lands and the Environment.

It seems this issue is very close to your heart.

I want us to tidy up the Budget before it is 1:00 p.m.

I will encourage you to work with the Committee on Lands and the Environment to ensure that we address this issue of Climate Change in the country.

HON.
HON.

P. C. BAI KURR KANAGBARO SANKA III: I am summing up my contribution Sir.

But I want to stress here that the EPA is meant to protect our environment.

The EPA is meant to look at our lands, mining policies, land degradation, deforestation etc.

That is what the EPA is meant for.

Do they have the man-power and the other resources to perform?

Do they have the logistical support?

Are the Paramount Chiefs given the authority to stop the spread of wild fire in our bushes?
If you leave now to 39 Makeni, you would see wild fire on your way.

Nobody is doing anything to redress the situation.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, we should begin to look at the EPA as part of the embodiment of progress in Sierra Leone.

It is one of the most important agencies that we should support.

We should do everything for the Chiefs to regulate wild fire in their respective chiefdoms.

I thank you very much.

HON.


DR ROLAND KARGBO: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to start by commending the Appropriation Sub-Committee 5 for a properly laid out Report.

This Report is well prepared and presented.

The Report captures rationale for the existence of MDAs their mandates and activities.

The recommendations are well suggested.

I want to commend them for that.

The Report makes it easy for us to identify the lapses of the Ministry of Finance and those of the various MDAs.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to comment on a few things.

I think it would have been good if we are reminded a little bit of the Action Plan of 2012 so that we can follow up their activities.

This is because it is this Action plan that expenditures are based.

I know it was done last year probably, but many of us will not remember.

But the Committee went on to give us an idea of the Action Plan of 2013.
I want to draw the attention of this noble House to Page 10, under the National Commission for Human Rights.

According to this Report, the sum of Le927, 322,650.00 was submitted to the Ministry of Finance.

The Ministry of Finance approved Le960, 000,000; above their original submission.

And at the bottom of it, we were told that the amount approved by the Ministry of Finance was not enough.
I think it is necessary for justifications to be given to satisfy this noble House that this money was prudently and effectively used.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want us to look at Page 9, under the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs.

I want to first of all commend that Ministry.

They were given a revenue target and they collected more than their target.

But we should not be oblivious of the fact that the Ministry of Tourism is actually a revenue generating 40 Ministry.
When I was listening to this Report, I asked myself whether this is the best.

I am referring to the surplus they raised as target revenue.

I am sure they could do much more than that.

I think it is important that the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs explore all possible income generating sources to increase on their target.

For me, a major income generating Ministry like Tourism should do more than this.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, this brings me to the issue of the National Park in my constituency.

It should be a powerful revenue generating project but has been neglected.

The Park is left as a place where poachers for animals and illegal miners have a field day.

I just want to draw the attention of the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs to this situation.

The Ministry should do whatever it is possible to revive the National Park.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Cultural Affairs is another very important revenue generating component.

According to this Report, officials of this Ministry told the Committee that they are faced with insurmountable challenges.

I think the Ministry is there to solve problems.

In this era of „Agenda for Prosperity,‟ insurmountable should be deleted.

We are looking for ministries that face challenges and proffer suggestions or solutions.
Mr Chairman, I am not referring to ministries that proffer verbal solution.

We will be expecting this Ministry of Tourism to do a lot more.

It has done a little as far as revenue mobilisation is concerned.

Cultural Affairs is crying with insurmountable problems.

I completely disagree with them Mr Chairman.

They are there to work and to find solutions to the challenges they are facing.

There is no MDA without challenges.


In the future, we expect reports from MDAs with practical suggestions or solutions to the everyday problems they face.

I thank you (Applause).

HON.

GLADYS GBAPPY BRIMA: Thank you very much Mr Chairman.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to join my colleagues on the other side of the House in commending this Report.

They have done well.

The presentation was also good.

However, I found some differences in the figures presented to us.
Let us look at Page 1, under Budgetary Head 305, Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children‟s Affairs.

41 If you look at that page, you will see the sum of Le8, 640,000,000.

But when you turn to Page 12 of same budgetary Head, the Ministry presented Le9, 850,000,000.

If you go further, it stated that Le5, 420,000,000 was approved with a decrease of Le4, 330,000,000.

Mr Chairman I want an explanation on this Sir.

MR CHAIRMAN: Honourable Member, the Le5, 420,000,000 is the correct figure HON.
GLADYS GBAPPY BRIMA: If that is so, then, I will again refer you to... – (Interruption).

MR CHAIRMAN: Mr Clerk, please take note of that when preparing the final Report.

The correct figure is Le5, 420, 000, 000.

Thank you for that observation.

HON.


GLADYS GBAPPY BRIMA: Again, if you go to Page 1, under Budgetary Head, 407, Ministry of Labour and Social Security, you will find Le2bn 980m 200 yet if you go to the detailed explanation on page 11, you will find out that the Ministry of Finance approved Le1, 940, 000, 000.

MR CHAIRMAN: The Le1, 940, 000, 000 is the correct figure.

Thank you very much Honourable Member.

Mr Clerk, take note of that as well.

Proceed Honourable Member.

HON.


GLADYS GBAPPY BRIMA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I would liketo draw the attention of this House that the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children‟s Affairs has suffered a lot in the hands of people.

Mr Chairman, year in and year out that Ministry has suffered from gross decrease in their budgetary Allocation.

I think that is not fair.

This Ministry has developed two good development documents.
We have the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 that has been localised.

I will call it Local Act.

We have developed in the past the National Action Plan for the Implementation of SIDNAP with attached Budget and it was launched by the President himself.

The money allocated according to this Report cannot take care of even half the implementation of that Instrument.
42 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, if we are really doing justice to the people of this Nation, and more especially to the women (whom I always say directly or then in our Allocations) we should always prioritise the Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children‟s Affairs.

I appreciate the fact that the Committee is recommending for Supplementary Budget; but I will also say that in doing so, we should refer to the Action Plans that have been developed by this Ministry.
Again, we are talking about Children‟s Affairs.

We are talking about promoting and protecting the rights of women and girls in the country.

We are talking about the disabled and the aged.

So, this Ministry must be adequately catered for Mr Chairman.

With those few remarks Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I think I would again say that the Committee definitely did a very good job.

I thank you.

MR CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much.

HON.

SHEKU BAH SANNOH: Thank you very much Mr Chairman.


Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I rise to lend my voice on the budget discussion.

Mr Chairman, I want to take you to Page 9, under the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs.
With your leave Mr Chairman, I read: “Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, far too long the Culture of this country has been down played due to mal-administration and fiscal indiscipline on the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs.” However Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to bring forward to this Honourable House that happiness is not having what you want but what you are.

We have to take full cognizance of the cultural affairs of this country.
You will agree with me that if you go along the streets of Freetown, you will see our children dancing to a music called „Azonto.‟ MR CHAIRMAN: What is Azonto?

HON.

SHEKU BAH SANNOH: Azonto is a traditional dance of the Ghanaian people.

If for any reason much consideration is not paid to our culture, the Gender Affairs we are talking about would be not achieved.

The goals of our mothers and sisters would not be achieved at all.

We have to pay more attention to the culture of this country.
If we are 43 talking about mal-administration and fiscal indiscipline in the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, the question is that what will happen in the next four to five years.
I want the Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs and the Committee responsible for Tourism and Cultural Affairs in the House of Parliament to take the responsibility of looking into the affairs of what exactly is presented before us as fiscal indiscipline and mal-administration in the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, you will agree with me that Tourism is supposed to be a revenue generating body that will enhance the work of the activities of this present Government.

For any reason if we want to achieve what we call the Agenda for Prosperity, we have to lay emphasis on revenue generation from our tourist sector.

If for any reason the „falcons cannot listen to the falconers,‟ it is real that things will fall apart.
And if for any reason things fall apart, then, that is our responsibility for us to see that Sierra Leone achieve the maximum Agenda for Prosperity which our dynamic President is talking about.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, you will agree with me also that the funds allocated to the Ministry of Tourism is not that adequate.

If we want to see Sierra Leone moving forward in terms of development, we have to encourage the tourism sector.

I will love to see Gongoli Dance in the streets of Freetown.
I would like to see people being proud as Sierra Leoneans encouraging the „Matoma Dance.‟ Mr Chairman I used to be a very good dancer.

But I am not fond of this Azonto Dance.

This is because the Azonto Dance has nothing to do with the Sierra Leonean culture.

We have to embark on our cultural activities.

If we want to bring Gender Affairs into reality, then, we have to encourage the people responsible for our traditions and culture.
The strength people build in with regard to gender is not projecting the results we are looking out for simply because we have neglected our cultural heritage.

There is a missing link somewhere.

And this missing link has to do with our culture and traditions of this country.

44 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to draw the attention of this Honourable House to the gender activists in this country.

I think we need to go back to our traditional people.
We need to sell out the cultural beliefs of our traditional people.

We have to juxtapose them with what exactly we are thinking about.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want this moment to draw the attention of the Minister of Finance that much has to be done in this tourism sector.

We want to see our beautiful beaches being flooded with so many wonderful hotels.

We use to see lot of tourists in the streets of Freetown.

We are not seen them today as we use to see them before.
One will say because of the War.

We are now talking about Prosperity.

We have to go back and see how best we can bring forward this wonderful prosperity to reality.

And as long as the sun keeps shining, of course, we must prosper.

Mr Chairman, I want to thank you (Applause).

HON.

DR BERNADETTE LAHAI (Minority Leader of the House): Mr Chairman I thank you for this opportunity.

We have listened to the presentation of Appropriation Sub-Committee 5.
I am sure the Chairman has been copiously taking notes of all the recommendations and amendments that have been made, particularly in reconciling some of these figures.

As he re-submits the final document, we hope that those recommendations will be taken into consideration.

In addition to that, we also want the Chairman to take into consideration that the Budget is about Income and Expenditure.
And because it is about Income and Expenditure, we also want them not only to give us what was expended but we also want them to tell us what was the actual money that was allocated to them, with a view of knowing whether more or less money was given to them.

We want to know how the money given to these MDAs inhibits or enhance their work.

I think Mr Chairman that will add value to this Report.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to talk about the Councils.
We know that they partly generate their own income.

Again, we want the Chairman to also tell us what were the targets for each of the Council, what was collected and what was the difference.

The Report should tell us what were some of the reasons for not meeting 45 their targets, and how do they hope to improve on their income generation for the years to come.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, it has been said that the Councils should be able to raise 60% by 2014 while the Government will provide the remaining 40%.

The Local Government Finance Committee is responsible to allocate these monies.

They used a formula.

That is, they have to take into consideration the variables of the Population of that locality and its available amenities.

This is because we want to see whether they are richly endowed in terms of basic social services.
All these variables determine how much should be divulged to each of these Councils.

Therefore Mr Chairman, in 2014, we have to seriously look at this issue.

The formular is not only considering the population, but also in terms of human and material resources of that locality.

I think they should come up with a formula and not a uniform percentage.

For example, take the Bonthe Municipality.


If you say the Bonthe Municipality should provide 60% of the monies that it needs and the Government provides 40%, Mr Chairman they will never be able to raise that percentage simply because the terrain of the Bonthe Municipality makes it difficult for investors to even go there.

Bonthe does not have lot of industries.

The fishing activity the indigenes of Bonthe are engaged in has to be developed.
The jetties have to be developed so that they will collect the necessary taxes.

Maybe in 2014, the Local Government Service Commission and the Ministry of Finance should really sit and look at those District Council localities and revise these variables.

We have to take cognizance of population, resource endowments and their basic social services available.

If we do that, I think you would find out that Government may even give 30%, instead of 40%.
Some of these Councils would have a matching fund of 30%, 40% and some 20% or 10% according to their potential both in terms of human and material resources.

If we fail to do this, some of these Councils will be greatly disadvantaged.

Mr Chairman I am saying this because where a Council is not motorable, it would be difficult to go there.

Let us also take the Koinadugu District Council Mr Chairman.
There are lot of resources you can get from that District, 46 especially the Periodic Market by Bindi, where you have cattle trading and other goods.

But Mr Chairman some of these places are not motorable at all.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, if Koindu is well networked with good roads, it can be a good income generation place.

Mr Chairman until and unless these major infrastructures are put in place, most of these Councils would not be able to collect the revenue as we are expecting them to do.
That is the appeal we are advancing.

I want both the Committee that is in charge, Ministry of Finance, the Local Government Finance and the Local Council should look at this critically.

Otherwise Mr Chairman there is no need to tell Council „A‟ to bring 60% when there are factors affecting their revenue generation.

They would not be able to meet the 60% target at all.

Therefore, a lot of the activities they are supposed to do would not be done due to financial hiccups.
We want all of these Councils to grow in a better way.

We don‟t want some Councils to lag behind in terms of development.

We want equal, equitable and inclusive development.

That is what the Budget is telling us.

The Budget is saying that we are now moving towards green, equitable and inclusive growth.

And if that is going to happen for example, the way we treat a disabled person should be the way we treat an aged.

The way you treat a child should be different from the way you treat a woman.
This is because if you put both of them at the same level, then, there will be a big problem.

What is more important is equity.

Equity does not mean that everybody should be equal.

But you have to give to people what they want.

Therefore, you should stress more on equity than equality at this material moment.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, those are my few comments.

I hope that the Chairman will really make all those corrections and comments to make this Report a better one.
I thank you very much (Applause).

HON.

IBRAHIM BUNDU (Deputy Majority Leader of the House): Thank you very much Mr Chairman.

The eloquent Leader, Honourable S. B.

B. Dumbuya is not here today.

This means that we will not get all those bombastic jargons (Laughter).

47 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to associate myself with all the positive comments that have been made by my colleagues, especially the Minority Leader of the House.
Mr Chairman it would sound repetitious if I delve into what the others have already said.

To avoid that Mr Chairman, I just want to draw your attention to few items here: Budgetary Allocation and the Recommendation for Supplementary Budget.

All the Reports were recommending for Supplementary Budgets.
But let us also bear in mind that in doing that recommendation, we should know that these MDAs are benefitting from three components: the Annual Budgetary Allocation; the Donor Support which they are neither reporting to the Minister of Finance nor the House of Parliament as was highlighted yesterday by one of the Appropriation Sub-   Committees; and  Supplementary Budget.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, this is an area we should endeavour to monitor closely.
It is very deliberate that they are not reporting this Donor Support for reasons best known to them.

Some of the MDAs requested certain amount of money and what they requested was given to them; yet, they go and solicit funds from other sources.

They received those Donor funds without the knowledge of the Minister of Finance.

That is one area I want to crave the indulgence of Members of Parliament to watch, especially at our Oversight functions.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, if you give a target to an MDA to generate revenue and failed to give that MDA incentives, they will look for incentives for themselves.

Therefore, I want to ask here that the Minister of Finance to be giving them some incentives.

Some of them are so sincere to report revenue raised above their target.

You do not know what might have happened without prejudiced to their credibility.

But that is just a recommendation that you give them some incentives as well.
I want you to encourage them to increase on their revenue generation.

48 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, there was a question posed to the Minister about some Ministries only accessing their 1st and 2nd Quarters.

Without prejudice of the ability of the Minister to answer that question, I believe we all know that some Ministries do submit Budgets without the requisite capacity to absorb some of those amounts.

Some of them do submit their request late.


Some of us who have travel know exactly what I am talking about.

Our Parliament has always being a victim of what I am saying Mr Chairman.

We do suffer some of those things.

Even the proper procedure and processes to be followed, most of these MDAs do not comply with those things.

If you ask them to process the Pet Forms, they will do the wrong thing Mr Chairman.

I believe the Minister will delve into that.


Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to also join my colleagues in thanking this Appropriation Sub-Committee for a job well done.

I thank you very much (Applause).

MR MOMODU KARGBO (Deputy Minister of State, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development): Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I think this is a good Report.

It covers a lot of issues.

Let us turn to Page 6, under the Observations.


I think they have already said almost all what we have been trying to say about this Budget.

Many Vote Controllers complained about the Ministry of Finance rejecting their Vouchers.

Towards the end of every year, we have to wrap up because we have to send these documents to Parliament.

Those in the commercial business know what I am talking about.
Based on that Mr Chairman, we often give deadline to all MDAs to process their vouchers and send them through the system before the 15th of November.

So, if they are complaining about their vouchers being rejected, it was as a result of the fact that they failed to meet the deadline.

Mr Chairman if those vouchers are not in the IFM‟s Systems, they just have to complain about the rejection.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, in the next paragraph of Page 6, there is a proposition that this was why they resorted in taking supplies from suppliers because they knew their allocations would come.

That simply means you are incurring debt for Government which you are not authorised to do.

Mr Chairman nobody by law is 49 authorised to take debt for Government.

The system is that you should go by LPOs.

Suppliers should only supply Government on LPOs.

If there are no LPOs, you do not have to supply.


For bigger contracts, we call that in the Ministry of Finance „Certificate of Authority.‟ We issue „Certificates of Authority‟ for bigger amounts.

In other words, for expenditure of Le60, 000,000 and below, you have to go for LPOs.

Honourable Sho- Sawyer touched on the point but somehow it deflected a little bit.

It is the notion of taking advantage of Government.

That is why MDAs take supplies for Government without LPOs.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, let us look at the third paragraph of Page 6.

With your leave Mr Chairman let me read: “Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, we also observed that Expenditure Trends took the same form as the preceding year, for example, most of our expenditure on overseas travel and office and general.” People are more interested on things that benefit them.

In other words, when we get the money, we spend it.

This is what this Report is saying and I accept what it is saying.
Preference is given to those expenditures that will allow people to travel to places like London.

That is what we give preference to.

There is even over expenditure on this Budget lines.

They don‟t complain about how they overspend.

They are only complaining to Parliament that Ministry of Finance has rejected their Budget.

Let us understand the situation Mr Chairman.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want this august gathering to know that this country has developed appetite for development.
And because of that, everybody is complaining that they want light, pipe-borne water, good roads, we want medication for our children etc.

Our wants are going to that direction at this point in time Mr Chairman.

Mr Chairman I can leave here now to Kenema and probably come back before 11.00 p.m.

I can no longer worry myself anymore to go to Kambia.

I can leave at any time to go to Kambia.

On Sunday, I took the road from Grafton to Regent.

I was anticipated for its completion.


It is a Chinese-funded Project.

But the question is who is paying for the demolition of those buildings?

There are houses all over the place.

The compensation is coming from Government Account.

50 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want you to know that if there is no pain, then, no gain.

Early this year, the new Minister of Finance introduced the concept of belt- tightening.

We have to tighten our belts.


We have to talk to our Vote Controllers and our leaders to tighten their belts.

We have to cut down wastages.

We also have to look at over pricing.

If we look at these issues, believe you me we will achieve more from this Budget than the complaints we are getting.

Mr Chairman, we are at the closing stage of this matter.

I think we should go home with something.

I want to leave some figures, something that we can go home with.
I want to say here and now that there is already a twelve percent increase in your salary as was announced in this Budget and you are going to start feeling that increment soon (Applause).

HON.

IBRAHIM BUNDU: Is increment for everybody?

MR MOMODU KARGBO: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the increment covers all Government workers.

That is, those paid form the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

That is our Budget for this year is Le3.21 trillion.

The Recurrent Expenditure of that is Le23 trillion.
This is very important Mr Chairman.

Out of the Le23 trillion, Le999.1bn is for wages and salaries.

Out of the Budget, the Recurrent Expenditure is 2.004 trillion.

Out of that 2.004 trillion, the wages and salaries of that Budget is 999.1 billion.

You can see that we are choking ourselves.

It is the Government that is being choked.

We don‟t have room to do a lot at all.

The Development Expenditure is 1.21 trillion.


We are coaxing our revenue generation estimates from Local Revenue and Grants which is 2.68 trillion.

We are coaxing or nursing an anticipated budget deficit of Le543bn.

We hope to finance that through borrowing.

Now we have an area which we call Improving Areas.

Honourable Gladys Gbappy Brima has been talking about the issue of women.

But at least we can take comfort from the fact that we are moving from a Budget of 3.8bn for that sector to 5.4bn.
I think that is a very good shift.

It is a reaction to all these issues.

We have to take care of the issue of Gender and the Disabled.

But let me also add that we have been saying previously that the issues of Women and Youths are cross-cutting issues.

The monies spent at the universities are mostly for the youths who comprised the men and women of this society.

We are now paying for NPSE, BECE and WASCE 51 candidates.

We have just released the sum of Le600, 000,000 for NPSC and BECE.
This kind of figures will not appear in the budget of the Social Welfare.

These expenditures go to the disabled and the disadvantaged.

There is more to the budget than we think.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, in the case of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, a total 7.5% of the Budget went to that sector.

We have increased that to 10% this year.

And as I said, by 2015, we are going to increase it to 15% so that we can sit here with some degree of security, peace and calmness.
That is because we are spending 22.6 percent of the budget on Security.

That is a significant amount.

We are spending 28.7% on the Education and Health sectors.

On the Economic sectors (Agriculture, Transport and Industry), we have allocated 14.4%.

But it is not all that rosy.

There are emerging issues we will be grappling with next year.

Again, let just give you a gist of them.

They are already on-going.

Immediately we laid this Budget, the strikes were going on in the universities.
Therefore, we have to think of increasing subventions to the universities.

We are currently preparing their Budget.

There is a new Committee known as the Committee of Ten in the UN African Committee Conference.

It is a foreign affairs business.

This was not in the budget.

These are the new developments that are going to impact on the Budget.

When the Cabinet was finally announced, new Ministries emerged.

These Ministries were not originally in the Budget.
Even when they were divided as in the case of the Ministry of Energy, a new Ministry known as the Ministry of Water Resources emerged.

We just have to allocate funds for those new Ministries.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, throughout these Budget discussions, references have been made, especially this Report for supplementary Budget.

I can explain one which I know well.

Let us take Fire Force as example.


Because of the spate of fire incidences all over Freetown, a strong case was made to procure an additional fire engine.

I think most of you know about that.

So, we just have to accede.

And in acceding to that, we should also know that that was not budgeted for at the early stage.

This is the extra Budgetary explanation.

Therefore, most of those things you see in the Budget are alleged to have been Supplementary Budget, they are not Supplementary Budget at all.
These are payments to address an emerging issue that 52 was not initially budgeted for.

I am happy we have already told you what is beginning to emerge.

We are going to spend more on the colleges this year.

Salaries had gone up.

These are negotiations that were done which we were not aware of.

Now, we have to address them accordingly.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to look at the issue of late Allocation of funds.

It is not true at all Mr Chairman.

Allocations are made on a quarterly basis.


The Allocation list for the 1st and 2nd Quarters has just been released.

It is up to the MDAs to take measures to put their programmes together and re-claim the monies from the Treasury.

But as the Deputy Leader of this Honourable House has already said, most of these MDAs do not have the absorptive capacity at all.

Some of their plans are usually not realistic.


Therefore, they just come in the end and begin to complain here that they are deprived of their moneys.

As an Accountant and a Businessman, I have to balance my account so that by December, I will just wrap up.

I have to draw a cut-off line that any transaction after this will go into the following year.

So, if throughout January to November 15 you don‟t make your claim, something is wrong.

We need to understand all of these things.


Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, there were a few comments which were made by Honourable Members.

I have already reacted to some of them.

Honourable Sho Sawyerr talked about the Allocations.

He also talked about the Monitoring.

We have to know that running the business of Government, we have the IFMIS, Internal Audit and External Audit Systems.

Apart from that, the IFMIS System has introduced what we call Pet Form One and Pet Form Two.
Pet Form One is for overall release of money.

Pet Form Two is for specific release.

I have Pet Form Two before me here from the Ministry of Works.

What I want to tell you is that, I want you to know who signs under here?

It is signed by the Programme Manager.

I won‟t want to call names.

He is the man who controls the Project.

It is signed by the Professional Head of the Ministry, otherwise known as the Vote Controller, or invariably the Permanent Secretary and finally, by the Minister.
So, tell me, if it comes to the Ministry of Finance, what do we do?

What authority is there left?

Yet when you examine these things you begin to see problems in 53 them.

I believe it is a Sierra Leone problem.

We all need to start looking at that in a proper shape and form Mr Chairman.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, Honourable Ibrahim Kamara talked about how the Allocations are done.

I think I have already told you how the Allocations are done.

There is a Budget on a quarterly bases.


But this time we are going to do it on half- yearly basis wherein an amount is going to be released like the Budget.

What is released to you is written and is up to you to claim it.

They just can‟t hand it over to you because you had a plan.

It is for you to go now to your Work Plan and begin to implement it.

That is how you can claim your Allocation Mr Chairman.

You also made the point for the provision of incentives.
That point was endorsed by the Deputy Leader that Revenue Generating MDAs should be motivated.

Actually, we are already working on that.

We are beginning to allow them to keep small amount of their moneys to help them take care of their Ministries.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, in the case of MOFED spending on behalf of MDAs, it is the Supplementary Expenditure.

We don‟t spend on behalf of them at all.

We have a budget which we control.


When you come with un-budgeted item that is where it is taken from.

It is the Ministry of Finance that control that Account Mr Chairman.

Again, the issue of the Revenue Appallete Board Issue came up.

I see Honourable Ibrahim Kamara was very emotional.

I am very thick skin because that is the only way to address them.

I continue to tell you that these people have a leadership problem.
I believe the sickly condition of the boss of that Board is causing a breakdown in the operations of the Revenue Appellate Board.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Honourable Paramount Chief talked about EPA.

We all know what the Environment is.

Again, I think I have already talked about what Honourable Gladys Gbappy Brima mentioned.

She was concerned about the figures.

Well, it takes depth effort to streamline these figures.

They will be streamlined.

My staff and their staff will get together.


They will streamline the figures.

We already talked about the cross-cutting issue.

54 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, Honourable Sheku Sannoh talked about Tourism.

Historically, Tourism is a private sector affair in every country.

Government‟s role is to create the enabling environment.

I don‟t know if Lumley Beach is in your Constituency.

But I can assure you that you have already seen the road construction that has already started.
There are massive road constructions in the Peninsular, Regent Road, etc.

You are one of the luckiest Honourable seated in this Well (Laughter).

Mr Chairman Sir, Honourable Members, I have had a good meeting with this House during these four days.

I really appreciate you people.

I really appreciate the comments that were raised.

I enjoyed the plethora of undertones.

That I admire.

It has been very fulfilling to me.


Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to thank you on behalf of the Minister of Finance and Economic Development who is out the country.

I also want to thank all of you on behalf of my other colleague Ministers, the Financial Secretary and staff of the Ministry.

My special thanks go to those gentleman seated in front of you Honourable Members.

They prepared those thick books you are seeing with them.

They spend nights in computing these figures.


At time they complained, argued and even fought.

If you go to their rooms, you will meet one sleeping on a paper and somebody else in another room is looking for that paper (Laughter).

With those appreciations Mr Chairman...- (Interruption).

MR CHAIRMAN: Mr Minister because of the inconsistencies in the figures presented.

I want you to read again.
MR MOMODU KARGBO: Mr Chairman Sir, Honourable Members I move that the Vote Heads and Sub Heads to be read as follows: 201-00 Ministry of Defence - 65,298,700,000; 305-00 Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children‟s Affairs – 5bn, 420m; 133-00 Ministry of Information & Communication – 1bn 460m; 405-00 Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs (Tourism Division) - 840m; 55 303-00 Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs (Cultural Division) - 980m; 407-00 Ministry of Labour and Social Security – 1bn 940m; 345-00 Pharmacy Board 1bn 950m; 142-00 National Public Procurement Authority – 1bn 800m; 110-11 Political Parties Registration Commission– 420m; 110-08 Office of the Ombudsman - 400m; 144-00 National Commission for Human Rights - 960m; 110-18 Corporate Affairs Commission - 180m; 133-03 Attitudinal and Behavioural Change - 440m; 117-00 skip 133-04 Government‟s Spokesman - 200m; 208-00 National Fire Authority 5bn 140m; and 420-00 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 700m; DIRECT TRANSFERS TO LOCAL COUNCILS - SUB HEADS 701 - 01 (a) Tonkolili District Council - 3bn 644m, 863, 428; (b) Koindadugu District Council - 3bn 699m 570,603; (c) Kailahun District Council - 3bn 267m 400 826; (d) Bonthe District Council - 1bn 209m 300, 567; and (e) Bonthe Municipal Council - 782m 194,369.
MR MOMODU KARGBO: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I move that the Vote Heads and the Sub-Heads and the amounts thereto that have just read stand part of the Schedule.

(Question Proposed, Put and Agreed to) The Vote Heads and Sub-heads form part of the Schedule 56 HON.
BLISS OSHO-WILLIAMS: Mr Chairman, as Deputy Chairman of Sub Committee 1 who was responsible to interview the Maintenance Road Authority, I would now like to move a Motion, following what have been received in a form of supporting documents that the amount for the Road Maintenance Fund be released, pending any future investigation by the Finance, Transparency and Works Committee.

MR CHAIRMAN: Any seconder to that motion?

HON.

J.

B. MANSARAY: Mr Chairman I second that motion.


MR CHAIRMAN: Any counter motion?

(Question Proposed, Put and Agreed to) The House resumes.

MR MOMODU KARGBO: Mr Speaker Sir, Honourable Members, I am to report that the Appropriation Act 2013 being an Act to authorise Expenditure for the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the Services of Sierra Leone for the Year 2013.
Having gone through the Committee of the whole House, I hereby move that it be read the third time and passed into Law except for Vote Heads 1400 Mass Media Services and Vote Head 11700 Cabinet Secretariat.

I thank you.

(Question Proposed, Put and Agreed to) The Bill entitled Appropriation Act, 2013, being an Act to authorise expenditure from the Consolidated Fund for the services of Sierra Leone for the Year 2013 has been read the third time and passed into Law (Applause).
57 (The House rose at 1.40 p.m. and was adjourned until Thursday, 11th April, 2013, at ADJOURNMENTS 10.00 a.m.) 58