Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698835712350.pdf (Sierra Leone)
OAU DRIVE, TOWER HILL, FREETOWN P A R L I A M E N T A R Y D E B A T E S ____ (HANSARD) ______________ OFFICIAL HANSARD REPORT SECOND SESSION-SECOND MEETING THURSDAY, 8TH MAY, 2014 SESSION 2013/2014 1 OAU DRIVE, TOWER HILL, FREETOWN P A R L I A M E N T A R Y D E B A T E S ____ (HANSARD) ______________ OFFICIAL HANSARD REPORT VOLUME: II NUMBER: 23 Second Meeting of the Second Session of the Fourth Parliament Of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone.
Proceedings of the Sitting of the House Held on Thursday, 8th May, 2014.

_____________________________________ 2 CONTENTS I. PRAYERS II.

RECORD OF VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS FOR TUESDAY 6TH MAY, 2014 III.
GOVERNMENT MOTION: THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BE IT RESOLVED: THAT THIS HONOURABLE HOUSE RATIFY THE FOLLOWING AGREEMENTS WHICH WERE LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE HOUSE ON TUESDAY 6TH MAY, 2014; (a) (b) FINANCING AGREEMENT (SOCIAL SAFETY NET PROJECT) BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE AND THE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION, DATED 14TH APRIL, 2014; AND FINANCING AGREEMENT (SIXTH GOVERNANCE REFORM AND GROWTH DEVELOPMENT POLICY FINANCING) BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION, DATED 24TH APRIL, 2014.
3 THE CHAMBER OF PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE Official Hansard Report of the Proceedings of the House _____________________________________________________________ SECOND SESSION-SECOND MEETING OF THE FOURTH PARLIAMENT OF THE SECOND REPUBLIC _____________________________ Thursday, 8th May, 2014.

The House met at 10:10 a.m. in Parliament Building, Tower Hill, Freetown.

I. PRAYERS [The Clerk of Parliament, Hon.

Ibrahim S. Sesay, Read the Prayers].

[The Deputy Speaker, Hon.


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

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

5(2)] II.

CORRECTION OF VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS FOR THE SITTING HELD ON TUESDAY, 6TH MAY, 2014 COMMUNICATION FROM THE CHAIR THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, we go through the record of Votes and Proceedings for Tuesday, 6th May, 2014.

As usual, we go through it page by page.

Page 1?

Page 2?

Page 3?

Page 4?

Page 5?

Page 6?

Page 7?

Page 8?

Page 9?


There being no amendment, can someone move that the record of Votes and Proceedings for Tuesday, 6th May, 2014 be adopted as amended?

HON ROSALINE J. SMITH: Mr Speaker, I so move.

THE SPEAKER: Any seconder?

HON.

SENESIE FAWUNDU: I so second Mr Speaker.

(Record of Votes and Proceedings for Tuesday, 6th May, 2014 was unanimously adopted (Question Proposed, Put and Agreed to) III.
GOVERNMENT MOTION THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT as presented MR FODAY B. M. MANSARAY (Deputy Minister of State, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development): Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, be it resolved that this Honourable House ratify the following agreement which were laid on the table of the House on Tuesday, 6th May, 2014.

(a) Financing Agreement (Social Safety Net Project) between the Republic of Sierra Leone and the International Development Association, dated 14th April, 2014.
5 (b) Financing Agreement Sixth Government reform and Growth Development Policy Financing between the Republic of Sierra Leone and the International Development Association, dated 24th April, 2014.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to first of all look at the “Financing Agreement Social Safety net Project between the Republic of Sierra Leone and the International Development Association, dated 14th April, 2014.” The objective of this Agreement is to establish the key building blocks for basic national safety net system and to provide income support to extremely poor households in Sierra Leone.
Mr Speaker, Part one of this Project deals with the development of systems for implementation of social safety net interventions.

Under this component, key building blocks of a basic national safety net system will be established.
It is made up of the following components: (a) to design or develop tools for a pre-stage, targeting system which consists of: (i) Geographical areas below the district level; (ii) Community based identification of potentially eligible households; and (iii) Verification of households’ eligibility and testing.
(b) Developing and maintaining a registry of beneficiaries (c) Developing and implementing an integrated management information system, including the supply and installation of appropriate information and communications technology, hardware, software, internet connectivity, local area networks and mobile technology support; (d) Identification of a payment system; and (e) designing and implementing appropriate grievance request mechanisms on anti- corruption measures.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, part two of the Project consists of cash transfers to extremely poor households which entails the piloting of the cash transfer programme designed to provide income support to the beneficiaries.

Mr Speaker, part three is the Project management and capacity building aspect.
This entails the strengthening of the capacity of NaCSA, which is going to be the implementing agency for the day-to-day 6 coordination, implementation and management, including judicial aspect, carrying out audit exercises, designing, implementing and information education and communication strategy.

It will also look at reporting system and offering the provision of technical advisory services, trainings, operating costs, consulting services and acquisition of goods for the purpose.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the technical and management capacities of sectorial ministries, institutions, agencies and local councils for the coordination of a national safety net intervention through the provision of technical advisory services, training, operating cost, consulting services and acquisition of goods for the purpose.

Mr Speaker, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms in the sector will involve: i. ii.

iii.
iii.

regular monitoring activities including field trips; external assessments, including process evaluations and targeting assessments; and carrying out impact evaluation exercise.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, giving the importance of this programme in terms of catering for the needs of the youth, especially women, I therefore move that you ratify this Agreement between the Government of Sierra Leone and the IDA on the Social Safety Net which was signed on the 24th April, 2014 and later laid on the Table of this Honourable House on Tuesday, 5th May, 2014.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the next financing Agreement is the Sixth Governance and Growth Development Policy, Financing between the Government of Sierra Leone and IDA.

Honourable Members may recalled that on the 24th December, 2013, this Honourable House ratified a Concessional Loan Agreement in respect of the Governance and Growth Development Policy between the Government of Sierra Leone and the International Development Association.
I am happy to inform Honourable Members that the said loan has now been converted into a Grant by the Executive Board of the World Bank.

The total amount of Grant is £16,300,000 (sixteen million, three hundred thousand pounds), which is equivalent to 25 million United States 7 dollars.
The Grant is meant to finance government’s governance reform programme, as well as to support the implementation of government’s ‘Agenda for Prosperity.’ The amount will be paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund in trenches and will help to offset the increased cost to the budget necessitated by government’s infrastructural development programmes and other activities.
The aims of the programme are: 1. to preserve and expand the fiscal space needed for poverty reduction or protecting poverty reduction spreading viruses; 2. to reinforce the linkage between resource allocation and objectives of growth and poverty reduction through strengthening fiscal discipline and the pursuit of procurement reforms, as well as improving the institutional setup for public sector reforms; 3. to strengthen domestic resource mobilisation and management through reforms in tax administration, improved governance and increased transparency; and 4. to improve the opportunities for Private Sector Development by ensuring increased provision of electricity and greater access to electricity services by the population.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the conditions for the effectiveness of the Grant are: (i) Cabinet or Presidential approval.

It might interest you to know that on 3rd May, 2014, this Grant was approved by His Excellency the President, Dr Ernest Bai Koroma; (ii) parliamentary ratification is the next condition; and this is what we are about to do now; and (iii) issuance of a legal opinion of the Grant by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, giving the importance of this programme in terms of meeting government’s prioritised expenditures and the limited time available for the programme to become effective, I therefore crave the indulgence of this Honourable 8 House to ratify the following Agreements which were laid on the Table of the House on Tuesday, 6th May, 2014.
(a) Financing Agreement Social Safety Net Project between the Republic of Sierra Leone and the International Development Association, dated 14th April, 2014; and (b) Financing Agreement Sixth Government Reform and Growth Development Policy Financing between the Republic of Sierra Leone and the International Development Association, dated 24th April, 2014.

(Question Proposed) HON.

HASSAN B.

SHERIFF: Thank you very much Mr Speaker.


Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I stand before you today to make a very brief contribution on the two Agreements before us.

On the area of good governance, for any government to succeed, you have to get some policies or parameters in place.

I believe that is what the government of Sierra Leone has been doing for the last six years.

I believe the structures are there to implement these Projects.
The only thing we need as a nation is the financing of these structures in order to operate accordingly.

We are concerned and the International Community is also concerned about good governance, transparency and accountability.

Good governance bothers on accountability and transparency and I believe with this Grant Agreement, we cannot get anything better than this.
It is a welcome idea and I think it is also timely for this government to receive the type of help we are getting from the International Community.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I must also extend my sincere thanks on behalf of my colleagues and my constituency to the President of this country for signing this Grant Agreement.

The government has fought very hard in terms of converting the Loan into Grant.
For the past six years, I think this is the first time we have had a Loan Agreement being converted into Grant.

The government must have done a very good job.

I believe both the Executive and Parliament have done well.

I am including 9 Parliament because Parliament has to ratify all Loans and Grants before they are implemented.

I want to urge all of us to ratify this Agreement.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, on the issue of safety net, this is no news to us.
You all know that NaCSA has been doing a very good job in terms of taking care of the aged and disabled around the country.

I know that they are doing a very good job and we must continue to support by providing them with the necessary logistics to enable them carry out their functions effectively.

With these few words Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I ask that we ratify this Agreement as soon as possible.

I thank you all.

HON.

J.

B. MANSARAY: Thank you Mr Speaker.


Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to lend my voice to the ratification of these Agreements before us this morning.

We are here today to ratify another Loan and Grant Agreements.

The Loan Agreement has to do with what is known as the Safety Net for poor people in the villages.
I want to kindly ask the Committee on Finance and the Ministry of Finance to understand that much money will be spent on the methodology or the transfer and training of staff of the Commission and other agencies.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I would want each and every one of us, being the representatives of people in this House to understand that when you talk about poverty, if you move just above two or three miles off Freetown.

You would see poverty in the faces of people.


My concern is that how are we going to determine who is poor and who is not.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, we are equally going to look at the aged and some youths.

This is because they are very poor.

How are we going to determine the age bracket?

We now have a Loan that is going to be paid from the tax payers’ money in due course.

If we are going to look at that we have to be sincere about the payment of this particular Loan to the aged.
It is not going to be a Northern affair (Undertone).

It is going to affect the country as a whole.

So, we have to take it very seriously.

The issue 10 of paying safety net to the aged in Sierra Leone started many years before even the APC came to power.

NaCSA has been in existence for a very long time.

We have to ensure that these funds are judiciously utilised.

Mr Speaker, we are talking of trainings.

But I want to say here that these funds should not be directed alone to trainings.
We have to sure that we help those in the villages.

Let them feel as if they have a government that cares for them.

This is not about one part of the country.

It is about the whole country.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to crave the indulgence of the Ministry of Finance and the staff of NaCSA to understand that the total aspect of this money shall not be spent only in buying stationery or sending people from place to place for trainings.
I want to kindly ask that these moneys reach those that have been branded as the poorest in this country.

Honestly, it is difficult in Sierra Leone because the bulk of the expenditure will be on the shoulders of the Members of Parliament.

Any time we go to our constituencies, we either attend funerals or they take us to people who are sick in hospitals.

We are also forced to pay school fees and many other things for our constituents.
If we are given this Grant today by another nation to help Sierra Leone achieves the ‘Agenda for Prosperity,’ we have to ensure that the funds are used prudently.

I want the parliamentary Committees concerned to monitor the implementation of these Projects.

Let them monitor closely the agencies that will be implementing these Projects.

Let Committees perform their Oversight functions in terms of ensuring that the Projects benefit the targeted groups.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to say thanks to the President for appending his signature for the benefit of the people of this nation.

Mr Speaker, part of these funds are going to be directed towards the electrification of this nation.

What is worrisome is the fact that we always talk about electricity in this country, but we have not realised any benefit as far as electrifying this country is concerned.

A huge amount of the money of this nation has gone into electricity.
The issue of electricity in this country is nothing to write home about.

The very President is disappointed in the 11 management of electricity of this nation.

He is disappointed at those he contracted to manage the electricity in this country.

I am disappointed and most of you are disappointed as well, unless you want to be a sycophant or a bootlicker.

THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, do not allow the Honourable Member to cry.

HON.

J.
HON.

J.

B. MANSARAY: Mr Speaker, the President, in his wisdom sacked Ministers, their Deputies and Directors in the Ministry of Energy.

This means that he is not satisfied with the management of the funds meant for the electrification of this country.

It has happened twice and it is likely to happen again… - (Interruption).

THE SPEAKER: Honourable Member, please try to wrap up.

HON.

J.
HON.

J.

B. MANSARAY: Mr Speaker, the Majority Chief Whip was here the other day lamenting that the solar lights have not been provided for his constituency, especially Waterloo.

But when I want to talk about electricity, he is trying to condemn my opinion.

My dear brother, that is not good for this nation.

I want this fund (in as much as we are going to use an aspect of it for the electrification for this country), let it be wisely done and for the good of all Sierra Leoneans.
I thank you very much Mr Speaker.

HON.

PATRICK LAHAI KARGBO: Thank you Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I think this is a welcome idea, especially the Agreement relating to Social Safety Network Project.

While we stand here talking, we must refer to our days as school boys or girls whilst we were in the village.

We struggled very hard to get education.

Today, we are here talking about the aged and disabled.
We want to appreciate the government, especially the President for taking this move in terms of assisting the aged through NaCSA.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to urge the Chairman of NaCSA Commission, Honourable Legacy Sankoh to be very vigilant in his office.

He has to make sure that the funds are directed towards the purpose for which they are meant for.

He should also make sure that the target groups receive what they are supposed to get.

My 12 colleague from Bo spoke lengthily about it.


It is very necessary Mr Speaker.

As we support the government in terms of assisting those in the villages, Members of Parliament should be vigilant in making sure that the correct thing is done to our people.

We should not only visit our people during elections.

Government has thought it fit to assist our people in ensuring that their needs are met.

If we do this as Members of Parliament, our people will feel as being part of society.
It is a good decision and it is our responsibility to make sure that things are done at the right time.

As my colleague was saying, I want to allay his fears that the head of NaCSA is a hardworking man.

He has a very good team he is working with.

I want to assure my colleague from Bo, Koribondo to be specific that the Commission will do its utmost to ensure that the allocation made for the aged and the disabled meet them at the right time.

I believe he will do his work effectively and efficiently.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, when we talk about poverty (for those of us coming from the villages), we know how our people are suffering there.

Now, the government has thought it necessary to think of those who have no other means of getting money.

The government has gone the extra mile to secure a Grant Agreement so that they too will feel considered in this country.

Mr Speaker, I therefore urge my colleagues to expedite this Loan Agreement.

HON.
HON.

DR BERNADETTE LAHAI (Minority Leader of the House): Mr Speaker, Honourable Members… - (Interruption).

THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members on my right, when a Commander speaks, you must listen.

HON.

DR BERNADETTE LAHAI: Thank you Mr Speaker.

Honourable Members, I stand to lend my voice to the two Agreements before us this morning.

Of course, the first Agreement, according to the Order Paper has been transformed or converted from Loan to Grant.

This is not a new Agreement to us at all.


It has once appeared before us in the form of Loan.

But we thank God that the same Agreement is before us today in 13 the form of Grant.

Therefore, we do not need to dwell much on it but to extend our appreciation for the effort made to transform this Loan into a Grant.

We hope that all the issues that we discussed during the ratification of this Loan Agreement will still be important issues that the implementing Ministry will adhere to.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the second Agreement that has to do with Social Safety Net Project is also a Grant.

What is important about this Agreement is that it is going to strengthen the mechanisms needed for the safety net.

But most importantly, it is also going to make sure that it is going to support income households that are extremely poor.

That is a very good idea.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) was founded on a very strong information system.
There was a poverty research system; and based on that, we were able to track our PRSP One (1) and also PRSP Two (2), which is the ‘Agenda for Change.’ Today, we are talking about the PRSP Three (3), which is the ‘Agenda for Prosperity.’ My caution here is that when we were doing the reparation to pay the war victims such as the amputees, the women that were raped, the widows, the child soldiers etc., one of the concerns raised by the women is that the group that went all over this country to interview people as a way of determining their qualification for this reparation was imbalanced.
It was imbalance because when you interviewed a woman to ascertain that she was indeed raped, most women failed to come out because of the fear of the stigmatisation.

But this programme is going to ensure that a National Social Protection Inter Agency Forum is set up for that purpose.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, we only hope that the forum is going to be set up in such a way that we will have more women on that forum that will go round this country, putting systems in place, interview households or community.

We want the target groups that have been identified by this Project benefit.

We have to ensure that more women are included on that forum so that they will also make sure that the conditions under which these interviews are taking place are met.
If we do this, we will achieve the goals of this Project.

The parameters under which this Project is set up will 14 ensure gender sensitivity.

It will be sensitive to the youths and even the disabled.

I am saying this because if you look at the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) report, it captures exactly areas that we have extreme poverty in this country.

The report spells out which sectors of the population experience extreme poverty, which districts, which communities and which chiefdoms.
The surveys have been done for quite some time now.

We do not know whether we have the current statistics to show us currently as we have implemented the programmes from PRSP One (1), PRSP Two (2) and now, the implementation of PRSP Three (3).

Mr Speaker, with a lot of recovery programmes, we have embarked on finding out whether those statistics are currently relevant as they were when the Poverty Research was done before the drafting of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I think it is very important to get recent data.

If we do not have an up-to-date data, I do not know whether the current Demographic Health Statistics Survey that has been conducted captured poverty indices.

If not, then, we have to make sure that we actually generate current data so that we capture the true and representative communities and people that fall within the categories of extreme poverty.

When we talk of poverty, it consists of different levels.
Poverty in terms of education, food security, income, health services etc.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, before I wrap up, I want to suggest that in order to raise the living standard of people in this country, we have to also factor into this programme sustainability.

Sustainability is going to be very important because to move these people from extreme poverty to a stratum wherein they are no longer poor, we have to include sustainable mechanisms.
Sustainability will ensure that people are not only given income to buy rice, but they will be able to transform whatever income given to them to transform their lives.

That means we should also give them entrepreneurial skills to enable them better their lives and those of their families.

Otherwise, in the absence of any other thing, I think this is a very good Agreement.

We need to do everything possible to move this current population to where it is supposed to be.
I 15 want to thank the Minister of Finance for bringing this Agreement; and I hope that we would use these funds judiciously.

I thank you very much.

HON.

IBRAHIM R. BUNDU (Majority Leader of the House and Leader of Government Business): Thank you Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to join my colleague to comment on these two Agreements.

I want to start by supporting Honourable J.

B. Mansaray about the challenges we have in the electricity sector in this country.
The Honourable Member was correct.

We have a very serious challenge in terms of electricity supply in this country.

But amidst those challenges, there are successes.

Moving from seven Megawatts to 70 Megawatts is a very big progress (Applause).

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, we have two Agreements before us.

Both Agreements are grants.


Because of the steadfastness and commitment of this government to address the issues that are affecting the livelihood of this country, the initial Loan Agreement is now being converted to a Grant to give budget support to this government.

The donors have the full confidence of this government.

Therefore, I say kudos to the donors.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, we are addressing the Social Safety group in this country.
It is a very vulnerable group and I want to include here the pensioners as well.

I was listening to one of the radio stations this morning when a pensioner was crying after 41 years of service, a former employee of the Ministry of Works.

After 41 years of service on a monthly basis, he is receiving Le15, 000.

Are we expecting him to survive with Le 15,000?

So, when we are addressing people under the social safety net, let us also consider other vulnerable groups like the pensioners.
This brings me to the idea of thanking NaCSA for their presence.

This is what we have been telling Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

If you come and listen to contributions of the representatives of the people of this country, you will be in an informed position to know what you are supposed to do with the monies we allocate to you.

But some of them thought Parliament is not a place for them to attend parliamentary proceedings.
16 If Parliament approved your nomination and also approved the budget you are now implementing, why are you not here to listen to our comments and queries?

Our comments will enable you implement your plans.


Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I have consulted the Commissioner of NaCSA, Mr Conton Sesay, who is here and I have asked him through the NaCSA Committee to reach out to the rest of the Members of Parliament on a preliminary discussion before the implementation exercise starts so that our new Members of Parliament benefit.

I am saying this because some of you might not know the actual definition of the social safety net.
So, I will request the NaCSA Committee to contact the Commissioner, so that we have an implementation plan that will enable us know how our people are going to benefit.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the budget support is very key for us.

Fortunately, we have the representatives from the Ministry of Finance who are the implementers are here with us.

This money is going to be paid into the Consolidated Fund and they will use it to address the various issues identified in this Agreement.
What we need to do, through the Committee on Finance, is to monitor this Project.

We have been approving Agreements in this Parliament, but we do not monitor to know how these Agreements have been implemented.

Henceforth, if an Agreement is ratified, we are going to hold the Committee responsible for the monitoring and implementation of that Agreement to account.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, what is being done here is for the benefit of the people who voted us to represent them in this House.
If we monitor the implementation of these Agreements, the electorate will also review our mandate to continue representing them after every five years.

If we do not monitor some of these Permanent Secretaries, we will not achieve our goals.

They are called Permanent Secretaries because they are permanently there.

They have been there before we became Members of Parliament and some of them are going to continue to be there.
Ministers, Members of Parliament and Councilors come and go, but Permanent 17 Secretaries continue to manage their offices.

Therefore, let us all put our efforts together to monitor the implementation of these programmes.

If we fail to do our Oversight functions, the people will not be happy with us.

They know our phone numbers and even our home addresses.

If they do not meet you at home, they will come to Parliament.

They will not go to those responsible to implement the Projects at all.
The only way we will have a very good reward and information to take to our people is to be very mindful of our Oversight responsibilities.

On that note, I want to join colleagues that we ratify these Agreements.

I thank you very much.

THE SPEAKER: Mr Minister, would you like to comment on some of the issues raised?

MR FODAY MANSARAY: Mr Speaker, I want to thank Honourable Members for their robustness in supporting these two Agreements.
Correction has been made that one of Agreements is not a Loan but a Grant.

Both of them are Grants.

Secondly Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to endorse what the Majority Leader has said.

Nothing stops the relevant parliamentary Committee of the House to monitor how NaCSA Committee implements the disbursement of these funds.

In fact, I want to encourage you to monitor the disbursement of the funds because all of us are affected we all have people that are poor.
Thirdly Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to comment on the point raised by the Honourable Minority Leader concerning the poverty profile.

An important study was undertaken by Statistics Sierra Leone which was recently validated and is highly acclaimed.

I will go there and contact the Statistician-General to provide copies of that report.

It is reader friendly and informative.

It tells you exactly the districts that are the poorest as well as the chiefdoms.
It deals with the poverty profile of Sierra Leone and it is very important for all of us to read it.

It has been acclaimed by our donor partners and it is a document that is widely used as we speak.

I do not know the financial status of Statistics Sierra Leone, but we will make some copies available to Members of Parliament.

18 Finally Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, even the Demographic Health Survey that was conducted sometime this year, it has been finalised.
That report also has useful information on poverty and health related issues.

I want to encourage Honourable Members to read it as well.

It is also informative and it tells you exactly how far we have progressed as a nation.

This is because of some of the programmes that have been put in place by His Excellency, the President, especially the Free Health Care Programme are contained in that report.
These have contributed a lot in evicting us from the last row of the ladder of poverty to somewhere more respectable.
With these clarifications Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, be it resolved that this Honourable House ratify the following Agreements which were laid on the Table of the House on Tuesday, 6th May, 2014: (a) Financing Agreement Social Safety Project between the Republic of Sierra Leone and the International Development Association, dated 14th April, 2014; and (b) Financing Agreement Sixth Government Reform and Growth Development Policy Financing between the Republic of Sierra Leone and the International Development Association, dated 24th April 2014.
I thank you very much.

(Question Proposed, Put and Agreed to) (Government Motion by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development has been ratified).

THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, there was an issue on Tuesday, regarding the playing of a particular tape in this House.

I remembered vividly referring the matter to the Committee on Privileges.

But it seems as if it was not too clear as the Chairman of that Committee has been approaching me since that day.
But I even asked the Majority Leader who brought the issue to follow-up with the Committee.

But I will still repeat what I said on that day.

I said that the matter was referred to the Committee on Privileges.

I referred specifically to Standing Orders 70(11) and Section 99 (2) of the 19 1991 Constitution.

I will at this stage again ask that the Majority Leader who brought the issue up makes follow-up with the Committee on Privileges an Ethics.

That was my ruling on that day.


(The House rose at 11.00 a.m. and was adjourned until Tuesday, 13th May, ADJOURNMENT 2014, at 10.00 a.m.) 20