Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698080420869.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 THIRD SESSION –SECOND MEETING THURSDAY, 25TH MARCH, 2021 SESSION – 2020/2021 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: I NUMBER: 41 Second Meeting of the Third Session of the Fifth Parliament of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone.
Proceedings of the Sitting of the House Held Thursday, 25th March, 2021.

2 CONTENTS I. PRAYERS II.

RECORD OF VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS FOR THE PARLIAMENTARY SITTING HELD ON THURSDAY 18TH MARCH,2021 III.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY MR SPEAKER IV.

LAYING OF PAPER: - THE ATTORNEY GENERAL AND MINISTER OF JUSTICE G-BLOCKS 96,97, 114, 115, 116, 117, 133, 134 AND 135.

INNOSON OIL AND GAS [SL] LTD, PETROLEUM LICENSE NO.
001/20 V. GOVERNMENT MOTION: - THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND AVIATION BE IT RESOLVED : THAT THE HONOURABLE HOUSE HEREBY RATIFIES THE FOLLOWING AGREEMENTS WHICH WERE LAIN ON THE TABLE OF THE HOUSE ON THURSDAY 18TH MARCH,2021: [i] AGREEMENT CARGO TRACKING NOTE SYSTEM BY AND AMONG SIERRA LEONE PORTS AUTHORITY [SLPA] AND THE GOVERNMENT OF SIERRA LEONE; REPRESENTED BY THE MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT AND AVIATION [GOSL] AND NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR PRIVATIZATION [NCP] AND LOGISTICS, SOLUTION AND SERVICES [SL]LTD [THE CONTRACTOR], DATED 4TH DAY OF FEBRUARY,2021 [ii] FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE CARGO TRACKING NOTE SYSTEM BY AND AMONG SIERRA LEONE PORTS AUTHORITY [SLPA] AND THE GOVERNMENT OF SIERRA LEONE; REPRESENTED BY THE MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT AND AVIATION [GOSL] AND NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR PRIVATIZATION [NCP] AND LOGISTICS, SOLUTION AND SERVICES [SL]LTD [THE CONTRACTOR], DATED 25TH DAY OF FEBRUARY,2021 3 THE CHAMBER OF PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE Official Hansard Report of the Proceedings of the House _____________________________________________________________ THIRD SESSION – SECOND MEETING OF THE FIFTH PARLIAMENT OF THE SECOND REPUBLIC _____________________________ Thursday, 25th March, 2021.
I. PRAYERS: [The Table Clerk, Mrs Tangella M.C Sam, Read the Prayers] [The House met at 10:45a.m.

in Parliament Building, Tower Hill, Freetown] [The Deputy Speaker, Hon.

Segepoh Solomon Thomas in the Chair] The House was called to Order 4 Suspension of S. O.

5[2] CORRECTION OF II.

PARLIAMENTARY SITTING HELD ON THURSDAY, 18TH MARCH, 2021: PROCEEDINGS VOTES AND FOR THE THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, Record of Votes and Proceedings.

As usual, we skip from Page 1 to 4 and start to with Page 5.
Page 5?, Page 6?, Page 7?, Page 8?, Page 9?, Page 10?.

Can someone move for the adoption of the record of Votes and proceedings for Thursday, 18th March, 2021?

HON.

MAADA LEBBIE: I so move, Mr Speaker.

THE SPEAKER: Any seconder?

HON JOSEPH W. LAMIN: I so second, Mr Speaker [QUESTION PROPOSED, PUT AND AGREED TO] RECORDS OF VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS FOR THURSDAY 18TH MARCH 2021 HAS BEEN ADOPTED III.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY MR SPEAKER: THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, you are aware that I have made several Orders.
Amongst them are the following: 1.

For the investigation of the water pollution; this House is yet to receive a Report to that effect.

Is the Chairman of that Committee here; the Committee that was put together for the investigation of the water pollution!

As a House, our people, the citizenry of this nation must see us doing exactly what they elected us to do.

We cannot allow our people to suffer or be subjected to water pollution without taking the necessary steps.
That is all the more reason we put together that Committee.

We are yet to receive a report from that Committee.

Yes, are you a Member of the Committee?

HON.

DR MARK MAHMOUD KALOKOH: I am a Member Sir.

THE SPEAKER: Can you please address this House on the issue?

5 HON.

DR MARK MAHMOUD KALOKOH: Mr Speaker, thank you very much for starting with this very important issue.
The Committee went to the field and we gathered our findings, the Clerks together with some of us who were Team Leaders are now collating the Report and very soon, the Report will reach the attention of the Leadership of this House.

THE SPEAKER: Thank you very much, Honourable Member!

HON.

DR MARK MAHMOUD KALOKOH: Thank you.

THE SPEAKER: 2.
THE SPEAKER: 2.

A report on the Construction of buildings around bridges; We were supposed to get another Report relating to the construction of buildings around Bridges and that Committee is expected to be headed by the Deputy Leader of Government Business.

Do we have any other Member here that is a Member of that Committee that we put together for that investigation?

Is anybody here who is a Member of that Committee?

3.
3.

A Report on the Privileges and Ethics Committee on investigation of certain Members of Parliament I want to remind that Committee that that Report has not been brought to Parliament yet.

It seems it is becoming an eternity.

As Members of Parliament, it is our right when Committees are put together for reports of such Committees to be brought to the House for consideration.

We are not saying that when these reports are brought, whatever the Recommendations are in these reports would be final.
It is for this House to debate such report and necessary conclusions to be reached.

Otherwise, there will be no need putting these Committees together.

Is the Chairman of that Committee here?

I think the Chairman is supposed to be Honourable PC Sheriff; is he here?

HON.

MOHAMED BANGURA: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I am one of the Committee Members and we have submitted our Report long ago.

We have done our job as Committee over two months ago.

So I do not know why the Report is not here yet.


THE SPEAKER: Mr Leader, can you address us on that?

6 HON.

MATHEW S. NYUMA [Leader of the House and Government Business]: Thank you Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker, I know they presented a report to you.

Mr Speaker you even talked about one or two issues dealing with that Report.

So, we called on the substantive Chairman to discuss that issue.

we have told the Chairman to present it to the House.
Mr Speaker, as I speak, the Clerk of the Committee has brought the draft copy of the Report to my Office last week.

I have asked to take the Report to you Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker, tou need to call a meeting, so we can address that one.

I am happy you brought up the issue, because it has to do with our own internal regulations.

Mr Speaker, you have decided to look at one or two issues that have to do with the presentation of the charges levied against these Members.
We have settled on that and the Report will now be presented to the House at anytime from now.

HON.
LAHAI MARAH: Mr Speaker, in respect to the Leader of Government Business, I just want to draw the attention of the House to section 99 [2] of the Constitution that states, with you leave Mr Speaker, I read, “whenever in the opinion of the person presiding in Parliament, a statement made by a Member is prima facie defamatory of any person, the person presiding shall refer the matter for inquiry to the Committee of Privileges, which shall report its findings to Parliament not later than 30 days, the Thirty days of the matter being so referred’,” The 30 days is very important Mr Speaker…[interruption] THE SPEAKER: Not later than 30 days!
Please with all due respect Honourable Member, can you please read that provision again!

HON.
LAHAI MARAH: Mr Speaker, Section 99[2], ‘whenever in the opinion of the person presiding in Parliament a statement made by a Member is prima facie defamatory of any person, the person presiding shall refer the matter for inquiry to the Committee of Privileges which shall report its findings to Parliament not later than 30 days, the thirty days of the matter being so referred.” 7 THE SPEAKER: What I wanted to draw to your attention is that that provision is limited to happenings within the Well of Parliament.
If I am presiding and an Honourable Member gets up to make a statement and that statement is defamatory or not Parliamentary at all?

Let us be contextual.

That is why I told you to read that provision again.

HON.

LAHAI MARAH: Mr Speaker, you are right, but it has to do with exactly what occurred during that specific period in time.
The Speaker taking the decision to get that matter to the Privilege Committee was done in Parliament here and one of the Members that was supposed to be investigated had to do with defamatory conduct and that is the Honourable from Falaba.

So the 30 days clause is very important.

THE SPEAKER: It is alright that is all the more reason, I am insisting for these reports to be brought to Parliament in time.
Otherwise, several iegal issues will erupt and whatever decision that Committee takes cannot be effected.

If we proceed to effect such decisions, then we would have flouted our own laws.

As a House, we have to be extremely careful when we deal with some of these legal issues.

In any case, Mr Leader, take note of this one.

HON.

VINCENT HORACE E : Mr Speaker may I be haerd?

THE SPEAKER: Yes!

HON.

VINCENT E HORACE: Thank you Mr Speaker.


Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, regarding the issue you mentioned on people building around bridges.

Mr Speaker, I want to urge the Deputy Leader of Government Business who is the Chairman of that Committee to kindly work seriously on that issue.

As I speak Mr Speaker, such buildings are still going under construction and it is adversely destroying bridges.
Mr Speaker, the work around a particular Bridge is still going under construction and nothing is happening from our side in other to put a stop on those activities.

Mr Speaker, if we can get a way to give an injunction to stop that work until the investigations continue, it would be fine.

8 THE SPEAKER: I totally agree with you Honourable Member.

Deputy Leader, can you please address us?

HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE [Deputy Leader of the House and Government Business]: Thank you Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, we have started this discussion and we invited Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority (SLRSA), because building houses under bridges is dangerous and we are talking about road safety.

We called them here last week and we intend continuing the discussion.

It is a predated discussion, because we would be involving the Ministry of Lands, because the Ministry of Lands is also responsible to give out building permit and we have to involve the SLRA for the Road Safety.
We have started the discussion and very soon we will conclude, and bring the report to this House.

THE SPEAKER: What I want you to do Honourable Leader, is to invite the Ministry of Lands and the Police, when they come, you give them an order for a stop work, pending investigation.

HON BASHIRU SILIKIE: Mr Speaker, we need to visit the site as Parliament to ascertain the allegation.
THE SPEAKER: What I am saying, even before visiting the site, let all the parties stop whatever they are doing, pending investigation.

HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE: A very big thank you Mr Speaker.

THE SPEAKER: Let us proceed!

HON.

DR MARK MAHMOUD KALOKOH: Yes, Mr Speaker.

THE SPEAKER: Yes Honourable!

HON DR MARK MAHMOUD KALOKOH: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I rise on Sections 40[1] and 52[c] of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone.

You please listen attentively so that you follow my quotation.
THE SPEAKER: Is this Section 40?

HON DR MARK MAHMOUD KALOKOH: Mr Speaker…[interruption] 9 THE SPEAKER: Hold on, Honourable Member!

Are you referring to Section 40 subsection 1?

HON.

DR MARK MAHMOUD KALOKOH: Section 40, subsection 1 and section 52[c].

THE SPEAKER: Okay!

HON.

DR MARK MAHMOUD KALOKOH: Mr Speaker, you have now seen the section I referred to clearly.

THE SPEAKER: Is it 52 or 5[2]?

HON.

DR MARK MAHMOUD KALOKOH: I said Section 5, subsection [2c].

THE SPEAKER: Okay, proceed!

HON.


DR MARK MAHMOUD KALOKOH: Mr Speaker, Section 40[1] is very clear, as you might have seen it.

With your leave Mr Speaker, it states, ‘that there shall be a President of the Republic of Sierra Leone.” I want us to underscore the word Republic of Sierra Leone.

And Mr Speaker, when you go down to Section 5 subsection 2[c], you will see the clause which says, ‘the participation of the people in the governance of the State”.
Mr Speaker, I want us to underscore the word “the participation of the people in the Governance of the State.” But at the initial period of this 2021, it was eloquently sounded in this Well that going forward, things will no longer work as usual.

I am drawing the attention of this House to these sections and provisions, because the President is all ours.

but at any point in time our President wants to move to our various locations, Mr Speaker…[Interruption] HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE: Mr Speaker!

HON.


DR MARK MAHMOUD KALOKOH: Let me finish please!

HON.

BASHIRU SLILKIE: Mr Speaker!

THE SPEAKER: Please hold on Mr Leader.

Let us just, for the sake of it.

10 HON.

MATHEW S NYUMA: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, let me draw your attention to one thing very important to discuss.

Mr Speaker, we came here because we want to do our job as Honourable Members, but this environment is not conducive for our Sittings.
The toilets are not in proper working condition and the Building is under renovation.

So for me, he is making a very good point, but let him look out for the Provisions we have.

What we have for now is on the Order Paper.

I am not against what you want to raise, but let us go according to what we have on the Order Paper, if it pleases you!

THE SPEAKER: It is alright, let me listen to him.

HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE: Mr Speaker…[interruption] HON.

DR MARK MAHMOUD KALOKOH: Thank you Mr Speaker.


Mr Speaker…[interruption] THE SPEAKER: Hold on, he is raising a Point of Order.

HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE: Mr Speaker, I stand on S.O 14.

Mr Speaker, S.O 14 states exactly the arrangement of business.

What he said is very serious, so I would advise that we reserve it for other public business.
We have an Order Paper, which we should follow and bring that under S.O 14...[Interrupted] THE SPEAKER: Honourable Member, like I have indicated, I want to listen to him.

Let me hear you!

HON.

DR MARK MAHMOUD KALOKOH: Thank you Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker, I just want to make a quick correction.

THE SPEAKER: Proceed with what you want to say.

HON.

DR MARK MAHMOUD KALOKOH: Mr Speaker, I have citied the ground norm of this State.
Mr Speaker, the point I am making here is that the President of this State is for all of us and he should be our concern.

But Mr Speaker, at any point in time our President wants to go to our localities, the organisers would never inform us.

We should always be there to organise and receive our President.

11 THE SPEAKER: It is noted!

HON.


DR MARK MAHMOUD KALOKOH: It is the reason I raised that point, because the Attorney General is here; the Office of the Attorney General is here to take due note of this.

I thank you for your attention Mr Speaker.

THE SPEAKER: It is okay Honourable Member and thank you for contribution.

And I thank God that the Mr Attorney General is here.

HON.

DR MARK MAHMOUD KALOKOH: Mr Speaker, let me just complete.

As I am speaking…[interruption] HON.


MATHEW S NYUMA: Hold your peace Mr Speaker, as I said, we have items on the Agenda, but I said if it pleases you and you have done what you were supposed to do.

THE SPEAKER: Yes HON.

MATHEW S NYUMA: It is not only on the other side, but also our side THE SPEAKER: So you see, it is very important.

HON.
HON.

MATHEW S NYUMA: So that is the reason we should have taken our time to really exhaust this one, but noted, and I hope you will bring it under a specific provision which I will tell you.

For me, it is a very serious matter…[interruption] THE SPEAKER: Very serious and important!

HON.MATHEW S NYUMA: Mr Speaker, it will undermine the Authority of our Jurisdiction.

So Mr Speaker, I said if it pleases you!


But it undermines the Authority of our Jurisdiction for which we were voted for to represent our people.

So I just want to remind Mr Speaker that we are with you and I want to say this that it is not only today this has started.

It has started since day one.

So, it is a normal practice and we need to stop it Laughs].

So I just want us to proceed, so that we can see how best we can handle this situation.
THE SPEAKER: The Honourable Attorney General and Minister of Justice, I thank God you are here and I know you are a great listener and you will agree with me that that 12 particular point is very serious.

You know, as Honourable Members representing our people, it is but necessary that whenever the President goes to any of our constituencies, he should inform the Honourable Member of that particular constituency in other to make a better preparation for his arrival.
I am aware that the President normally has his delegation whenever he travels locally.

But the President should ensure that the Member of Parliament of that Constituency play host role to his visit.

It is extremely important Mr Speaker [Applause].

So as the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, we encourage you to advice the President accordingly; inform the President that it is necessary for him to include the Honourable Member of that constituency.
So I thank the Attorney General and Minister of Justice for making it into the Well of Parliament.

HON.

HASSAN A. SESAY: Mr Speaker, you have addressed that issue adequately and you cannot do any better.

As a result of what we have on the Order Paper, we will revisit that issue.

Why I am saying that is, there are certain issues which most be sorted out properly, particularly so because the President made his pronouncement in this Well that he is coming with the idea of inclusivity.
And if that is the case, some operatives do not seem to be carrying out what the President actually intends implementing.

That is why I am saying, we would come back to that issue and I am happy that the Leader of Government Business did agree that it is affecting us on both sides.

I have a very important one, but when I met the Minister responsible for Trade and the Permanent Secretary, their stories were different.

But we would discuss that when we come after the sitting.
THE SPEAKER: It is alright, Honourable.

You can proceed Honourable Member!

IV.

LAYING OF PAPER: THE ATTORNEY GENERAL AND MINISTER OF JUSTICE THE MINISTER: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I beg to lay on the Table of the House the following papers: - G-Blocks 96, 97, 115, 116, 117, 133, 134 and 135.

13 - INNOSON Oil and Gas [SL] Limited, Petroleum Licences No.

001/20 [Applause].

THE SPEAKER: Thank you Mr Attorney General and Minister of Justice.
I wish to recognise your presence, I also wish to recognise the presence of Dr Abdulai Fofanah, the General Manager of Sierra Leone Ports Authority.

I wish to recognise the Presence of Mr Yankuba Askia Bio, Deputy General Manager, Sierra Leone Ports Authority, Mr Aiah J. P. Lebbie, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Transport and Aviation, Mr Rex Bonapha, Deputy Minister of Transport and Aviation and Mr Linton O.R.D Jones, Parliamentary Council, you are all welcome to the House of Parliament.

Let us proceed!
Let us proceed!

V. GOVERNMENT MOTION: THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND AVIATION.

THE DEPUTY MINISTER (Mr Rex Bhonapha): Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, be it resolved that this Honourable House hereby ratifies the following Agreements which were laid on the Table of the House on Thursday, 18th March, 2021: 1.
Agreement Cargo Tracking Note System by and amongst Sierra Leone Ports Authority [SLPA] and the Government of Sierra Leone represented by the Ministry of Transport and Aviation [GOSL] and National Commission for Privatization [NCP] and Logistics Solution and Services Limited on the 4th day of February 2020.

2.
2.

Frist Amendment of the Cargo Tracking Note System by and among Sierra Lone Ports Authority [SLPA] and the Government of Sierra Leone represented by the Ministry of Transport and Aviation and National Commission for Privatization [NCP] and Logistics Solutions and Services Limited dated 25th day January 2021 Mr Speaker, with your permission, I want to ask Mr Yankuba to open the Phone for me.
Firstly, they added value on the platform and operation have significantly increased our operational cost beyond expectations.

This includes, granting three solutions to the price of: 1.

Giving an edge for the Sierra Leone Ports Authority [SLPA] and Customs to validate claims of Customs Duty and Tax on the report they are providing on monthly basis.

14 2.

Train fifty Customs Officers on fighting illicit trade, and the training has been done for all the Customs Officers nationwide and on regular basis.
3.

Due diligence on the evaluation of Goods and Containers claim risk assessment and matching each and every Container and both export and import with the information provided.

4.

Optimizing efficiency through automated real time Water Platform with twenty hours access to real time Data of all operation work flow.

5.

Through training of Customs and Ports Personnel and related stakeholders for Plat Four.

6.
6.

Facilitating the work flow by Trade Importers and Shippers to process the operations and transactions online within the twenty-four hours Contracting.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I know without doubt that you have gone through this document and as Sierra Leoneans, we are convinced beyond all reasonable doubt that this contract will bring immense benefit to the people of this country.

It is therefore my desire Mr Speaker, with your leave, to ask this Honourable House to ratify this document.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I therefore move that be it resolved that this Honourable House hereby ratifies the following Agreements which were laid on the Table of the House on Thursday, 18th March, 2021.

I thank you for the audience.

THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, the question is, be it resolved that this Honourable House hereby ratifies the following Agreements which were laid on the Table of the House on Thursday, 18th March, 2021: 1.
Agreement Cargo Tracking Note System by and amongst Sierra Lone Ports Authority [SLPA] and the Government of Sierra Leone represented by the Minister of Transport and Aviation, and National Commission for Privatization [NCP] and Logistics Solutions and Services Sierra Leone Limited the Contactor, dated 4th day of February 2020.

2.
2.

First Amendment to the Cargo Tacking Note System by and among Sierra Leone Ports Authority [SLPA] and the Government of Sierra Leone represented by the 15 Ministry of Transport and Aviation and National Commission for Privatization and Logistics Solutions and Services Sierra Leone Limited the contractor, dated 25th day of January 2021.

[Applause] Yes Honourable Lebby!

Question proposed HON.

AMBROSE MAADA LEBBY: Thank you Mr Speaker.


Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, in compliance with Section 118 subsection 2 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone Act No.

6 of 1991, the Cargo Tracking Note Agreement dated 4th February, 2020, and its First Amendment dated, 25th March, 2021 were laid on the Table in this House.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the Cargo Tracking Note [CTN] is not a direct revenue generating programme rather, it is an implementation [Interrupted] HON.
LAHAI MARAH: Point of Order, Mr Speaker!

THE SPEAKER: Yes, Proceed!

HON.

AMBROSE M. LEBBY: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, The CTN Agreement is not a direct revenue generating programme, it is rather an implementation programme that helps the National Revenue Authority (NRA) to actually track the duty for a commodity and for security purposes.

Key objectives of this Agreement are as follows: For Security, Port Management, under-declaration of Goods and compliance to International Conventions.
This Agreement is consistent with the relevant conventions which Sierra Leone is a signatory to, such as the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea, otherwise known as the SOLAS Convention, the Basel Convention on Control and Trans Boundary Movements of Hazardous Materials, especially wastes at Sea.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, let me take you to Page 12 of the Parent Agreement, Article 4 of the Addendum as well, this Agreement caters for Monetary Committee that will ensure parties are in compliance with the necessary provisions in the Agreement such as a member of the NCP, member of the Sierra Leone Ports Authority and two other members who are not directly technical people from the MDA’s 16 who have direct relationship with this Agreement.
But Mr Speaker, this Committee will meet on a yearly basis or two to ensure every party complies with the necessary obligations in relation to the Agreement.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, may I hastily take you to Page 8, Article 4 of the Addendum to the original Agreement.

Mr Speaker, Article 4 in this Agreement talks about Revenue sharing.
There is an Expo Account already established at the Bank of Sierra Leone that will track down the percentage sharing that every party will directly get in this Agreement, especially the Government of Sierra Leone and the Contractor.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to assure this House that this Agreement is not a controversial one.

So, I hereby call on the whole House from both sides to speedily support us in ratifying this Agreement.

I thank you.

THE SPEAKER: Yes, Honourable Lahai Marah.

HON.


LAHAI MARAH: I thank you Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to commend the Honourable Chairman for his brilliant presentation.

I support all what he said and he is correct.

I also commend the Deputy Minister for a job well done.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the APC Members of Parliament together with the SLPP MPs are partners in development.
The Ministers that we approve in this Well are not only Ministers for SLPP Members of Parliament, they are also Ministers for all of us.

When you want to come to Parliament, make sure you find friends here also.

But I do not know if your Ministers do not understand the political dynamics of this Country; they do not call the APC MPs, they do not talk to us and they see us as a complete tribal and we are not tribal- we are all partners in development.
That is why I like the Chairman of NCP, Honourable Prince Harding, he is a good example that cut across.

He is a Politician indeed.

Mr Speaker, another fine example is His Excellency Dr Ali Kabbah.

These are real Political Mentors.

On normal times, they would call us and have fun.

So it is very important.


Mr Speaker, Parliament is a place of interaction and this is what we expect of you and your ministers; when we raise issues that have to do with certain controversial things all we expect of you is to abide, then we see ourselves as being 17 respected.

The Honourable Chief Whip on our side raised this issue and thankfully, the document is here before us well prepared and it is very simple to understand.
It has to do with Cargo Tracking, although to some extent, no Honourable Member, I am talking about the technicality aspect of this document that is involved in its preparation.

It has some technical areas that need further explanation that will lead to further understanding.

You cited a provision in the Constitution that is very much important.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, let me state this here, the other day, I was listening to Radio, 98.1 FM and somebody from the Ministry of Finance was making a whole lot of statements on that Radio talking about the Consolidated Fund.

The Ministry of Finance are posing themselves as if they are the owners of the Consolidated Fund.

I want to say it here that the Ministry of Finance has no right to the Consolidated Fund!

It is Parliament that owns the Consolidated Fund.


The Consolidated Fund, S.O 2 “na we get am!” For you to access the Consolidated Fund, you have to come to Parliament.

Without Parliament granting you the permission, you do not have any right to access the Consolidated Fund.

So, they should know that as well.

Just like when you are dealing with Taxation, nobody have the right to alter Taxation without Parliament giving you that authority.

The Executive should understand the powers vested in Parliament.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, when debating this past Budget, I raised certain issues that have to do with the 2019 Budget, which I stated that the Ministry of Finance expended beyond what we gave them and those are matters we have to look into as a Parliament.

Mr Speaker, this is sometimes assertive [undertones].

Honourable Members allow me to make my submission please!

THE SPEAKER: Honourable Marah, do not go there, please HON.
LAHAI MARAH: Honourable Members, the Constitution [Undertones] listen Honourable Members, you are disturbing my debate and you have to know that I am a senior Member of Parliament.

18 Mr Speaker, Honourable Members on that note, [Applause] I want to say the document is very good and I want to say thank you to the Minister of Transport for finally brining this document for ratification.

I thank you.

THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, let me make my position clear.
I am taking one from each side of the aisle and we round up.

Let me hear the voice of the lady.

HON.

ZAINAB C. TARAWALLY: Thank you Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, we are here again to ratify another Agreement which is well prepared.

We want to say a very big thank you to the Ministry for honouring Parliament.

We requested for this and it is here So thank you Mr Minister.

We are partners in developments, and Parliament is ready to work closely with you.
We are not here to debar the progress of the Ministry, but we are here to support the Ministry in other to succeed.

We would help in whatever way to make sure the Ministry succeeds.

You are putting a great work in terms of looking into the problem of Cargoes and the effective functioning of the Ports Authority.

So we are Partners in Development.


Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, we want to say thank you to the Chairman of this Committee, who has worked tremendously well to see that we have this document laid and we are here today to ratify it, for the benefit of Sierra Leoneans and non-Sierra Leoneans.

We want to appreciate you and we want to tell you that Parliament is for you.

Sometimes, we are fierce and difficult, but if you come to us, things will work.
Mr Speaker, we want to assure you of our commitment and we want to assure the Ministry that we would always work with them for the benefit of our children and for benefit of the people of Sierra Leone.

On that note, I want to call on all Honourable Members to join as we ratify this document.

I thank you for your attention.

THE SPEAKER: Honourable Member, please let us round up.

Leader of the opposition, you have the Floor.

Leader of Government Business be ready.

HON.


IBRAHIM B. KARGBO: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I almost suspected that you were going to ask one more person from our side to make a presentation.

But notwithstanding Mr Speaker, consistent with the thinking of the House this morning, I 19 believe that this Agreement is well structured and properly presented to the House.
In that regard, I believe that we do not have much to say on the critical side of it, but to accept the fact that we should give it a chance.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the business of making sure that [Undertone] activities at the Water Quay, the Ports Authority of Sierra Leone and the Customs Department are properly structured and validated.

This structure must be seen as part of the best practices in the world today.
All over the world now, efforts are being made to make sure that whatever happens around your Port area is properly validated and properly put on track.

So the Cargo Tracking System therefore Mr Speaker, is most useful at this time.

This is not the very first time that we as a country are starting to put in place motions and activities relating to the Tracking of Cargo entering our Country.
The first time we attempted this was years ago, when we introduced the SSI in this country and later on PVAC came to take away from SSI.

We have all this kind of history around us, so what we are doing today is just a continuation of what had been part of the process in this country.

It is not a new introduction.


Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, in that regard, we will support this Bill simply because it will help us to generate more Income for this Country and it will also restructure the tax system in the country.

We need funds, but also importantly, we need people to come here and adhere to the Taxation system of the State.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members this is just by notification, in future, we are going to ask Ministries that come here to give us due diligence on those people who want to do business in our Country.

Mr Speaker, you know that we are talking about money laundering and we are talking about illegal activities globally, so we want to be very certain that whoever comes here to do business does so within the realm of the Laws of this Country.
So in future, please read to us the due diligence report, which you have done on those people.

But having stated that, today, we will support you, we will pass your Agreement, because it is an Agreement that is worth passing.

And it is also in the interest of the people.

This activity once it commences, I am sure will provide jobs for our young people.

It will also make sure that we modernize the customs system and 20 would also modernize the Ports system.
To us, it is important that we look at it from that angle as well.

Mr Speaker, we on this side have always said to you that whatever is in the interest of this Country will be supported by the APC, because that is the way we look at things.

We are a Party that is pro-development.

When we see a development programme that is consistent with the National Development, we have no choice because it is part of our policies as a Party to support it and this is why we are supporting this Agreement.
I thank you Mr Speaker [Applause] HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE: Thank you Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, we have been under pressure for the last few sittings for these Agreements to be brought to Parliament and thankfully today, we have them for ratification.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I am very pleased, I see Officials from the Transport Ministry and the Sierra Leone Ports Authority.

They are going to basically take the lead in implementing the project.
Mr Minister, in future, whatever Agreement you enter into on behalf of the people of this Country should come to Parliament; you need not to be urged.

It is what the Constitutions says.

Mr Speaker, with your leave, I will read section 40 Sub-section 4 of the 1991 Constitution, because this is going to order the Ministers who enter into Agreements without recourse to this Parliament.
Whatever Agreement you go into, for and on behalf of the people of this country has to be ratified by this Parliament to have the force of Law.
Mr Speaker, with your leave I would read: ”provided that any Treaty, Agreement or Convention executed by or under the authority of the President, which relates to any matter within the Legislative competence of Parliament, or which in any way alters the Law of Sierra Leone or imposes any charge on, or authorises any expenditure out of the Consolidated Fund or any other fund of Sierra Leone, and any declaration of war made by the President shall be subject to the ratification of Parliament.” Mr Speaker, it is no secret that Ministers are entering into Agreements without recourse to this Parliament, and we encourage all of them to bring these Agreements, so that they will have the full force of law.
21 Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, today, we have the Cargo Tracking Agreement before us.

This Agreement has been here before now in the last Parliament and it is here again.

Mr Minister, we hope you have done due diligence to this Agreement by entering into it.

Of course this Agreement is going to generate more resources for this government and for the people; this Agreement is making sure that correct taxations are being imposed on Goods that are coming into this country.
Because we have a situation in which people under declared their Goods.

We have a situation in which people bring unlawful Goods in this country; definitely, this Agreement will have to put a stop to such illegal acts.

Whatever Good that is unlawful would not dare come to the shores of this Country.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, after we shall have ratified this Agreement, I would also charge the Committee on Transport and all other Committees that when Agreements of such nature are done in this Parliament, we should do due diligence by following it up; making sure that what is on paper is exactly what they are doing.

We do not want to have a saturation in which Members of Parliament will ratify document and we do not do due diligence.
At the end of the day, Honourable Members, our faces will be on the Ballot Boxes.

We will have to go for elections and we will have to suffer for these Agreements, if we do not do due diligence.

Our people will ask us what have we done?

And most times, we do not have the wherewithal to do anything; our basic work is Oversight!

So I encourage all Committees, when Agreements come to this House, let the Committees that are responsible provide oversight.
The fact that this Agreement is now the property of this Parliament and the State, I will encourage the Transport Committee to do due diligence; make follow up visits, make sure they adhere exactly to what they have signed to, especially what the State should benefit.

Mr Speaker, I also call on the Ports Management to encourage the people who have gone into this Contract to create more jobs for our people and we encourage them to specifically consider the Local Content Policy.
Do not bring more Foreigners to implement, it should be Sierra Leoneans projects, so they should be seen as part of the process.

I thank you Honourable Members for your support to this Agreement.

This is 22 how governance is.

At certain times, we have our differences but when it is good for all, we come together, so I thank you Honourable Members from the other side of the aisle.

I daff my hat to you.

I want to say thank you to the Honourable Kandeh K. Yumkella for his support to this Agreement.
I thank you Mr Speaker, I hope when we pass these Agreements, I once more call on the Transport Committee to do the necessary thing.

THE SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Minister!

THE MINISTER: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, let me profoundly thank you for your enormous support to this Agreement.

I must confess here that I am overwhelmed, especially by the level of conviviality that exists between the two aisle of the House.
All of you have spoken in support of this Agreement and let me hastily assure you that as a Pan Africanist, we gave this Agreement a clinical analytical appraisal before we could enter into it with the other party.

I want to assure you that we would continue not only to monitor, but to ensure the other party adhere to the issues enshrined in this Agreement.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to thank you so much for the support and I want to take the first speaker’s word of caution that it is but a necessity we relate with the other parties from the other aisle of the divide.

I will ensure that I will take that into serious consideration and we will follow up on that sooth.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, on that note, be it resolved that the Honourable House ratifies the following Agreements which were laid on the Table of the House on Tuesday, 18th March, 2021: 1.

Agreement Cargo Tracking Note System by and amongst Sierra Leone Ports Authority [SLPA] and the Government of Sierra Leone represented by the Ministry of Transport and Aviation, National Commission for Privatization [NCP] and Logistics Solutions and Services Limited, dated 4th February, 2020; 2.
First Amendment to the Cargo Tracking Note System by and amongst Sierra Leone Ports Authority [SLPA] and the Government of Sierra Leone represented by the Ministry of Transport and Aviation, National Commission for Privatization 23 [NCP] and Logistics Solutions and Services Limited [the contractor], dated 25th day of January 2021 [Applause].

THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, before I put the question, let me plead with you to take S.O 23- one each from both sides, so that we do not spend the whole day here.
I will take one each and we adjourn.

QUESTION PROPOSED, PUT AND AGREED TO (THE GOVERNMENT MOTION BY THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND AVIATION HAS BEEN RATIFIED) THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, like I said, before putting the question, please let me plead with you to take one from each side of the aisle- just one S.O 23 and after that announcement and Adjournment.

HON.

P.C.

BAI KURR KANAGBARO SANKA III: Mr Speaker!

THE SPEAKER: Yes.

HON.

P.C.


BAI KURR KANAGBARO SANKA III: One from the Paramount Chief Sir it is very serious.

THE SPEAKER: One from the Paramount Chief?

HON.

P.C.

BAI KURR KANAGBARO SANKA 111: Yes Mr Speaker.

THE SPEAKER: Okay, let us not spend the whole day here please.

It is alright, let me hear you.

HON.

EMMANUEL S. CONTEH: Thank you Mr Speaker.

THE SPEAKER: Yes.

HON.


EMMANUEL S. CONTEH: Mr Speaker, now that the Ministry of Transport is here, I have a serious concern from my community, Constituency 129, which covers Congo Cross, Congo Town, Tengbeh Town and the likes.

Mr Speaker, I want to draw the attention of the Minister of Transport that the School children are suffering immensely for not being able to access School Buses.
If you go 24 around the City, not only in the Western area or Western Unban, you would see the children converging in large numbers coming to the Bus Stop to wait for Government School Buses.

But to your surprise Mr Speaker most times, these buses are not available.

Because of this situation Mr Speaker, most of the children do go home on foot and as a result they reach home late.

This has affected the children to do their evening studies.

THE SPEAKER: Mr Minister, are you taking note?

HON.
HON.

EMMANUEL S. CONTEH: I quite believe that this particular exercise is under education, the Free Quality Education, because the President said he would provide transport for the school going children.

THE SPEAKER: Please call me the Chairman, Committee on Transport!

HON.

EMMANUEL S. CONTEH: I am appealing to the Ministry through our Chairman of Transport to pay more attention in providing the needed transport for the school going children.

Yes indeed, Buses where allocated, but where are they?
We have not seeing them and the children are suffering as they go to and from School on their feet.

THE SPEAKER: It is noted!

Honourable Member, as a representative of the people and by virtue of the fact that the Chairman was out of the Well, I would kindly advise that you put the full details in a Letter to the Chairman of the Committee on Transport and Aviation and copy the Minister and the City Council.
And Mr Chairman, when you receive that Letter, please summon the various Authorities responsible for the School Buses [Undertone].

Mr Chairman, you can summon the Mayor, the Minister of Transport and Aviation, of course you want to hear from them.

Please I urge you, Honourable Chairman of the Transport and Aviation Committee, this is a very serious concern and is about our children.

It is about the Free Quality Education and it is about the future of this nation.
Please when you get your Letter from the Honourable Member of that Constituency, and all other Honourable Members having the same problems, inform the Chairman of Transport and Aviation.

And Mr Chairman, summon all those concerned and let us hear what they have to say.

Yes, Honourable Sandy.

25 HON.

ISHMAIL S. SANDY: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, on behalf of the people of Tikonko Town, one of the oldest towns in Sierra Leone.
We want to thank His Excellency the President, the Minister of Energy and the Chairman of Energy for providing a twenty-four hour sustainable Electrical services to the people of Tikonko.

But Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, from my background as a right based Programmer, when services are provided, especially in right based service delivery, there are four A’s we consider and these are: Availability, Accessibility, Affordability before Acceptability.
The Service is provided and accessible, but the challenge is the affordability.

The cost of the Unit of the Energy which is Le 7,000 per Megawatt is challenging.

And from experience, we have gathered from other communities that have been using this facility, I foresee it becoming a White Elephant if consideration is not made in really addressing the cost.
Not only in Tikonko, if you go to the Kissy Kingdom, in consultation with their representatives, there are communities having it, but they are not using it sustainably.

Mr Speaker, we appreciate it, but we are appealing that consideration is made not only for Tikonko, but for all communities having this facility.

we are appealing that a consideration is made, if possible, subsidise, so that it will be sustainably used.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, on that note.


I want to thank His Excellency the President for standing by his word to provide us electricity at community level.

I thank you all for your attention.

THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, let me hear something from the Paramount Chief.

After the Paramount Chief, I would take two more speakers, then we wind up the debate.

Before you make your submission Paramount Chief, with all due respect to Committee Members, do you see Parliament works in Committees?
Most of these issues highlighted cannot be addressed in the Well.

So please Honourable Members, who are Members of Committees, particularly Chairmen, when these reports come up and they relate to your Committees, take them up immediately and invite the parties relevant to such queries.
This is how Parliament operates all over the world; the moment complaints come, or issues are raised in the Well, the Chairmen just pick them up and 26 invite their Members to a meeting and have discussions around such issues and invite the relevant Stockholders to address those concerns.

Yes, Paramount Chief, you can now proceed HON.

P.C BAI KURR KANAGBARO SANKA III: I thank you Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker, I am happy that the first S.O 23 addressed the issue of Education.
Education is the Flagship of His Excellency the president of this nation.

Education is key to development, peace and stability of every nation.
Through you, I am appealing to Members of Parliament for us to appeal to the University Administrations, the different universities in Sierra Leone and the Collages, now that the Semester has started, the universities are insisting that all the Students, particularly the newly admitted Students should pay for the entire year, including the orientation and every other thing they have there.

My appeal is for the Universities to allow Students to pay for the first semester.
All over the World, Universities that I know and have visited and have attended, do not insist on students to pay for the entire two semesters fees.

You pay for the First Semester and after that you pay for the next Semester, when you go to register.

Mr Speaker, I can understand why the universities are doing that, but again, they have to look at the essence of education in the Country that 90% of the people are very poor, extremely poor!
If you say you have to pay Le7Mln before one can start classes, it will be difficult for our people.

Multiply Le7M by Four children, which is Le28Mln, plus the Orientation and other programmes that are not included in the Fees, which is almost Le2Mln is a problem for such parents.
I have them here and my Chief Imam in Masingbi has four girls and all of them have been accepted and the Universities are insisting that before the girls could enter the Universities, they have to pay all their fees, plus the Orientation Fees.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I am appealing, those who can afford to pay for the entire year can do that, but for parents who can only afford for a Semester, let them admit their children.
Because most of the children now have to buy computers, pay for their transportation, some have to pay three ways to-and-fro and they have to rent for them in town.

So I am appealing to these great Institutions for us to see that we 27 educate our children.

We can understand, some of the children are not doing well, in the sense that their parents would give them the fees and they used it to buy expensive Mobile Phones.
But for those who can afford to pay for the Semester and the other charges, they should be admitted.

Let us not deny them the opportunity by saying no, you have to pay for the entire year.

I went to University, I paid my fees by semesters.

I paid for only one year and after that, I was in the Dean’s List and I was given a Tuition Waver then.

So I am appealing to these Institutions Njala, USL and UNIMARK, for them to look at this issue and allow student to be enrol with just a semester fees.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I am appealing, because we have to support the President’s Agenda.

I am a million times supporter of the Agenda of Free Quality Education and we have to promote it.

Mr Speaker, in promoting Education, we need a National Agenda.

The parents should participate, the children should participate and all of us should participate.

So please, I am appealing that we should talk to these universities.

THE SPEAKER: Thank you Honourable Paramount Chief.


Suspension of S.O 5[2] THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, the Paramount Chief Member of Parliament has raised a very serious concern.

There is no gainsaying that we are extremely poor in this nation, so such concerns are worthy of serious treatment, especially when we have parents who do not have the relevant resources to educate their children.

I think we should leave this in the hands of the Chairman of the Committee on Higher and Technical Education.
HON.

AARON A. KOROMA : Not just them alone, Mr Speaker THE SPEAKER: Hold on!

HON.

P.C.

BAI KURR KANAGBARO SANKA III: Mr Speaker,…[interruption] THE SPEAKER: Hold on!

Honourable Chairman of Higher and Technical Education Committee, are you here?

Are you the Honourable Med Lans?


Because what I want the 28 Chairman to do is to invite the Minister of Higher and Technical Education, the Principal for the Njala University, the Principal for the University of Sierra Leone, all various Principals of universities, engage them at Committee level and report to us accordingly.

So if there are any hitches at all, then we can get them, especially the Minister to come under Question Time.
But as it is, this House cannot invite all of these people and go into details.

Of course we do not listen to Principals here; we would only call the Minister under Question Time, and we cannot do justice to this particular concern.
So that is all the more reason why it is necessary that the Committee invites all of these strategic people and engage them to get details and tell them our position as Parliament; because especially in the advent of COVID 19 all over the world, you know things are being handed down softly, especially when it has to do with money.

You know things are not normal now.

So please Mr Clerk, are you paying attention?


The Chairman of that Committee is to invite the Minister concerned and all the Principals of Universities in Sierra Leone and put this to them, tell them that is our position as a House and report to us accordingly, then we can take it from there.

Whatever report the Committee comes with to Parliament, we can add relevant recommendations and pass them, so that at the end of the day, they stand to have the force of law.

That is my position.

HON.


P.C BAI KURR KANAGBARO SAMKA III: Mr Speaker, please, you have said the right thing for a solution to the problem but we need a timeline.

SPEAKER: Thursday will be fine, because we are adjourning this sitting to next week Thursday.

So, as a result of that I am appealing to you chairman to make your presentation on this report before the House, so that we do the necessary recommendations.
We can now rely on the Minister to communicate to all the Universities to take actions on this matter.

So, I thank all Honourable Members for your contributions 29 HON.

P.C BAI KURR KANAGBARO SANKA III: Okay, Sir.

HON.

ABDUL K. KAMARA: I agree Mr Speaker, but this matter is not new.

I remember we dealt with this same matter in 2018 and 2019.

SPEAKER: We are dealing with it properly now.

HON.

ABDUL K. KAMARA: I just want to help to fast track the debate.
Mr Speaker, we have a system in Sierra Leone, wherein the government pays 60% of the Fees and the students pay 30% 0r 40% depending on the course.

But what happened long ago is that Government is still owing some of these Universities.

So, Mr Speaker, because I am also a victim, in fact, I went to Milton Margai, I faced the Principal one on one and he explained the matters.
According to some of the universities, they cannot run Colleges and the Universities, if they depend on this subvention of Government, which is not forth coming.

So, as you are calling, the other time we had to call the Minister of Finance to help IPAM.

At that time Mr Speaker, the Government owed IPAM Le12Bln and through the Committee of Higher Education and Finance, they had to pay them in tranches.

So Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I am calling on Principals and the Minister of Higher Education.
So, let all parties concern engage the Ministry of Finance to know why the delay in the payment of subsidies to colleges and Universities.

SPEAKER: Certainly, I agree with you Honourable Member.

So, do we have another Member from the Committee of Higher Education?

HON.

ABDUL K. KAMARA: I am one of the Committee Members.

THE SPEAKER: Can you please get this information to the Chairman of that Committee?

Can you get this information to the Chairman of that Committees?
who is the Chairman of the Education Committee?

HON.

HASSAN A SESAY: He is the Honourable Mohamed F. Lansana.

THE SPEAKER: I rely on you Leaders to inform him accordingly.

Tell him to summon the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Higher and Technical Education, and the various 30 Principals, so that we can have this matter dealt with.

Take note of this because when we come at the next adjourned date, we are going to raise this particular issue again.

We would want to see the reports here.

HON.


BASHIRU SILIKIE: Mr Speaker, the next adjourned date will not be ideal considering the Lower Levels Election.

The Chairman would be in his Constituency.

THE SPEAKER: Honourable Leader, the Lower Level Election is on Friday and Saturday.

Am i correct?

HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE: For you Mr Speaker, you always go unopposed.

THE SPEAKER: It is on Saturday [Laughs] right?

HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE: For you, it is on Saturday.


THE SPEAKER: So, we have Monday to Wednesday.

HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE: Some of them will not even come.

The man has not been here for the last two weeks.

So Mr Speaker, the Honourable Member is struggling in the Lower Level Elections.

THE SPEAKER: No, we have all been invited; but we are elected to Parliament, so we should be doing our work- that one is aside [ Undertones].

No, it is alright!
No, it is alright!

So please tell the Chairman that we want the report on Thursday.

Let us have the reports on Thursday, if they can meet on Monday or Tuesday, they can still get us a report to deal with it.

HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE: Mr Speaker, the reason why the next sitting will not be possible is, we have Universities that are not stationed here.

Currently, as we speak Mr Speaker, the Chairman of the Committee is not here and we need to communicate to him.
Mr Speaker, whenever we write letters, we give the Principals ample time for them to prepare and come.

So I would suggest we give them like two or three weeks.

THE SPEAKER: Well it is a pretty difficult situation.

Then, I would suggest that we invite the Minister here on Question Time.

31 HON.

DR MARK M. KALOKOH: Let us communicate with the University of Sierra Leone and they will disseminate the information.

HON.
HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE: No Sir, there is difference between the University of Sierra Leone and other Universities.

HON.

DR MARK M. KALOKOH: No, there is no difference!

THE SPEAKER: There are various Universities and we have Njala University as example.

HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE: There are various Universities in the Country and the University of Sierra Leone is just one them.

HON.
HON.

DR MARK M. KALOKOH: Mr Speaker, the issue of education, when ones a decision is being taken is that that decision should be cascaded to the various constituent Institutions by the Minister.

So those who are here should be here.

THE SPEAKER: Let us get the Minister to come here next week on Thursday for Question Time.

Honourable Paramount Chief, can we get a session on Question Time for the Minister?

HON.
HON.

P.C BAI KURR KANAGBARO SANKA III: Yes, but Mr Speaker, I want the Leader of this House to know the seriousness of this issue.

I am sure, with all the Social Media, the information could have been circulated.

The Clerk of Parliament can write and invite him and the Committee to meet on Monday or Tuesday.

So for him to say because nobody can come from Makeni, Njala etc then…[interruption] THE SPEAKER: It is alright.

Let us start by inviting the Minister.

HON.


BAI KURR KANAGBARO SANKA III: Yes, but the time is of the essence.

HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE: You are very correct Mr Speaker!

HON.

BAI KURR KANAGBARO SANKA III: Hold on Mr Deputy Leader!

The semesters have already started, the more we delay, the more the Children will be out of colleges.

32 THE SPEAKER: It is alright!

Let us have the Minister on Question Time.


Mr Clerk, do a Letter to the Minister of Higher and Technical Education to be here at the next adjourned date on this particular matter.

HON.

JOSEPH W. LAMIN: Thank you Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I stand on S.O 23 to inform the House that with heavy heart there was an accident in my Constituency, which resulted to ten causalities.

And Mr Speaker, I am highly disturbed by this accident.
This matter started in November last year, I wrote a Letter to the Sierra Leone Roads Authority, I complimented them for the construction of Bo, Bandajuma High Way and I raised some concerns which have to do with the compensation of all marked houses along the road and also the level of casualty.

Mr Speaker, as I speak, 12 year old girl who moved from Tormabom to Bathurst fell victim last night and I was constantly called by the Paramount Chief…[interruption] THE SPEAKER: Victim of what?

HON.
HON.

JOSEPH W. LAMIN: Mr Speaker, my Constituency is faced with rapid Road Accident by vehicles coming from the borders of Liberia to Bo.

It is sad to report to this House that the speed at which drivers of vehicles plying that road was terrible.

We have brought that to the attention of SLRA, I have even been to the Office of the Deputy Leader of Government Business and called Office of the Director of SLRA and reported the matter S.O [2] “da key Gbo-naa maa-pia.” What shall we do?
I am constantly bombarded by the Paramount Chief, the Town Chief, the Councillors and everybody about that road.

I even reported the matter to the Chief Whip that this is my plight and I have been constantly reminded by my people.

So therefore Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want this noble House to act on this matter as quickly as possible.

I thank you.

THE SPEAKER: Yes, Honourable Deputy Leader.

HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE: Mr Speaker that is a very serious matter.
It was brought to my Desk and we have been on this for the last few months together with the Honourable Member.

I have personally called the SLRA Director, informing him about 33 this situation, I have called the Director of Operations and it saddens to know that up till now, they have not constructed Speed Bumps on that road.

Listening to what the Honourable Member has said is a pity for him.
So Honourable Member, I would want us to collectively call on SLRA again and now instruct them to do speed bumps, because that is a High Way and there are villages on that High Way.

There is no way we leave the High Way like that Mr Speaker.

On that note, I thank you all for your attention.

THE SPEAKER: It is alright.

Yes, Honourable Hassan.

HON.

HASSAN A. SESAY: Thank you Mr Speaker.


Mr Speaker, before the start of the proceedings, there was an issue which came up, by the Honourable from Bombali who raised with you that specific matter and the responds from the Leader of Government Business was very appropriated.

And when I spoke on that issue, I promised that we are going to revisit that matter, after we are done with the Order Paper.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, it is true that when the President visits certain areas, certain constituencies, Representatives of those constituencies are not consulted by the people who take the President to those areas.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, let me point out one particular issue.

There was a weekend when the President visited my Constituency to launch the Munafa Programme, bringing together people from different parts of the country to my Constituency, to my Township without my knowledge.
Mr Speaker, it will amazed you to understand that the Ministry of Trade and Industry that organised the event did not even have the courtesies to call me to say ‘we will be in your Constituency, the President will be in your Constituency.’ He is the first Gentleman, Mr Speaker.

I am saying this because, a Member from Bombali raised it and the Leader of Government Business did agree that even on their side, it is happening.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, let the members of the Executive; the Ministers understand that they are not elected by the people.

We the Members of Parliament sitting here represent at least over three thousand people, at every point in time sitting occurs in this Well, we represent the people of Sierra Leone.

When the President goes 34 to those constituencies, whether we belong to the Party or not, it is not a Party issue, it is a national issue as long as it has to do with the President.
Mr Speaker, when I saw the Permanent Secretary, I met with him at Youyi Building S.O [2] ‘Honourable!

We bin dae na you Constituency oo, we nor see you sef.’ I asked the Permanent Sectary that you are a Civil Servant of so many years of experience, don’t you know that the Member of Parliament ought to be Officially communicated to?

I met the Minister as well and he said they did not organise the event.
But all of those people organising those event must understand that when you have a Political head in a particular constituency, he must be invited when the President visits there.

They must recognise that the Members of Parliament are the people elected and they are representing people.

So when the President visits their constituencies, they must be informed.

They must be called upon to be part of the process.
What we are saying here is, we must try to draw a line between National issues and Partisan issues.

When it is about SLPP, no question, do not call me, but if it is about the country, the President, we have the right to be called and to be respected.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I just want to make it known to those people that they must try to draw a line between issues of National concern and issue of Partisan concern.
We must try to draw that line, otherwise we will be doing things in a very wrong manner and people will have to suffer for that, because at the end of the day it is not the President.

Let them do not give the bad name to the President, because he is the Head of State.

He is not responsible for those things, people are supposed to tell him what to do or how to carry out those particular procedures, so that when he gets to a particular area he gets the atmosphere that he actually needed.
But when you exclude certain people that is contrary to what the President is saying, because he was talking about inclusivity.

So if they are now excluding people, then it is contrary.

Mr Speaker, I just want to reaffirm that point, for us to take note and let the President be asking questions like; ‘have you informed the Constituency Representative to the location we are going?

Let that information be flowing and that makes a better Governance.

I thank you Mr Speaker.


35 THE SPEAKER: It is noted Honourable Member.

I totally agree with you.

It is noted and thank God we have informed the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice and he has taken note.

We would find ways and means to inform the State Chief of Protocol attached to His Excellency.

Let them know that it is very important and serious.
You cannot go to a particular District in the first place without informing the Paramount Chief Member of Parliament of that District and the Member of Parliament of that particular Consistency- you know, it is uncalled for.

So we would get these people to know and I urge Members of Parliament to continue to harp this particular point, so that it is clearly noted by those who are responsible for putting in place the President’s itinerary.

I thank you for that Honourable Member.

HON.


MUSA FOFANAH: Thank you Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, my contribution is in relation to what the Leader has just said.
Mr Speaker, we believe in your judgement and I want to believe that you would agree with me that Section 118 Sub section 7 and Section 118 Sub section 2 and 3 of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone made it very clear that whenever a loan or any agreement or a grant is being given to a Ministry, it should be ratified by this Well of Parliament.

THE SPEAKER: Certainly no question!

HON.


MUSA FOFANAH: And for that reason, it means Members of Parliament have total control over the work implemented with these monies, equally, our yearly Budget.

I am coming to the National Medium Term Plan, because I am the Chairman.

There is a disconnect between MDAs and Members of Parliament.

We cannot shy away from explaining it in this Well of Parliament.
And cluster 8 of this Document made it very clear that the Ministry is doing its best to map out stakeholders, including Members of Parliament at District level to coordinate the implementation of every project at District level, for evaluation and monitoring of each and every project.
The Honourable Member from Falaba will bear witness that the already sacked Director from SALWACO was working with Members of Parliament for each and every Borehole or gravity system they wanted to either identify or drill in each and every Consistency in this country; from Bonthe, to Moyamba and to Kambia.

But we have seen this disconnect for the 36 past months and Members of Parliament are raising it every day.
The Member of Parliament from Masongbala raised the same issue last year in relation to a Rain harvesting system in Kambia District; he was totally disconnected from that project.

Well for me, I do not want to say they are undermining the work of Parliamentarians, but they are looking so low on the job we do as Members of Parliament.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I also want to crave the indulgence of the House to help us bring the Minister of Planning and Economy Development to interpret the National Medium Term Plan, purely cluster 8.

I would also want to see Ministers being invited for that deliberation for them to know that this document is their document and all what we are doing is to help them.

Since we have our oversight role, they need to respect that also.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, we do not have all the resources to do our oversight, but Members of Parliament are going to their constituencies almost every week or two.

Most of these Ministers do not go for one or two months and some of them have the resources, but they do not go.

And when they do some times, after two or three months, instead of going there for family matters or go to do their work, they go there to undermine Members of Parliament.
I can vividly remember, I received a complaint last year, a Minister was telling a Member of Parliament in his Constituency, the Member of Parliament was not there, but he was telling the people not to vote for the MP.

Can you imagine that?

I am saying it because, I want the Speaker to understand what Members of Parliament are going through.

That is why I cited S.O [2].

It means, “I told you not to vote for this MP because this MP should go and sell Cassava Leaves’.” Can you imagine that?
So Mr Speaker, because we believe in your judgement, we really want to see these Ministers in the Well for them to know that the Medium Term Plan came from the Agenda of the President.

The President they are serving, the President who has given them job to do and they need to respect that President.

THE SPEAKER: Which Ministers are you talking about?

37 HON.

MUSA FOFANAH: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, for example, even the Ministry of Works.
I said it last year but of course I lost the debate to the Chairman, because I have great respect for him and he is my senior.

But I just want Chairman to know that I have visited almost all the roads construction currently going on in this Country and I know their status and I know what is happening on different sites.

Kono for example, where I am coming from, I will not say all of the roads are bad, but I can assure you Mr Speaker that they are not going on well.
THE SPEAKER: Mr Deputy Leader, what have you got to say?

HON.

BASHIRU SILIKIE: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I thought my Honourable colleague was standing on S.O [23], but now it calls for reaction.

Mr Speaker, we are just coming from oversight in Kono, definitely, like what the deputy Leader said, there are challenges with some of these Contractors and we are doing our report that will be laid here in the shortest possible time.
It is no secret that we do not have tractors to carry out with some of these contracts.

We were with our colleagues, we went to areas and we went to specific roads, especially in Kono, we went to Kailahun, Buedu and the Honourable Member from Kissi Teng can testify that I was in her Constituency, on to the last village, there were challenges.

Mr Speaker, I also went to Kono, Moyamba and Bonthe and there is work going on to all those places.
We were all over this country in the last few days and I can assure you that there are challenges.

Before we came, we have given a verbal report to the Ministry based on what we saw, they have also left yesterday with some Members of Parliament to exactly ascertain what we told them verbally is true- they are now in the field.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, definitely, based on our oversight, we are doing our report and it has been drafted and finalised.
We would definitely table it and we would follow it with the line Ministry.

I thank you all for your attention.

THE SPEAKER: Honourable Member, all of these Ministers that are posing the necessary challenges to your work, you have an avenue to do Question Time for them to be invited to the Well.

Can you explore that?

38 HON.

MUSA FOFANAH: Thank you Mr Speaker, you can count on us Sir.

THE SPEAKER: Yes, explore that, all of them!

HON.

MUSA FOFANAH: Yes sir.


THE SPEAKER: All of them that are posing challenges, bring them to the Well of Parliament under Question Time, I crave your kind indulgence.

HON.

MUSA FOFANAH: Thank you Mr Speaker.

THE SPEAKER: Thank you very much.

Yes Honourable.

HON.

KEIKURA C. VANDY: Thank you Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker, In our last sitting, the Speaker gave me an assignment together with the Inspector General of Police and the Director General of EDSA.
Because a colleague from Western Area raised a concern about how transformers are being ravaged and is creating serious problem for us.

But this is a breaking news, we are working hand in gloves with the Police, about 3 hours ago, one of the criminals was caught at King Tom and it was going to be disastrous.

He wanted to cut the Interconnector that supplies light to State House, Parliament and in the Eastern part of Freetown.
He was caught there by one Police Officer and he was taken to the Police and he is being investigated now.

But what I want to admonish Members here is that you know EDSA alone cannot do all the job, they do not have Staff all over and when we have light, it is not going to be a one man show, so it is everybody’s concern.

And donor partners are putting so much money in the Energy sector of this country.
We are just coming from a Round Table Conference, of course I was there with Dr Yumkella and the President himself, where he addressed the people.

Even the Mini-Grid Programme my colleague just spoke about has a high cost of Tariff, President also vividly made mention of that that he has got that one and he is pleading with the Donor Partners to work on how they can possibly reduce the Tariff for the people.
So if we want to have light, we know electricity is human right and if we want to enjoy electricity, we have to be watch dogs in our communities.

Let us not sit by and say it is not my business, S.O [2] ‘nor to me bizness,’ or some people may want to politicize it.

I was in one Chiefdom where we went to put on their Mini-Grid and people 39 in that meeting categorically told us that they have no reason why people should go and ravage transformers.

They consider such action as Sabotage.


Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, when you look at it from a critical point of view, the Honourable Speaker told us that in their days as youths, people used to remove the Copper Wire to transform it to Bangles.

But what are they cutting these Cables for today?

You have no good reason, because these things are not so expensive in the market.

Well, if you have a whole roll, it is expensive, but when you cut them in bits they are not useful.
So the whole essence behind these actions is that the perpetrators only want to starve people.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I am craving the indulgence of Honourable Members, we are the People’s Representatives, let us talk to our constituents to serve as Watch Dogs over those transformers.

If you do not have light in your area, no matter how you cry, S.O [2] “you cry sef tay EDSA nor get light if den cut you Cable.” Mr Speaker, the Transmission and Distribution Network in the country is deplorable.
We had one World Bank funded Project that was just mentioned and they are trying to fix the Transmission and Distribution Network properly across the Country.

If they are fixing it and Sierra Leoneans are ravaging it again, then you expect the Donors to continue putting their money on Energy in the country?

Come on.

We will continue beating a dead Horse.


On that note Mr Speaker, I want to thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to give this information to the House that we are on the assignment that Mr Speaker gave us and we have started breaking new grounds.

I thank you very much.

THE SPEAKER: Announcement.

ADJOURNMENT This sitting is adjourned to Thursday, 1st April, 2021, at 10 am.

The House rose at 1:45pm 40