Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698079200405.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, 17TH DECEMBER, 2020 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: 28 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, 17th December, 2020.

2 3 CONTENTS I. PRAYERS II.


RECORD OF VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS FOR THE PARLIAMENTARY SITTING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 16TH DECEMBER, 2020 4 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, 17th December, 2020.
I. PRAYERS [The Table Clerk, Mr Ismaila Kabba, Read the Prayers] [The House met at 10:00a.m.

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

Dr Chernor Abass Bundu in the Chair] The House was called to Order 5 COMMUNICATION FROM THE CHAIR II.
CORRECTION OF VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS FOR THE PARLIAMENTARY SITTING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 16TH DECEMBER, 2020 THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, we shall now take the Votes and Proceedings of the 28th sitting held yesterday Wednesday the 16th of December, 2020.

We shall skip pages 1 through to 4 and start our consideration of the Votes from page 5.

Any amendments on Page 5?

Page 6?

Page 7?

Can someone please move for the adoption of the Record of Votes and Proceedings held on Wednesday 16th December, 2020?
HON.

ISHMAIL S. SANRY: I so move, Mr Speaker THE SPEAKER: Any seconder?

HON.

JOSEPH L WILLIAMS: I so second, Mr Speaker.

[Question Proposed, Put and Agreed to] [Record of votes and proceedings for parliamentary sitting held on Wednesday 16th December, 2020 has been adopted as presented] THE SPEAKER: The Chief Whip of the Government side, let me extend to you compliment for your effort today.

I see you have been able to muster a greater number of attendees than the side to my left.
I don’t know the reason why, maybe it is because their own Whip is absent, but I am sure there is a Deputy.

If there is no Deputy, if Honourable Sorieba (Tamemkor) were around, I would certainly have given him the responsibility.

HON.

DICKSON M ROGERS: Mr Speaker, by seniority, Dr Roland is there; he is in attendance THE SPEAKER: Who?

HON.

DICKSON M ROGERS: Honourable Dr Roland THE SPEAKER: He hasn’t got the physical makeup required for a Whip.

Dr ABD Sesay by profession is too gentle.

6 HON.


DICKSON M ROGERS: Mr Speaker, if it is by seniority I think Dr Roland is the most senior Member of Parliament on that side.

THE SPEAKER: I am looking at the physical structure!

HON.

DICKSON M ROGERS: Laughs THE SPEAKER: I am not putting aside seniority, but the physic of the Whip is also important.

HON.

DICKSON M ROGERS: Mr Speaker, on that note can I ask that the Leader for C4C acts on their behalf?
[Laughs] THE SPEAKER: And I would like this message to be conveyed to Tamemkor [Hon Sorieba Turay] that he surely missed this morning because I would have given him a special task to perform.

Having said that Honourable Members, I will never get tired of reminding all of you, all of you, all of you!

See how palpable the absence of the front Bench is.

I was talking about the entire front Bench of the Opposition; not just one.
[Undertone] No, but on a more serious note, Mr Leader of the Opposition, who can I deal with in terms of doing business with, to ensure prompt attendance on your side in the absence of your Whip?

[Undertone] Your Whip, I know he has not been well, would you like Madam Zainab to step in?

HON.

CHERNOR R.M BAH: I would advise… THE SPEAKER: I was suggesting Honourable Sorieba [Tamemkor] HON.

CHERNOR R.M BAH: Honourable Sorieba ?

THE SPEAKER: [Laughs] Well that’s precisely what you need at this point!
[Undertone] Good!

Shall we proceed ?

HON.

DICKSON M ROGERS: Mr Speaker, I think you need to be asking our reverend to be praying for us every day because the prayer he did yesterday yield dividend today.

7 THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, I have an announcement to make which I will defer for now, but would make it before we rise.

The reason for the deferment is to give myself an opportunity to reflect.

I don’t make decisions hastily by nature, that is why once they are made, they are made for good.
But I will be making that announcement in the course of our proceedings.

We shall proceed with today’s business.
III BILL COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY THE BILL ENTITLED THE APPROPRIATION ACT 2021: THE MINISTER OF FINANCE [THE HOUSE NOW RESOLVES ITSELF INTO A COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY] TABLE CLERK: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I pronounce the following Vote Heads and the corresponding estimates to stand part of the schedule: 409.04.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE [Dr Patricia Laverly] Honourable Chairman, Honourable Members, I move that the following Vote Heads stand part of the schedule: Committee of Supply Part 1:- Vote Division Vote Description Total Sum Voted [Le] 416.00 Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority 27,916,903,000.00 425.00 Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority 66,255,725,600.00 8 301.00 Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary 30,284,921,700,00 Education 312.00 Teaching Service Commission 2,656,446,000.00 110.08 Office of the Ombudsman 2,000,000,000.00 137.00 National Commission for Democracy 1,000,000,000.00 144.00 National Commission for Human Rights 1,500,000,000.00 412.00 National Telecommunications Commission 132,577,697,000.00 Vote Division Vote Description Total Sum Voted [Le] 140.00 Mass Media Services 3,000,000,000.00 110.09 Independent Media Commission 1,000,000,000.00 145.00 Right to Access Information Commission 1,000,000,000.00 133.00 Ministry of Information & Communications 3,588,935,300.00 300.00 Ministry of Technical & Higher Education 40,400,398,400.00 300.04 Tertiary Education Commission 1,974,730,700.00 317.00 Sierra Leone Council for Post Graduate 3,837,496,900.00 College of Health Specialists 316.00 Civil Service Training College 683,256,400.00 406.00 Ministry of Energy 187,003,337,700.00 413.00 Sierra Leone Electricity & Water 954,379,100.00 Regulatory Commission 125.00 The Local Courts 118.00 Judiciary of Sierra Leone 493,957,300.00 14,000,000,000.00 143.00 Justice and Legal Service Commission 466,192,900.00 9 124.00 Office of the Solicitor General 8,000,000,000.00 124.01 Administrator and Registrar General 4,045,069,000.00 124.07 Legal Aid Board 124.05 Justice Sector Coordination Office 110.12 Law Reform Commission 124.06 Sierra Leone Law School 409.00 Ministry of Trade and Industry 409.01 Sierra Leone Standards Bureau 5,000,000,000.00 633,560,800.00 809,892,600.00 815,784,300.00 3,250,541,500.00 4,000,000,000.00 409.02 Sierra Leone Investment and Export 5,000,000,000.00 Promotion Agency 419.00 Local Content Agency 409.01 Department of Cooperatives 3,000,000,000.00 1,019,100,600.00 409.04 Sierra Leone Produce Marketing Company 1,467,908,500.00 THE CHAIRMAN: Honourable Members, the question is that the Vote Heads and corresponding estimates as read out and pronounced by the Minister stand part of the schedule.
HON.

DICKSON M. ROGERS: Mr Chairman, this is the third year in a roll for every time we have appropriation, you remind the Vote Controllers of every MDA to be present.

And from the look of things, I am not sure if most of the Ministries whose Votes the Minister has read are here.

I therefore want to ask that we do a roll call to crosscheck the Vote Controllers that are here because there are things that we have to discuss and we need them.
Every year there are mistakes, every year we tell them to correct those mistakes but they don’t correct them because they do not attend the hearings.

That is my submission, Mr Chairman.

10 THE CHAIRMAN: A very salient observation indeed.

Yes.

HON.

IBRAHIM B. KARGBO: Mr Chairman, in as much as I agree with my friend on the other side, having made that very, very important observation, I would ask the question, what happens after the roll call?
We have been doing this year in and year out and nothing happens after the roll call!

Thank you very much.

HON.

CHERNOR R.M BAH: Mr Chairman, I am not holding brief for anyone Mr Chairman, but I also want to agree with him, but if we make a roll call now, some of them will be answering virtually because, Mr Chairman, again it was us in this House that agreed that as a result of the COVID, they should follow the proceedings live but I don’t know whether SLBC is covering us live.
That is what we agreed upon; we are not expecting all of them to come to this Chamber.

So I agree with him but for this case Mr Chairman, I don’t think doing the roll call will be justified as far as they are concerned.

So I want to kindly plead with him; Mr Chief Whip, please let us not follow that path.

I am pleading with you because we agreed as a Parliament that because of the COVID we should not entertain a lot of crowd within the Chamber, Please sir.
THE CHAIRMAN: So let us take it then step by step.

I recall what the Leader of the Opposition has just informed the House is correct.

That is the position that we as a House had taken before.

So let us start from there.

Are we on virtual correspondence communication with the rest of mankind, are we?

TABLE CLERK: Not as we speak THE CHAIRMAN: Well that makes life a little difficult.

HON.
HON.

DICKSON M. ROGERS: Mr Chairman, in as much as I want to agree with my Boss on the other side, but I think most of those MDAs, if not all, are holding meetings in their Offices live.

So I am not sure what is the difference for them not coming to Parliament.

As we are speaking, some of them are holding Management meetings and they are not on virtual.

But I think for the sake of progress I will agree with my Leader on that side and I would concede, Mr Chairman.

11 HON.
11 HON.

MATHEW S. NYUMA [Leader of Government Business]: Mr Chairman, I beg for us to progress in line with the Leader of the Opposition.

If we say we are going to do Virtual, we are charged with the responsibility to give out the Virtual Code which I think we did not generate.

So we have ourselves to be blamed on one side of the coin.

So let us progress because we have our responsibility to do, and if we think it necessary to take further actions we can do so.
So all issues taken on board, Mr Chairman.

Mr Chairman let me progress with the business of the House.

THE CHAIRMAN: I will not permit you Sir.

HON.

MATHEW S. NYUMA Alright, I rest my case.

THE CHAIRMAN: Take your seat then.

I think we should find a happy marriage between the two positions.

I am inclined to think this way; what the Leader of the Opposition said is quite correct and what you too have observed is equally valid.
We had depended a great deal on the cooperation of the SLBC; that they were going to give a virtual coverage to the proceedings today and tomorrow for the vote controllers to follow the proceedings without necessarily being physically present.

I don’t know why SLBC has not acceded to our request.

In the circumstances, I am inclined to suggest that vote 140.00 be put in abeyance until they comply.

HON.
HON.

MATHEW S. NYUMA: Mr Chairman, Mr Chairman, yes but the president has a program now and they are using all the Cameras there.

I don’t want to describe…, let me talk to you in camera, I beg please.

THE CHAIRMAN: We have only one Camera?

HON.

IBRAHIM BEEN KARGBO: Mr Chairman, I just want to observe one of the findings [Undertone] ok, why not?

THE CHAIRMAN: Very well then!

Honourable Members, following consultations with the Leadership of the two major parties, Order!

Order!
Order!

Following my consultations with the Leadership of the two major parties, and considering the constrains that the SLBC is facing at the present time and the demands on the logistics that they have, we will include their vote in the current consideration, subject however, to an undertaken by 12 the Leader of Government Business to engage with them to ensure that they join us in the cause of the proceeding.
Leader of Government Business, [pause] Ok we shall proceed but in the main time let the record of the Vote Controllers who are present be prepared.

HON.

MATHEW S. NYUMA: Shall we proceed now, Mr Chairman?

THE SPEAKER: Yes.

HON.


MATHEW S.NYUMA: Mr Chairman, I don’t know if I mistake, but this one, we agreed during the Committee hearing that the budget 110.O8; the Office of the Ombudsman be withheld for various reasons such as Maladministration and the way they handled the financial management during disbursement.

We realised that it was not done by the Vote Controller; it was done by the Chairman of the Commission.
The usually practice has been, the Executive Director, and the Chairman happens to be Honourable Daniel Koroma.

So it was a complete affront, and I received a Letter from your Office, replying to the Office of the Ombudsman in terms of irregularities in their financial management.

So we cannot discuss… THE CHAIRMAN: I cannot have two of you standing at the same time.

HON.

MATHEW S. NYUMA: Mr Chairman, THE CHAIRMAN: I think you need to be brought up to speed on this.

HON.
HON.

MATHEW S. NYUMA: well they were supposed to get another meeting, which they did not inform us.

THE CHAIMAN: Nor, let me, let me… HON.

FRANCIS KAI SAMBA: Mr Chairman, can I… HON .MATHEW S. NYUMA : No, let me… Chairman, Chairman, sit down.

If you wrote us a letter, it behoves you as a Chairman to inform us if there is a progress.

As I speak, I don’t have any update on that matter.

So as I speak we are going to withhold that budget because… THE CHAIRMAN: Hold on!

Hold on!
Hold on!

Before, before you say that.

13 HON.

MATHEW S. NYUMA: All right, I will hold on, thank you.

THE CHAIRMAN: Take your seat.

I don’t know, the Chairman, Honourable Daniel Koroma, I think... HON MATHEW S. NYUMA: Mr Chairman, it is not only the Maladministration aspect, but also the affront to the Chairman at that particular moment.

I seek to address that one also.

So it is in two folds.

For me, I am very passionate about that.


One, is the Maladministration which we need to address; I have not heard anything from the Chairman at the moment.

Two, is the affront nature of the Ombudsman.

So we need to address those ones, thank you.

THE CHAIRMAN : Leader of Government Business, I hear you loud and clear, just take your seat.

The Ombudsman wrote to me directly on that issue after the misunderstanding that he had in the proceedings of the Committee.
I replied to him and he came back to my Office after receiving my reply which I copied the Chairman, and I think I also copied you.

And I want to believe that issue was resolved, because when he came to my Office, he did agree that he was no longer going to act as the Vote Controller because there was a question of interpreting the relevant provisions, and he admitted that he was not quite correct; he was ill advised.
And since with my Letter he considered the matter to be now properly discussed and agreed, he agreed to do the needful by allowing the Vote Controller or the Executive Secretary to step into the shoes of the Vote Controller.

But I don’t know whether the Chairman of the Finance Committee has anything to say?

But I think the matter had progressed to the point of reaching Finance .

HON FRANCIS KAI SAMBA: Thank you very much.


It is unfortunate that the Chairman of that Sectorial Committee is not in attendance, but he did tell me that the Secretary of that Institution signed the [0:53:23.8] Document and they came for the hearing.

THE CHAIRMAN: That’s right.

14 HON.

MATHEW S. NYUMA: I know with your understanding, you guys, Honourable Members you are correct.
But I want to ascertain the veracity of that particular interview because initially I was made to understand that the Ombudsman himself was signing the vouchers.

So, I… THE CHAIRMAN: That was changed!

HON MATHEW S. NYUMA : Nor, Mr Chairman, let me come.

It is unfortunate Honourable is not here.

I want to be firm on this Mr Chairman, you have to give me space to let me say my bits.

THE CHAIRMAN: By all means, go ahead.

HON MATHEW S. NYUMA: Thank you.


I said I want to ascertain the veracity of that interview with the Committee because it was very clear that even the disbursement at the Ombudsman’s Office was done by the Ombudsman himself, not by the Vote Controller!

So I want to get it clearly.

So for me, I don’t want to go against the Opposition Leader and you.
I want us to put it aside and let us do that one when we get to the Office, please Mr Speaker, I beg for that because Honourable Daniel is not here and he made that complaint to me; he came to my Office.

I want to land Sir.

And also, the Deputy Speaker came to my Office and I explained to the Deputy Speaker my position.

And let me tell….[0:58:58.4].

Thank you very much Mr Speaker and the Honourable Leader of the Opposition for bringing us to speed.
Thank you for your proactive actions taken on that particular day, and we got the result; for the ED to come in front of the Committee and do the needful.

But let me move now, because I said I want to ascertain the veracity of the disbursement during their expenditure.

There was an argument that the substantive Vote Controller that we know for the past years was not given out authority to spend money on behalf of the institution.

THE CHAIRMAN: Well that is an entirely different issue.
15 HON MATHEW S. NYUMA: Exactly!

So because of that, I want to move that we release the budget and we institute further investigation as to the way those monies were expended.

I therefore want to move that the Finance Committee and the Transparency Committee, if necessary the Audit Committee further investigate in accordance with section 93 of the 1991 Constitution, Act no.
6 to bring out the report and findings, and if necessary, recommendations for this House to follow so that they can see us as working not because we want to do things because we are Members of Parliament, but let us do things through the right channel by using our Vote Controllers so that other MDAs cannot do likewise.

I move, Mr Speaker.

THE CHAIRMAN: Your Point is well taken, any seconder?

HON.

DICKSON ROGERS: Mr Speaker, I second that Motion.


[Motion Proposed Put and Agreed To] TABLE CLERK: The motion by the Leader of Government Business has been carried.

THE CHAIRMAN: Shall we then proceed?

THE TABLE CLERK: Report of the Sectorial Committee is under consideration by the Chairman of the Finance Committee.

HON.
HON.

FRANCIS KAI SAMBA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, part one of the first report- I will read the covering note: Consolidated Sectorial Appropriation Report part one; on the recurrent and development budget estimate 2021.

Page 8; Specific findings and recommendations: Vote Head 404.00; Ministry of Transport and Aviation.

Paragraph two: The Committee observed that for the period under review as stated.
Paragraph three: Following critical review of the budgetary submission for 2021 Financial Year, the Ministry of Finance allocated as stated.

16 After closely examining the Ministry’s proposed activities for 2021, the Committee views the 2021 budget allocation to this Ministry as adequate and recommends it approval.

Vote Head 416.00; Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority.

Paragraph two: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the period under review as stated.
Page 9, the first paragraph: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, in light of the above, the Committee recommends that the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority strengthens its revenue generation capacity and thus consider this 2021 budget allocation adequate.

Vote Head 425.00: Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority [SLRSA].
Paragraph three as stated: In light of the foregoing, the Committee considers the 2021 budget as stated, as fairly adequate to fast track all reform processes the new administration has begun.

THE CHAIRMAN: Hold on!

What Vote Head are you dealing with?

HON.

FRANCIS KAI SAMBA: Vote head 425.00; Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority [SLRSA], page 9.

THE CHAIRMAN: I am a little confused, Mr Chair.

Did you call a Vote Head for Transport and Aviation?

HON.

FRANCIS KAI SAMBA: Yes Sir, I have done that.


I have done Ministry of Transport and aviation - page 8.

Are you there Sir?

THE CHAIRMAN: No, I am not.

I don’t think I am the only one who is under some confusion.

Do you mind starting all over again?

HON.

FRANCIS KAI SAMBA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, page 8; Specific findings and recommendations.

But because of the bulky nature of all of these reports, we are going to look at the findings and recommendations at least so that we cannot waste time.
So Vote Head 404.00; Ministry of Transport and Aviation.

17 The second paragraph: The Committee observed that for the period under review as stated.

Paragraph three: Following critical review of its budgetary submission for 2021 Financial year, the Ministry of Finance allocated as stated to this Ministry.

After closely examining the Ministry’s proposed activities for 2021, the Committee views the 2021 budget allocation to this Ministry as adequate and recommends it approval.
Vote Head 416.00; Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority [SLCAA].

Second Paragraph: Mr Chairman Honourable Members, for the period under review, the SLCAA as stated, page 9, the first paragraph: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, in light of the above, the Committee recommends that the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority strengthens its revenue generation capacity and thus considers this 2021 budget allocation adequate.
Vote Head 425.00: Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority [SLRSA] Second paragraph: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the Financial Year 2020 as stated.

Fourth paragraph: In light of the foregoing, the Committee considers the 2021 budget as stated as fairly adequate to fast track all reform processes the new Administration has begun.

Vote head 301.00; Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education Page 11, as part of its key deliverable proposals for the financial year as stated.
Page 11, the third paragraph: For the financial year 2021, the Ministry has been provided with a proposed allocation to the tune as stated as recurrent budget.

Mindful of the public expectation on the performance of this ministry, the Committee considers the proposed allocation as inadequate and recommends the provision of a supplementary budget during the course of the Financial Year.

18 Vote head 312.00;Teaching Service Commission.


Page 13, paragraph two: To achieve its goal in 2021, the Committee submitted to the Ministry of Finance as stated.

Following critical review of the proposed allocation of the Commission for the Financial Year 2021, the Committee considers the said allocation as adequate and recommends it approval.
Vote head 110.08; Office of the Ombudsman… THE CHAIRMAN: Mr Chairman, I think it will help the rest of the House follow your report in future if you were to number the Paragraphs, so when you make reference, it is not just to the page but to the paragraph number.

HON.

FRANSIS KAI SAMBA: I have been doing that; I would say - the third paragraph, the second paragraph but noted, Sir.

THE CHAIRMAN: No, if you actually number them it would be much easier.

HON.
HON.

FRANSIS KAI SAMBA: Okay noted Sir, I would try to.

Vote head 110.08; Office of the Ombudsman.

Page 13, the fourth paragraph: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the effective performance of its function, the Committee recommends the immediate release of the remaining 2020 Financial Year Parliamentary approval budget, and hence consider the 2021 allocation of Le 2Bln.

Page 14, Vote head 137.00; National Commission for Democracy.
Fourth paragraph; Findings: The Committee noted that only quarter one, quarter two and quarter three amounting to as stated, whiles no payment was received for quarter four.

Second finding: For 2021 Financial Year, the Ministry of Finance allocated as stated to the Commission as against this original budget submission to the tune as stated.
19 Last paragraph: For the Commission to effectively perform its function, the Committee recommends the release of the remaining 2020 Financial Year approved budget and be granted supplementary provision to complete its numerous activities.

Vote Head 144.00;National Commission for Human Rights.

Page 15, the second paragraph: For 2021 Financial Year as stated.
The last paragraph: Giving the huge responsibility reposed on the Commission to handle issues of Human Rights generally, the Committee views the 2021 budget allocation to the Agency as grossly inadequate and recommends for a supplementary budget for the Agency during the course of the Financial Year.

Vote Head 412.00; National Tele Communications Commission [NATCOM] Page 16: For the Financial Year 2021, the Commission submitted a project revenue budget as stated.
The last paragraph: The Committee therefore considers the allocation for the National Tele Communications as adequate and recommends it approval.

Vote Heads 140.00; Mass Media- Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation [SLBC].

Page 17, the third paragraph: The Committee recommends that as stated.
The fourth paragraph in bold writings: The Committee views the allocation to the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation for the Financial Year 2021 as adequate and recommends it approval by the House of Parliament and if possible to be considered for supplementary budget.

Vote Head 110.00; Independent Media Commission.

Page 18, the third paragraph: For 2021 Financial Year, the Commission made an original budget submission as stated.

The fourth paragraph: The Committee recommends that as stated.
20 The fifth paragraph: The Committee views the 2021 budgetary allocation for the Commission as adequate and therefore recommends it approval by this Honourable House.

Vote Head 145.00; Right to Access Information Commission.

Page 19, the second paragraph: For 2021 Financial Year, the Commission submitted a budget as stated.
The third paragraph in bold writings: The Committee therefore observes that the budget allocated to the Commission is inadequate and therefore it should be considered by the Ministry of Finance for supplementary budget.

Vote Head 133.00; Ministry of information and communications page 20, the first paragraph: For 2021 Financial Year, the Ministry of Information and Communications submitted as stated.
The second paragraph in bold writing: The Committee was of the opinion that allocations for Ministry of Information and Communications for Financial Year 2021 was adequate and therefore recommends for it approval.

Vote Head 300.00; Ministry of Technical and Higher Education The fourth paragraph: For the Financial Year 2021, the Ministry submitted as stated.
Page 21 the first paragraph: Against this background amongst others, the Committee considers the 2021 budget allocation to the Ministry as inadequate and recommends supplementary budget during the course of the Financial Year to enhance its performance in its pursuit and achievement of the Government agenda on human capital development.

Vote Head 300.04 Tertiary Education Commission Page 22, the first paragraph: For the Financial year 2021 as stated.
The third paragraph: Against this background, the Committee hereby recommends the approval of the 2021 budgetary allocation to the Commission and the provision of a 21 supplementary budget during the course of the Financial Year to enable the Institution achieve its objectives.

Vote Head 317.00; Sierra Leone Council for Post Graduate College on Health specialist Page 23, the third paragraph: For the 2021 Financial Year, the Ministry of Finance allocated as stated.
The fifth paragraph: To achieve the above, the Council is requesting adequate funding to provide all resident students a greater chance to advance in their medical careers regardless their Socio Economic Backgrounds.

Mindful of the above mentioned goals among others, the Committee hereby recommends the approval of the 2021 budget allocation to the Council by the House.

Vote Head 316.00; Civil Service Training College.

The second paragraph: As at September 2020 as stated.
Page 24: Mindful of the service of the institution on the independence of public sector employees, the Committee considers its 2021 budget allocation as adequate and recommends it approval by the House.

Vote Head 406.00; Ministry of Energy.

Page 25, the fourth paragraph: The Committee observes that the Ministry has to pay the balance as stated.

The fifth paragraph: The Ministry of Energy submitted a budget as stated.
The sixth paragraph: For the 2021 Financial Year, the Ministry of Energy proposed to recruit as stated.

Page 26: For the 2021 Financial Year, the Ministry proposed a payment to pay a balance as stated on its project reinforcement and expansion of the medium and low voltage network in the Western Area; installation of eight thousand eight hundred and eighty [8880] Solar Street Lights, consultancy on supervision of the installation of the said Solar Street Lights and 6 Megawatt HFO Terminal Plants in Lungi.
22 Electricity Generation and Transmission Company; Page 27, the second paragraph: For the 2021 Financial Year as stated.

The last sentence: They also plan to seek support from government by empowering EGTC to provide more than 70% of its power and put strategies in place for EDSA to make appropriate payment to maintain the service to the nation.

Vote head 413.00; Sierra Leone Electricity and Water Regulatory Commission.

Page 28, paragraph four: The Committee notes that as stated.
Paragraph five: Mr Chairman and Honourable Members, the Commission recommends that as stated.

The last paragraph: In 2021 Financial Year, the Commission intends to deliver on the following as stated.

Vote Head 125.00; Local Courts.

Page 29, the second paragraph: For Financial Year 2021 as stated.

For the Financial Year 2021, Local Court was given a separate Vote Head by Ministry of Finance and it was allocated as stated.
During the probing, the Committee observed that the tenure of members and mandate of the Court had expired.

Therefore, the Committee called for the immediate dissolution of the membership of the Local Court and a new one constituted.

In view of the above, the Committee recommends that the amount as stated allocation made to the Court be withheld until its membership be dissolved and reconstituted.

Vote Head 118.00; Judiciary of Sierra Leone.


Paragraph four: For Financial Year 2021, the Judiciary’s original budget submitted to the Ministry of Finance was as stated.

The last paragraph, page 30: The Vote Controller therefor called on Members to see reason with the Judiciary and recommended supplementary allocation.
Considering the importance of the Judiciary in the dispensation of Justice, protection of Human Rights, 23 promotion of Peace and Security, among many others, the Committee considers the Judiciary allocation adequate and recommends it approval.

Vote Head 140.00; The Justice and Legal Service Commission.

Second paragraph: In tandem with section 110 of the Constitution, the Commission comprises as stated.
The last paragraph: For 2021 Financial Year, the Commission’s allocation by Ministry of Finance pending Parliamentary approval was as stated.

The Committee approves all the allocations made by the Ministry of Finance to the Commission.

Vote Head 124.00; Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice.

Page 31: The 2020 Financial Year budget submission of the Office was as stated, but the approved allocation by Parliament was also as stated.
Of this amount, the Office had received and expended as stated.

All the allocations and majority of this expenditures were on administration, local and international travelling.

Vote Head 124.01; Administrator and Registrar General.

Second paragraph, page 31: For 2020 Financial Year, the institution submitted a budget amounting to, as stated.
The last paragraph: The organisation’s budget submission for Financial Year 2021 was as stated, and the Committee views this allocation adequate and recommends it approval.

Vote Head 124.07; Legal Aid Board.


Page 32, second paragraph: Responding to probing questions relating to the Board’s challenges in the dispensation of its mandate as stated, [third paragraph] for Financial Year 2021,the Board presented the budget amount of, as stated, but was allocated as stated, which is subject to Parliamentary approval.

Generally, the Committee was pleased with the work of the Board as well as it expenditure for the year under review and therefore recommends as stated.
Vote Head 124.05; Justices Sector Coordinating Office.

24 Page 33, first paragraph: For the 2020 Financial Year, this sector initially submitted a budget as stated.

Second paragraph: It can be stated without doubt that there is an existing malice in the Legal and Justices Sector as stated.
The last one: Having this in mind, and looking at the scope of the sector in its entirety, the Committee believes that the budget as stated allocation to the sector for 2021 is adequate and therefore recommends it approval.

Vote Head 110.12; Law Reform Commission.

Second Paragraphs: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the 2020 Financial Year, the Commission’s original budget submission was as stated.
The last paragraph: The Committee considers the budget allocation of, as stated, to be adequate and recommends it approval.

Vote Head 124.06; Sierra Leone Law School.

The third paragraph: The Committee noted there were a lot of institutional lapses at the school as stated.

The Committee considers the Law School allocation of, as stated for Financial Year 2021 to be adequate and therefore considers it approval.

Vote Head 409.00; Ministry of Trade and Industry.


The third paragraph: The Ministry made it Financial Year 2021 budget submission of, as stated but was allocated with as stated.
Responding to probing questions relating to the areas that will be affected as a result of the huge gap between the budget submission and that which was approved, the Vote Controller disclosed that it will adversely affect the purchase of vehicles, facilitation and coordination of Strategic Policy, Legislative Reviews, Furniture and Equipment, Stationaries, Computers, running cost and Fuel.
Page 35: Considering the relevance of Strategic Policies and Legislative review to be done by the Ministry to further attract investment and trade, and to ensure that doing 25 business in Sierra Leone is conducive, the Committee recommends a supplementary budget allocation to the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Vote Head 409.01; Sierra Leone Standards Bureau.

The fourth paragraph: The Director further stated that notwithstanding the above mitigating factors, as stated.
Page 36: In the 2020 Financial Year, the Sierra Leone Standards Bureau Parliamentary approval allocation was as stated.

The last paragraph: For Financial Year 2021 the Bureau was allocated Le 4Bln.

Vote Head 409.00; Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency [SLIEPA] Paragraph four: For the Financial Year 2021, the Agency made the budget submission as stated to the Ministry of Finance.

However, the allocation made to the Agency by the Ministry of Finance for the year under review was as stated.
The last paragraph: Mr Chairman, bearing in mind that the Donor support to the Agency has dwindled in the last two years, and such situation continues in the coming year, the Committee recommends a supplementary budget allocation.

Vote Head 419.00 Local Content Agency.

Page 37, the second paragraph: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the original budget allocation for the Agency to the Ministry of Finance for Financial Year 2021 was as stated.
The last paragraph: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, bearing in mind the critical role of the Agency, and taking into consideration its role in the area of local content production and consumption, promotion of local industries and value addition, employment and procurement, capacity building, technology transfer and skills transfer, the Committee recommends a supplementary budget allocation to this Agency in Financial Year 2021.
Vote Head 409.01; Department of Corporative 26 Page 38, the third paragraph: During the hearing, some Members recounted their experience with Corporative in the 60s, 70s and 80s as stated.

The last paragraph: In view of the above, the Committee recommends supplementary budget allocation to the Department for Financial Year 2021.

Vote Head 409.04; Sierra Leone Produce Marketing Company.
The second paragraph: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee observed that the Company is operating several Bank Accounts and therefore not in compliance with the Single Treasury Account as stated.

The third paragraph: The Company’s budget approved by Parliament for Financial Year 2020 was as stated.

The last paragraph: For Financial Year 2021, the Ministry of Finance budget allocation to PMC subject to Parliamentary Approval was as stated.
And since the Company is self- funded, the Committee recommends the approval of it allocated budget.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, pursuant to section 111 sub section 3[1] S.O 66 [1] and [2], the Committee of Finance management recommends that the entire Budget Heads, including sub heads listed below stand part of the schedule and that the recommendations contained therein be approved in order to enhance effective delivery to the nation, thank you very much [Applause].
THE CHAIRMAN: I thank the Chairman of the Finance Committee for the presentation of his report, well, the first of a series of reports that he will be presenting to the House.

The debate is now open but I will like to remind the Honourable Members that their contributions must be related to the Minister’s proposals and they should also be limited to the contributions of the MDAs as presented in the sectorial report.
There is usually a tendency for us to stray beyond that, but let us try to restrict our contributions as much as possible to the report as presented.

Oh!

everything seems to be okay?

Or you are still digesting?

27 HON.

IBRAHIM B. KARGBO: Mr Chairman, thank you very much.

I also want to use this opportunity to thank the Chairman of the Finance Committee for making a very brilliant presentation to us.
But may I state, Mr chairman, that I would want some clarification, and the Minister is here, as to whether or not there are no exempt clauses relating to the Single Treasury Account, because some of the Committees seem to suggest that even the struggling Ministries should adhere to the Single Treasury Account.

The Independent Media Commission can barely survive on a day to day basis, and I do not know where they are going to get the money to pay into a Single Account.
So I want this to be clarified; whether there are no exempt clauses and what qualifies a Ministry to adhere to the Single Treasury Account.

I want that clarification, but that the Minister can do.

But Mr Chairman, the Chairman of the Finance Committee also mentioned the Independent Media Commission.

The Independent Media Commission is starved of funds.

I know this because I had worked there, and I have seen no improvement over the years.
All some of us can do now because of the new challenges confronting that Commission, we would suggest that the allocation to that Commission be upgraded [we address upwards], because it is important that it succeeds, especially taking into consideration the new changes in Legislation relating to that Commission.

And also importantly, is the Corporative Department.

The Chairman has already mentioned, and appropriately too, that is a Department that has been neglected over the years.
And ironically Mr Chairman, you know fully well that that was a very important Department in this country which produced three Vice Presidents, and none of them stood up to change the face of that Department.

S.I Koroma was Vice President and worked for the Corporative Department, Salia Jusu Sheriff worked for the Corporative Department, Solomon Berewa worked for the Corporative Department; all of them became Vice Presidents in this country.

This is a very important Department.


I want us to address the issues of the Corporative Department at a special session because this was one institution that performed a major role in the development of our rural areas in this country, but now apparently, it has been neglected.

So I would 28 address this issue more later Mr chairman if I am given the opportunity.

But also importantly, I agree with the Chairman; the allocation to this Department should be reviewed upwards, to us it is important.
Then of course I have already mentioned the Independent Media Commission and its new pivotal role, and the need for us to make it functional; more effective than at the moment.

Because if you take into consideration the fact that they cannot even pay their rent - these are all factors that we must take into consideration.

They cannot even meet up their commitments; there are no vehicles to take them to the provinces even though we insist that they should decentralize their activities.
They have an Office in Bo, Makeni, Freetown, Kenema, but they cannot go from place one to place two to be able to perform their duties.

So all I can say Mr Chairman, is that the IMC should be considered again and their allocation should be reviewed upwards, thank you very much Mr Chairman.

THE CHAIRMAN: I thank the Honourable Member for that very important contribution.

HON.

BOSTON MUNDA: Thank you very much Mr Chairman.


Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to thank the Chairman of Finance Committee for that presentation made this morning.

Mr Chairman, I want to re-echo the Honourable Member; Honourable IB Kargbo, considering the constraints of the Independent Media Commission.

Of course we are Honourable Members and we conduct our oversights.

Once we visit those MDAs, most of the time their constraints would be very, very clear to us.
And also, it is also clear during this Budget hearing that the Independent Media Commission is really constrained.

It would amaze you to know that they only have one vehicle to effect their operations cut across this country.

Of course recently, this House ratified the Repeal of Part 5, and if we want to popularise that repeal, we have to empower the Independent Media Commission; we have to give support.
So today, Madam Deputy Minister you are here, we want you to carry this message; that we want those allocations to effect 29 earlier as possible so that they can also run their programs within the budget and the Financial Year.
If you delay in paying those allocations to them, they will not perform and we will also be constrained as Parliament to conduct our oversights because most of the complains will be on the Ministry of Finance; ‘we have not received allocations on time so we cannot proceed with our programs’.

So if we are here this morning also to look into all of these, we want you as Ministry of Finance to take ownership in providing those allocations on time.
Also to the SLBC, Mr Chairman, we have realized over the years that SLBC normally provides services across the nation, more so to all MDAs.

But what is lacking along the line is the payment structure; they are not paying for those services.

It was only last year that SLBC started having allocation from the Ministry of Finance.

Over the years they have not been receiving allocations, they have been relying on what they generate- in fact they are not generating revenue to fix their problems.
So this Committee of Information and Communication last year advocated on their behalf for them to be given a budgetary line, and eventually that happened.

But again for example, Parliament do owe SLBC huge amount of money, even State House!

So we as Committee, we instructed them to submit the list of all their debtors so that we would help them collect their monies, which in turn will also help them improve on their activities and coverage.

That has been their normal challenge!


When once you have them here on normal oversight programmes, they normally tell you that MDAs owe them huge arrears.

So we cannot go far off, we cannot establish more channels.

So that is the normal challenge, Mr Chairman.

We want the Ministry of Finance also to look into all of these.

Those MDAs that have to pay the SLBC and have budget lines for those programmes should pay those monies.

We have to help our MDAs.


Of course Right to Access Information is part of Democracy; it enhances Democracy.

We also have to give them support because they are also constrained.

We had a meeting with them couple of weeks ago and they told us that they are also constrained 30 to establish in the Provinces; they want to have a regional presence.

These are all concerns.

So we have to ensure we release their allocations earlier this year so that they can effect their programmes.
Madam Deputy Minister, kindly convey this message to the Minister that we want those MDAs to be paid beforehand and not at the end of the year.

Thank you very much Mr Chairman and thank you Madam Minister.

THE CHAIRMAN: I thank the Honourable Member for his contribution.

HON ABDUL LATIF SESAY: Thank you very much Mr Chairman [Undertones] No, that has been…listen to the Speaker, the Speaker knows me very well.

THE CHAIRMAN: Go back to your seat, otherwise take your seat!

HON.
HON.

SEGEPOH S. THOMAS: Mr Chairman, in the circumstances may I be heard?

I listened keenly to the Chairman of the Finance Committee when he did his submissions relating to the Local Courts.

I wish to draw your attention to a particular fact here, Mr Chairman, Honourable Members.

The Local Courts, ever in time in memorial were under the Local Government Ministry.
But unfortunately, recently, as a result of some changes here and there, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice Department has been struggling with the Local Government Ministry to take control of the Local Courts.
And this situation has caused a whole lot of discomfort in the governance system of Local Courts, to the extent where the Local Court Chairmen that were appointed during the previous government are still continuing to occupy their seats because there has been no agreement between the Local Government Ministry and the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice.

We as a Parliament cannot allow a thing like this to continue, Mr Chairman, Honourable Members.
We cannot allow a thing like this to continue, governance should continue, we should not allow a situation between two Departments of Government to stall the entire governance system, especially in the local areas of our country.
In the circumstances, at this point Mr Chairman, I wish to move a motion that the Local Government Ministry takes full control of the Local Courts [Applause], and that they do 31 that immediately, and that the Court Chairmen or the Administration of these Local Courts be appointed with immediate effect [Applause].

THE CHAIRMAN: I think your motion seems to resonate very well across the aisle [Applause].

Any seconder?

HON.

ZAINAB C KAMARA: Mr Chairman, I so second!


[MOTION PROPOSED PUT AND AGREED TO] HON.

SEGEPOH S. THOMAS: And Mr Chairman, I crave your indulgence for the necessary instruction to be given to the Clerk for proper communication.
THE CHAIRMAN: May I just draw attention, DSPK, that in light of the Motion that you moved and has received the approval of the House, that attention be paid to the recommendation made for the withholding of the allocation to the Local Court, that it be released immediately the needful is done.

HON.

SEGEPOH S. THOMAS: Yes Sir, yes Sir, exactly, exactly!

THE CHAIRMAN: So that would be an addendum to your motion, thank you.

HON ABDUL LATIF SESAY: Thank you very much Mr Chairman.
I want to thank the Chairman for the Finance Committee for painstakingly organising all of these things that we are here discussing.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to shed light on the Civil Service Training College.

When I look at the document, it says that for the year 2021 the Ministry is basically going to allocate Le 683, 256, 400 for the Civil Service Training College.

For me, I believe that amount is meagre; very small!
[Suspension of S O 5[2] ] HON ABDUL LATIF SESAY: As I was saying Mr Chairman, the Civil Service Training College is one key institution that this country needs to empower.

The reason being, we are already seeing how our Civil Servants are basically not performing their functions very well.
You see, why this Civil Service Training College was basically formed is to see how best people that are to be employed in the service go through thorough scrutiny, 32 go through thorough programmes that would enable them to perform in their respective Offices.

But Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I believe this institution is not regarded highly in our country.
Somebody can be employed today and go straight to work without going through or being shown what the Civil Service is all about; or never went through orientation.

When you go through Orientation, you will know exactly what the codes and conducts of the service are, and you will also know your responsibilities in the new position that you are going to hold.

We are seeing government spending thousands of Dollars sending out Civil Servants to different countries to basically enhance performance.
I believe if we basically take this Civil Service Training College as one that we should empower, we would reduce the cost of sending our Civil Servants out there to gain experience, which I believe will do us good.

But looking at what is given; Le 683, 256, 400 Mr Chairman, I believe this amount should be looked into.

The Civil Service, we all know is an integral part, and government is basically employing almost every other time.
That is why we need to ensure that this Civil Service Training College be upgraded.

When you go to other countries, they do have their own, and it is functional, and they are paying attention to this very institution because they know that the performance of their work force; ie.

the Civil Servants, rely greatly on what this College can basically offer.

Let me go to another area, Mr Chairman.

When you talk about the Local Content Policy or the Local Content Authority, it is very important.
Here, we know that this country, for a very long time, we do rely on imported items; things that are made out there in Europe or other parts of the world.

But now, we are seeing that as Sierra Leoneans, we want to be proud of our own.

That was why the former president, Dr Ernest Bai Koroma said we should focus on Local Content.
But when you look at the money that is allocated to this Agency, you will note that they are definitely going to face a lot of challenges because, for you to effect monitoring for 33 Local Content, it basically has a lot of financial implications.

For us in Sierra Leone, it is a new thing.

So it means this very institution will have to do a lot of sensitization and a lot of visitations just to ensure that the people come to terms with our local products and labour that we have.
So Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I believe we have to look into this Content so that we empower our people.

Now Government is basically pushing for Agriculture to be up scaled- that is fantastic!

So it means we are definitely going to have more rice given to us by our local farmers.

But if this Agency cannot be able to perform in other sectors; because mind you, it is not just Agricultural sector- even the Mining, Labour, production, all of those things are taken into consideration.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, we also have the area of the Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency [SLIEPA].

I think these are some of the Agencies that we also need to focus on because Sierra Leone basically needs a lot and lot of investments.

We should not only rely on taking Loans or Grants, but we should also look out for investment.

Investment basically, most times comes from the private sector.
And so therefore, SLIEPA has a lot of responsibilities, reason being, they will be in charge of going out there to source investment or to look out for investors so that we can be able to improve on our export.

But when you look at the money that is allocated, I believe we need to look into it because we need more investors now than ever.

And so therefore, we have to ensure that we indeed empower SLIEPA so that we can have the required investment and also be able to export.
Currently as it is, we are not exporting.

Even if we are exporting, we are doing that in a very minimal scale.

So therefore, I think we should focus on having private investment which will trigger export, thank you very much Mr Chairman.

THE CHAIRMAN: I thank the Honourable Member for his contribution.

I recognise you and I want to congratulate you for your punctuality on a daily bases.

And I am prepared to recognise you colleagues by your side.

34 HON.
34 HON.

JOSEPH WILLIAMS: Thank you so much, thank you for that recognition.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I am grateful Mr Chairman, to add my voice to this 2021 Budget.

Mr Chairman on that note, I want to draw the attention of the House to 301; Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, and also 312; the Teaching Service Commission.

Some time ago, we summoned the Minister to this House and all questions were levied on him in respect of the performance of our pupils in schools.
Mr Chairman, I want to draw the attention of this House to one of the key components of Education.

By the way, education can only be achieved with concerted efforts; it is not one person’s affair- the Ministry, the Teachers, the parents, the pupils and the Community members.

And on that note, I wish my colleague who raised the issue of the poor performance of pupils in Kono District would have been in the Well at this moment.
I just want to draw the attention of this House to one key component of Education that has for some reasons been ignored over the years- and that is Library; it is a resource place, it is a place where people go to attain knowledge, is a place where people go to get first-hand information instead of saying; SO 2 ‘Den say, that say’ etc.

It is a place where we can read our Journals, where we can read our Newspapers, where we can read documents pertaining to our activities.
And on that note Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, we have only twenty-three Libraries in the whole country.

And if you look at the twenty-three Libraries, we have two million students in the entire country.

If you divide the twenty-three Libraries to that, we are talking about over eight hundred students per Library.

And there is only one Library for the whole of Kono District.
I know the Sierra Leone Library Board is doing everything humanly possible to achieve the Free Quality Education, but it is difficult to get a quality education when we do not have the resource places, when there are no book shelves in our schools, and when there are no adequate Text Books in those places for everybody to make use of.
Out of these twenty-three Libraries, only four Libraries are controlled by the Ministry of Basic and Senior Education – the remaining nineteen Libraries are devolved to the Councils.

There should be more facilities to that extent.

We have only fifty inspired readers.

What 35 do we mean by inspired readers?

Is that a section of a school where you have materials where students can go and take materials to read.
And if we want to move in the twenty-first century where education can be a part and parcel of us, I want to encourage the Ministry of Basic and Senior Education to ensure that their proposal in which they intend to expand on the Library facilities in the country, due consideration be given to the many places I have visited.

Places like Gbinty and Koribondo which have large number of people but no Libraries.

HON.
HON.

DICKSON ROGERS: Mr Chairman, can you please ask the Honourable Member why Gbinty, specifically?

Because there are so many places like Njaama Gbongor and others that do not have Libraries but he is very much interested in Gbinty.

HON.

JOSEPH WILLIAMS: Thank you very much my Whip.

The reason why I called Gbinty is because of the industrious and learned people coming from Gbinty and we want to maintain that one.
We want to make sure that our intervention in education be on a higher momentum in Port Loko District, especially now that we are focusing on girl child education in Port Loko, Karineh and Falaba.

So it is on that premise, Sir.

And also Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to call on the Minister’s attention to Koribondo.

Please remember Koribondo also.

Koribondo is a gateway to Pujehun, Koriboindo is a gateway to Sumbuya, Koribondo is a gateway to Blama.
And if you take that into consideration…, by the way I want to express my gratitude to you and UNOPS for the evacuation of the Power Electricity in Koribondo ‘city’ before Christmas.

I want to say thank you because we are no longer in darkness, and that we are going to have a green energy in our ‘city’.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, to talk furthermore on the Library situation; there are only six explorer Libraries, i.e.
the six places where you have a higher facility of Library that is well loaded with Internet facilities that people can get access to.

We are really pleading for an extension of such facilities all over.

Also, I want to express gratitude to the Chief Librarian, Mr Salieu and the Board Chairperson, Professor Gbamanja and the other team members who are doing all they 36 could to see that these Libraries have adequate facilities to enhance our Free Quality Education.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I will not take my seat without asking you to give me the permission to talk on the Teaching Service Commission.

As I speak to you Mr Chairman, there is already an HR Manual that is out to capture all the questions that are being raised by the Teachers in our various schools.
All the sixteen Districts we have in the country, including the Teaching Service Commission, as I speak to you, they are on a very robust training with locally trained and qualified persons to pass on information to our Teachers.

I want to appeal to the Ministry and the Teaching Service Commission to please consider the Teachers.

Many of our District Directors [DDs] and Supervisors in our various places are females.
Recently, one of them said to me that they appreciated the Motor Bikes given to them, but called for consideration to be given in due course by providing convenient mobility for them on a Provincial or District bases in order for them to reach out to our schools.

On that note, Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want due consideration to be given by Madam Minister and her team to all the issues I have outlined here, thank you.

THE CHAIRMAN: I thank the Honourable Member for his contribution.
I recognise the Honourable Member from Bo.

HON.

MAADA LEBBIE: Thank you Mr Chairman.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to thank the Chairman of Finance Committee.

Mr Chairman, I want to draw the attention of this House and the Minister, with specific reference to Agencies that are self-Income generating Agencies.

Mr Chairman, I am not sure Agencies who are generating their own Income should just be granted a blanket Cheque.
Madam Minister, I am not sure whether your Ministry or this country must just grant Cheque to Agencies that are self-Income generating Agencies.

This is because most of them are generating Billions of Leones and are just expending the monies at will.

Mr Chairman.

I want this House to pay keen attention to Agencies of such nature.

Imagine you generate Le10 Bln and nobody is there to ask you how you expend those monies.
You must come back at least to this House or the Ministry of Finance and give us a draft of your budget 37 for the subsequent year.

By so doing, Members of Parliament in different Committees will have an insight of your operations, moving forward.

And we can as well track your expenditure, otherwise, those are some of the loopholes or leakages we would not be able to track.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, Ministry of Finance as well needs to be up to speed in releasing these allocations to some MDAs.
There are some Parastatals in the Ministry of Transport and Aviation, specifically the Sierra Leone Port Authority that the Ministry of Finance owes up to the tune of Le25Bln for the CTN Fees.

Many Correspondences have been sent to your Office but to date, nothing has been done.

So Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I am pleading with the Ministry of Finance to design a payment plan to at least disburse this money back to the Sierra Leone Port Authority.
You know there are projects within that sector that need immediate attention.

For instance, the Lungi Jetty is a death trap, the Lungi Jetty is a death trap!

The other day I saw a Video that was sent by the people of Lungi to the Members of Parliament representing Lungi Community.

It was forwarded to me and I also sent it to the Management of the Sierra Leone Port Authority and that was their cry; that they have forwarded series of Correspondences to you but with no actions.
So please kindly pay keen attention to their plea.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, we are all talking about the Free Quality Education.

Yes, the Free Quality Education is a big boost to this nation but yet the issue of Teachers has been a challenge.

There is need for the Teaching Service Commission to pay keen attention to the recruitment process.

Because I want to tell you, there are some DDs that are selling the ED Forms; they are selling them out there to Teachers.
If you don’t have Le1,000,000 or Le1,500,000 to purchase those Forms you will not have access to them.

So kindly pay keen attention to that, Mr Chairman.

On that note, Mr Chairman [Undertones] of course, there are evidences out there!

On that note, I want to thank Madam Minister and the Chairman of Finance Committee, thank you very much.

38 THE CHAIRMAN: I thank the Honourable Member for his contribution.

I recognise the Member from Kono.

HON.

EMERSON S. LAMINA: Thank you very much Mr Chairman.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to thank the Chairman for the Finance Committee for the presentation of such a concise, though summarized but detailed report at this Committee Stage.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, our Committee was opportune to superintend over three MDAs, including Mines and Mineral Resources, NMA and Karineh Council.

And at the end of the Appropriation, I have come to the realization that the future for mining is so bright in the coming year.
It is bright because there are pending documents that are about to be ratified.

I strongly hold the belief, upon ratification the Mining sector will grow.

At the moment, Le1.856, Le2.657, Le2.35 Billion respectively for those three MDAs are going to be approved at the end of the day, which I consider very meagre but with the hope of increasing budgetary allocation next year, the future will be great.
Mr Chairman, we also realized during the Appropriation that much of the revenues that we were supposed to have collected from large scale mining are not being utilized.

Revenues from small scale mining are also not being utilized.

But we must also give kudos to NMA for at least employing 270 Mines Compliance Officers who have contributed so much in raising revenue from the Artisanal Mining sector.
Those 270 Mines Compliance Officers have done so much and as I speak to you, the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources and the Committee have already disbursed 8Bln to respective Chiefdoms and Local Councils as DACDF.

That could not have come by without the contributions from those Mines Compliance Officers being paid by NMA.

Surprisingly Mr Chairman, their payments do not come from the Consolidated Fund, but rather, the revenue raised from NMA.

NMA has been doing good in that particular direction.
Mr Chairman, if the NMA and the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources actually exploit next year with many Licenses to potential Mining Companies, it will do good.

For example, large scale Mining Companies pay $500,000 per year just for License, small 39 scale Mining Companies pay $80,000 per year, and just for Exploration Mining Licenses, they pay $25,000.

And this has been in compliance with the Single Treasury Account.
They have been very faithful in paying, except the 10% interest they will take to service their MDAs.

Mr Chairman, they only need to be brought to speed to produce documents such as the Mines and Minerals Act and the Geophysical Survey Report.

I am too sure that before the expiration of the first quarters of 2021, the Geophysical Survey Report would have come out.
And if it comes out, giving out exploration Licenses will be minimized because there will be no need for potential investors to come and do exploration but rather, they will be directly paying their large scale Mining Licenses which is about $500,000 per Mining Company or per investor.
Mr chairman, Honourable Members, the H.E’s Office as well as the NMA and the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources need to be brought to speed for the production of the Mines and Minerals Act, the Geophysical Report and the Strategic Plan for NMA 2021 to 2025, this is very, very important.

We also realised Mr Chairman, that the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources are not generating income at all.
And it will also be prudent if what NMA generates, at least a rebate is given to the Mines and Mineral Resources to service their Ministry being the policy makers.

And what I keep on seeing again as an anomaly Mr Chairman, is the Petroleum Directorate Sector [PD].

There is no record, I am still looking for one; for a Supervisory Committee from this Parliament to supervise the Petroleum Directorate.

And I consider the Petroleum Directorate to be Mineral Resources related.
There is no Committee here in Parliament that supervises the Petroleum Directorate; this a huge anomaly which suppose not to be.

THE SPEAKER: Honourable Member, I do not think you were in the House when I advised Honourable Members to restrict their contributions to the Vote Heads that have been presented.

And the Vote Heads presented so far do not include the Mines and Minerals Ministry that you are alluding to.

So reserve that for later, if you don’t mind.

40 HON.
40 HON.

EMERSON S. LAMINA: Thank you Mr Chairman.

Because it came out as a challenge from the very sector head that is why I am bringing it up.

Mr Chairman, to summarise, I also notice that in 2019 the Petroleum Directorate [PD] was also challenged, the Mines and Mineral Resources was also challenged to establish Policy Directorate.

In 2020, it also came up and we are hoping that in 2021 it will be established.

THE SPEAKER: You take that one up at the appropriate time.

HON.
HON.

EMERSON S. LAMINA: Thank you Mr Chairman.

Mr Chairman, in summary, I want to unreservedly support the motion raised by the Deputy Speaker- very, very important.

But I also want to observe that if that will see the light of the day, then the Local Government Act also needs to be repealed because in part 5[20], the Local Government Act only has the authority for Legislative and Executive authorities and not the Judiciary.
Which means, the Ministry of Justice has to devolve that particular responsibility or a repeal in the Local Government Act.

I support it because I see that the Local Court Chairmen are constrained.

Most times they are supported by the Paramount Chiefs, and that is not their responsibility.

so I wholeheartedly support that particular Motion and I hope it will see the light of day.

All in all, I am too sure...

THE CHAIRMAN: No, then let us be clear!


If there is an extant Law that runs against the mtotion of the Deputy Speaker, then we can treat his motion as a notice of motion to effect an amendment to that existing law in due course.

HON.

EMERSON S. LAMINA: Thank you Mr Chairman.

There is an extant Law… THE CHAIRMAN: But the matter is of grave concern to a lot of Members across the aisle and the country at large.

HON.
HON.

EMERSON LAMINA: It is timely and topical, and at the same time, Inter- Ministerial Committee gives powers for Ministry to devolve certain function.

So we can take advantage of that particular provision that, at Inter-Ministerial Committee, which is most time chaired by the Honourable Vice President, can instruct Ministries to devolve certain functions and it becomes Policy.
Thank you, I am too sure that 2021, the real 41 application of session 7[1] of our Constitution which states that the Mines and Ministry will harness all the resources for betterment, thank you Mr Chairman.

THE CHAIRMAN: Honourable Member, I think this entire House knows the extent of your passion for the Mines and Minerals sector, but let us wait until we deal with it in the Appropriation Bill, thank you.

HON.
HON.

JOSEPHINE MAKIEU: Mr Chairman, may I say many thanks to the Chairman of the Finance Committee who has done a very wonderful job for us today, and also extend my gratitude to the Minister who is before us this morning.

We are very much happy to be in this Well today to come to the final stage of our budget that is going to take us through 2021.

My concern is page 26; Electricity Generation and Transmission Company [EGTC].
I learn to understand from the report that the Ministry of Finance did not capture this company [EGTC] in the Appropriation Bill for 2021.

But however, they also faced the Committee for scrutiny for their expenditure during the 2020 Financial Year.

The concern they raised was that they are the only Income generating Company for EDSA and that they were having a lot of constrains.

They said they did not get much of what they budgeted for the last even though they were the ones providing income for EDSA.
But their constrain, according to them, as I read, they said; ‘the lack of adequate funds to procure Fuel and maintenance of the generating Plant, no Tax rate on procurement of Fuel and Spare Parts, making the IPP more competitive in terms of tariff per kwh’.

If they are the only Company that is generating fund for EDSA, I believe consideration must be given to them.

So I am pleading with the Ministry of Finance to pay more attention to them in order to enable them generate more funds for EDSA.
So I am pleading on their behalf for them to be considered in the Appropriation Bill.

And also, for now we can say kudos to the Government of Sierra Leone for the improvement of electricity in the country.

His Excellency is really trying because we are now getting good Electricity supply as it used to be, even though some areas still go 42 without electricity for weeks or maybe months.
Amidst all of that, we can say thanks to the government and also the Ministry of Finance which is taking care of all our finances, and we believe that due consideration will be given to this Company for it to really be on sound footing, I thank you very much.

THE SPEAKER: I thank the Honourable lady for her contribution.

I will take two more speakers before we wind up.

HON.

ISHMAIL S. SANDY: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, [Undertone] I have been granted the Floor.
You heard the Chairman said the Honourable from Bo.

THE SPEAKER: No wait a minute, which District are you from?

HON: Bonthe THE SPEAKER: I think… I think... HON.

ISHMAIL S. SANDY: Until you get to Bo you can’t go to Bonthe [Laughter] THE CHAIRMAN: No, let us get the Reverend to pray for us first.

Let us give preference to the Reverend.

HON.

ISHMAIL S SANDY: Mr Speaker, God bless you.


Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to join colleagues to thank the Chairman of the Finance Committee for the good work, and our Minister; the pride of Parliament- yes she deserves it.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, as a nation poised to realise SDG 16, which hinges on the promotion of Peace, Justice and strong institutions, it is incumbent on us to really promote some of these Institutions which to me, are right based; that promote Peace, that promote equity in society.

In view of this, I really want to narrow my contribution to the Legal Aid Board.
You will all agree with me that from inception, Legal Aid Board has done tremendously well in the promotion of Peace and Justice, especially out of Court settlement.

But this institution, from our engagement is highly challenged.

Their performance is great, their realization is very, very much admirable but they are highly challenged.

It will interest you to know that this institution with all they are doing, they have a lot of impediments.
For instance, logistically, for a whole 43 Board service in the entire nation, just have two vehicles stationed is Western Area.

They are now almost in all of the Chiefdoms, not only the Districts.

And they lack even Motor Bikes for their personnel to access communities.

As recent as last year, they lost about four or five quality staff; Legal personnel.

They lost them to other Departments and to Private Firms just because of the poor condition of service.
In view of this, Mr Chairman , Honourable Members, this Institution presented a Budget of Le12Bln 899Mln but only Le5Bln was approved.

And as a Committee, we thought it fit to make a recommendation that an increase of 5% to that Le5Bln is done.

In view of this Lady Minister, I want to plead with you; to sustain the good work of this particular Agency, endeavour to increase their allocation.
And I will also come to another institution in this same Justice Sector, and that is the Office of the Attorney General [AG].

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, it was a surprise to us as a Committee to really see the challenges the Office of the AG and the Administrator General’s Office are really facing, especially the AG’s Office which coordinates the administration of Justice across the country.
They are highly challenged; they are lack of personnel and it is not attractive to Legal Practitioners because of the poor service.

And if this continues, it will undermine the dispensation of Justice.

In view of this, I also want to be their advocate here to recommend to the Minister that please, let there be due consideration to see how best this allocation which was initially Le4Bln but was cut down to Le2Bln, be reconsidered in a Supplementary Budget.
For time sake, I think I will limit myself to this and thank you Mr Chairman for granting me this opportunity.

THE CHAIRMAN: I thank the Honourable for his contribution.

I recognise the Member again from Bo and he will be the last.

HON.

KEKURA C. VANDY: Thank you very much, Mr Chairman.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to thank the Ministry of Finance and also thank the Finance Committee, especially the Chairman.
And thanks to all Honourable Members of 44 the House because this was a concerted effort; all of us came together and got all this information for onward submission to the Committee on Finance, and they have compiled it, thank you very much Mr Chairman.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I just want to make mention of three Vote Heads here.

The first one is, 301.00; Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, we know and I said it in the last debate that this Government is doing well to making sure education is brought back to a better footing.

In that light, I said it and I challenged Honourable Members of this House and up to date nobody has ever challenged me that since Independence, this is the only regime that has recruited Teachers up to five thousand in less than three years.
And Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, as I speak to you, we have received the compiled list from the Teaching Service Commission which we will publish and place it in your different Pigeon holes so you will go and find out the benefit this government has done for your Constituents.

We are going to do that and I am going to follow that.

I will continue challenging people on that.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, of course we know that the educational fabrics of this country over the years have collapsed.
So, even if we are talking about massive failure today it cannot be amended within the twinkle of an eye.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the money allocated to the Ministry of Education [Interrupted] HON.

IB KARGBO: Allocation is what we are discussing!

HON.

KEKURA C VANDY: Yes!

It is what we are discussing but when you have doubt I need to clarify that, Honourable Member.

The money allocated to the Education Ministry [undertone] of course it is satisfactory.
It can never be enough even if we give them $30Trln it will not be enough to run the Ministry of Education effectively.

But for our economy, I think it is encouraging and the Government eyes are on education on daily basis.

When the need arises for more expenditure, there is a provision for the Ministry of Finance to bring forward Supplementary Budget to this House.
We want to thank the Ministry for the support they are giving to that sector; the Ministry of 45 Education because we really want to have a quality education as it used to be.

We want to go back to the Athens of Africa.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, of course I am also pleased with my Ministry; the Ministry of Energy.

Of course huge money is allocated there, and that tells you that the Government is ready.
As we all agreed in this Well that affordable electricity is a human right, this Government has accepted that, and that is why huge money has been directed there.

But the only doubt I have here Mr Chairman and Honourable Members, is the Sierra Leone Electricity and Water Regulation Commission.

This Commission performs dual purpose; they are charged with overseeing the activities of the water and electricity sectors, which means they have a lot to do.
But the money allocated to this Commission, I think is small.

I therefore want to plead with the Ministry of Finance to look into it critically because the other day when they appeared before us, we noticed there are a lot of activities they needed to have done but have not done them at all.

For instance, there are lots of sensitization they needed to have embarked upon but they have not done that at all.
Most times you see colleague Honourable Members burdening me in the Well about electricity issues and water regulations.

The Commission is supposed to be informing the public about the tariffs and about other things, but I think they are short of resources to undertake those activities.

So I also want to plead with the Ministry of Finance to look into that.
Of course I want to thank the Ministry of Finance because in the Supplementary Budget, they were also able to allocate huge sum of money to the Energy sector and we are now seeing that most of the Thermal Plants that were not in use over the years have been fixed- one at King Tom, Lungi and Black Hall Road.

We know that the Eastern part of Freetown has been experiencing frequent outages.
The reason for that Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, is that King Tom is used as a hub, but for energy to be evacuated from King Tom to the Eastern part of Freetown has series of challenges.

But if the Black Hall Road Thermal is fixed, then the people in the Eastern part will also benefit from constant electricity supply because we also want them to enjoy the human right the Government is providing for them.

So I want to thank the 46 Ministry of Finance for taking care of the Energy sector.
And of course it is also a novelty; this is another wonderful thing.

This Government is providing funds [this is not Donor Funds] for the Energy sector to provide installation and distribution Network in seven District Headquarter Towns.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for a Government with a challenged economy to take up that challenge is a laudable one.
And I want to assure you that most of the Contractors have even received their first payment and job has commenced in most of these Districts [Undertone] that is what I am saying Honourable Member.

I know you do not want to hear that; anytime the Government does something good some people will not like to hear it.

I am congratulating the Ministry of Finance for providing the resources.

I am thanking them for providing the resources for these wonderful things[Laughter].
They don’t want to hear because we want to electrify Kabala and Kambia, you don’t want to hear.

Thank you very much Ministry of Finance, and the only thing we want to plead with you now is for you to make sure that the monies allocated to these different MDAs reach them on time.

If we are talking about performance, and we except these MDAs to perform to expectation, you must give them their allocations on time otherwise, they will find it difficult to achieve their objectives.
We want to plead with the Ministry of Finance and we hope and pray, because when you tell the Dog you have to tell the bone.

In the Ministry of Finance we have what we call Sources of Government Revenue.

They also want to generate revenue to finance the budget, but in a situation where they have constrains in sourcing this revenue to finance the Budget, then you have no right to blame them.
But we hope and pray that they have different sources of government revenue to be able to finance this budget and give these allocations to the MDAs on time.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, on that note, I what to thank you as Speaker of this House for taking care and spearheading the activities of this Honourable House for this 2020.

As we are coming to the closure of 2020 and heading towards 2021, and the 2021 is what we are discussing; that means you have succeeded 95%.
You succeeded 47 in 2020 Mr Speaker, you succeeded because you have been able to manage the House effectively without any major incident.

I want to thank you very much for that, thank you.

THE CHAIRMAN: I thank the Honourable Member for his contribution, and for the kind sentiment addressed to me.

Madam Minister you may now wish to respond before moving your Motion again.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE [DR. PATRICIA LAVALIE]: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, several Members requested upward increases, notably for the Independent Media Commission, the Legal Aid Board, and the Electricity and Water Regulatory Commission.

What we will do when I go back is to obviously take note, but we would consider the upward increase as part of the supplementary budget that we undertake during the course of next year.
A lot of Members also raised concern about the timely release of allocations to various MDAs and how the delay in the release of allocations tends to impair the implementation of programme activities and achievement of objectives.

Again we take note, what I personally having going to do in the ministry is, I have led the development of an Electronic Expenditure Management System.
It is a new system that was jointly developed with the DSTI, and what we will be doing during the course of next year is to roll out the automation of the passing of expenditures, that way allocations and disbursement are released to the various MDAs in a more timely manner.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I move that the following Votes Heads stand part of this schedule: Vote Head 416.00; Sierra Leones Civil Aviation Authority- Le 27Bln, 916Mln, 903,000 [Le27,916,903,000] Vote Head 425.00; Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority- Le 66Bln, 255Mln, 725,600 [Le 66,255,725,600] Vote Head 301.00; Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education- Le 30Bln, 284Mln, 921,700 [Le 30,284,921,700] 48 Vote Head 312.00; Teaching Service Commission- Le 2Bln, 656Mln, 446,000 [Le 2, 656, 446,000] Vote Head 110, 08; Office of the Ombudsman - Mr Chairman, we take note that you are requesting that this Vote is withheld in the amount of Le 2Bln [Le 2,000,000,000] Vote Head 137.00; National Commission for Democracy- Le1Bln [Le 1,000,000,000] Vote Head 144.00; National Commission for Human Right- Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, you have also requested an upward increase of this specific Vote currently allocated at Le1.6Bln, and the National Commission for Human Right would also be considered during the course of the year.
Vote Head 412.00; National Telecommunications Commission [NATCOM]- Le132Bln, 577Mln, 697,000 [Le 132,577,697,000] Vote Head 140.00; Mass Media Services, SLBC L3Bln [Le 3000, 000,000] Vote Head 110.09; Independent Media Commission- Le 1Bln [Le 1,000,000,000] Vote Head 145.00; Right to Access Information Commission- Le 1Bln [Le 1 000, 000,000] Vote Head 133.00; Ministry of Information and Communications- Le 3Bln, 588Mln, 935,300 [Le 3, 588,935,300] Vote Head 300.00; Ministry of Technical and Higher Education- Le 40Bln, 400Mln, 398,400 [Le40,400, 398, 400] Vote Head 317.00; Sierra Leone Council for Post Graduate College of Health Specialists- Le 3Bln, 837Mln, 496,900 [Le 3, 837,496,900] Vote Head 316.00; Civil Service Training College- Le 683Mln, 256,400 [Le 683,256, 400] Vote Head 406.00; Ministry of Energy- Le 187Bln, 3Mln, 337,700 [Le 187, 3,337,700] 49 Vote Head 413.00; Sierra Leone Electricity and Water Regulatory Commission- Again, I take note.
Current allocation for the year- Le954Mln, 379,100 [Le 954, 379,100] Vote Head 125.00; The Local Court- Le 493Mln, 957,300- [ Le 493,957,300] Vote Head 118.00; The Judiciary of Sierra Leone- Le 14Bln [Le 14,000,000,000].

Vote Head 413.00; The Justice and Legal Service Commission- Le466Mln, 192,900 [Le 466,192,900].

Vote Head 124.00; Office of the Solicitor General- Le 8Bln [Le 8,000,000,000].

Vote Head 124.01; Administrator and Registrar General-Le4Bln, 45Mln, 69,000 [Le 4,045,069,000].
Vote Head 124.07; Legal Aid Board- Le 5Bln [Le 5,000,000,000].

Vote Head 124.05; Justice Sector Coordination Office- Le 633Mln, 560,800 [Le 633,560,800].

Vote Head 110.12; The Law Reform Commission- Le 809Mln, 892,600 [Le 809, 892, 600].

Vote Head 124.06; Sierra Leone Law School- Le 815Mln, 784,300 [Le 815, 784,300].

Vote Head 409.00; Ministry of Trade and Industry- Le3Bln, 250Mln, 541,500 [Le 3,250,541, 500].

Vote Head 409.01; Sierra Leone Standards Bureau- Le 4Bln [Le 4,000,000,000].
Votes Head 409.02; Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency- Le5Bln [Le 5,000,000,000].

Vote Head 419,00; Local Content Agency- Le3Bln [Le3,000,000,000].

50 Vote Head 409.01; Department of Corporative- Le1Bln, 19Mln, 100,600 [Le 1, 19, 100, 600].

Vote Head 409.04; Sierra Leones Produce Marketing Company- Le1Bln, 467Mln, 908, 500 [Le1,467, 908, 500].

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I move that the Vote Heads and the amount stated stand part of the schedule.
[Question Proposed Put and Agreed To] TABLE CLERK: The House resumes THE CHAIRMAN: Madam Minister, you are relived, just bear with me a second before you go.
Please convey the following message to the Minister that tomorrow morning at precisely 9:30, I would like to see the Minister of Finance and his Deputies; to meet with me and the Leadership of Parliament regarding the administration of certain aspects related either to the Ministry’s functions or outside of the Ministry’s functions before we resume the Sitting.

And I do hope they will come, otherwise there will be no Sitting on the Budget tomorrow.
That is really the announcement that I have been keeping until this moment.

We shall now adjourn for Lunch and resume at 2:30pm to continue our deliberations.

I hope all of you have received the second report by the Chairman of the Finance Committee which has been distributed.

So check your pigeon holes and that is what we are going to take up when we resume in the afternoon.

Thank you very much, the House stands adjourn till 2:30’ this afternoon.

HON.
HON.

SEGEPOH S. THOMAS: Mr Speaker, it would seem the break for Lunch has not worked positively for us.

TABLE CLERK: Committee of supply: The Bill entitled, the Appropriation Act 2021- The Minister of Finance.

The House now resolves itself into a Committee of supply [Wigs off].
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I pronounce the following Vote Heads and the corresponding estimate to stand part of the schedule: and 305.01, Madam Minister.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE [DR. PATRICIA LAVALIE]: Honourable Chairman, Honourable Members, I move that the following Vote Heads stand part of the schedule.

Vote Head 304.00; Ministry of Health and Sanitation- Le55Bln, 792Mln, 243,800 [Le55,792,243,800].

Vote Head 345.00; Pharmacy Board Services-Le4Bln [Le4,000,000,000] Vote Head 314.00; National HIV Commission- Le2Bln [Le 2,000,000,000].

Vote Head 307.00; National Medical Supply Agency- Le64Bln, 780Mln, 989,400 [Le 64,780, 989, 400].
Vote Heads 309.00; Medical and Dental Council of Sierra Leone- Le628Mln,350,100 [Le628,350,100].

Vote Head 311.00 Sierra Leone Health Service Commission- Le1Bln, 200Mln, 824,900 [Le1,200,824,900].

Vote Head 315.00; Teaching Hospital Complex Administration-Le2Bln [Le 2,000,000,000].

Vote Head 201.00; Ministry of Defence- Le108Bln, 899Mln, 670,000 [Le108, 899,670].

Vote Head 210.00; Office of National Security- Le7Bln, 501Mln, 335,100 [Le7,501,335,100].
Vote Head 209.00; Central Intelligence and Security Unit- Le8Bln, 201Mln, 835,500 [Le8,201,835,500].

52 Vote Head 108.00; Sierra Leones Commission on Small Arms- Le1Bln [1,000,000,000].

Vote Head 303.00; Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs- Le3Bln, 576Mln, 125,000 [Le3,576,125,000].

Vote Head 405.00; National Tourist Board-4Bln, 908Mln, 235,200 [Le4,908,235,200] Vote Head 405.01; Monuments and Relics Commission- Le2Bln, 607Mln, 500,000 [Le2, 607, 500,000].
Vote Head 409.05; Sierra Produce Monitoring Board- L1.5Bln [Le1, 500,000,000].

Vote Head 421.00; Small Medium Enterprise Development Agency- Le1Bln, 671Mln, 390,200 [Le1,671,390,200].

Vote Head 423.00; Sierra Leone Petroleum Regulatory Agency- Le12Bln, 967Mln, 538,300 [Le12,967,538,300].

Vote Head 308.00 National Commission for Social Action- Le2Bln, 880Mln, 148,300 [Le2,880, 148,300].

Vote Head 129.00; Ministry Finance- Le62Bln, 131Mln, 477, 533 [Le62,131,477,533].
Vote Head 424.00; Sierra Leone Petroleum Directorate- Le6Bln, [Le 6,000,000,000].

Votes Heads 130.00; National Revenue Authority [NRA]- Le199Bln,733Mln,414,800 [Le199,733,414,800].

Vote Head 106.00; Office of the Chief Minister-Le7Bln, 772Mln, 272,100 [Le7, 772,272,100].
Vote Head 106.01; Office of the President Infrastructure Initiative- Le1Bln, 224Mln, 872,300 [Le 1,224,872,300] 53 Vote Head 132.00; Accountant Generals Department-Le25Bln [Le25,000,000,000] Vote Head 110.17; Public Sector Reform Unit-Le1Bln [Le1,000,000,000] Vote Head 112.00; Office of the Vice President-Le13Bln, 712Mln, 35,000 [Le13,712,35,000] Vote Head 110.00-; Office of the Secretary to the President-Le30Bln [Le30, 000,000,000] Vote Head 139.00; National Commission for Privatisation-Le2Bln [Le2,000.000.000] Vote Head 105.00; Ministry of Political and Public Affairs- Le2Bln, 423Mln 361,800 [Le2,423, 561,800] Vote Head 131.00; Revenue Appellate Board-Le923Mln, 1,100 [Le923,1,100] Votes Head 110.11; Political Parties Registration Commission-Le2Bln [Le2,000,000,000] Vote Head 305.00; Ministry of Social Welfare-Le12Bln, 769Mln, 561,700 [Le12, 769,561,700] Vote Head 305.01; National Commission for Persons with Disability- Le2Bln, 390Mln, 242,400 [Le2,390, 242,400] THE CHAIRMAN: Honourable Members the Question is that the Votes Heads and corresponding estimates as pronounced by the Minister stand part of the schedule.
TABLE CLERK: Report of the Sectorial Committee is under consideration by the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Mr Chairman!

HON.

FRANCIS A. KAISAMBA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, part two [2] of consolidated Sectorial Appropriation Report on the recurrent and development budget estimate 2021.
Page eight; specific findings and recommendations: Vote Head 304.00; Ministry of Health and Sanitation, second paragraph: The Minister of Health and Sanitation submitted a Budget as stated, for the fiscal year 2020 as stated.

Last paragraph: the Ministry’s 2021 Budget allocation is as stated, and the 54 Committee recommends that due diligence on Donor Funding be examined by the Select Committees on Transparency and Finance.
For the sake of emphasis, I will repeat that; the Ministry’s 2021 Budget allocation is as stated, and the Committee recommends that due diligence on Donor Funding be examined by the Select Committees on Transparency and Finance.
Vote Heads 345.00; Pharmacy Board Sierra Leone, Page nine, the second paragraph: The Board’s 2021 budgetary allocation is as stated, and the Committee recommends that the supplementary budget allocation be provided to the Board for the effective monitoring of increasing trend of fake drugs.

Vote Head 314; National HIV and AIDS Commission, third paragraph: The Committee further noted the following as stated.
Page ten, last paragraph: The Committee viewed the Commission’s allocation of as stated, as fairly adequate, but recommends a supplementary budget for the procurement of Vehicles and Motor Bikes.

Vote Head 307.00; National Medical Supply Agency, paragraph three: After the National Medical Supply Agency submitted a budget of, as stated for the Financial Year 2020, the Ministry of Finance only approved as stated.
Page 11, the last paragraph: The Committee recommends supplementary allocation to ensure the availability of cost recovery drugs nationwide.

Vote Head 309.00; Medical and Dental Council of Sierra Leone, second paragraph: The Committee noted the following as stated.

Last paragraph: Its 2021 allocation of, as stated is considered fairly adequate to run the Council if properly expended.

Vote Head 311.00 Sierra Leone Health Service Commission.

During it report, the Committee noted the following as stated.
55 Last paragraph: The Committee recommends strict oversight responsibility of the Parliamentary Committee on Health and Sanitation to ensure that the Minister of Health and Sanitation facilitates the Commission’s transition process.

Vote Head 315.00; Teaching Hospital Complex Administration.

Third paragraph: The Committee noted the following serious challenge as inadequate and late payment of subvention as stated.
Last paragraph: The Committee considers the 2021 allocation of as stated to be inadequate to establish a workable and fully operational Teaching Hospital Complex beyond the current state.

The Committee recommends that the Ministry of Finance and the Teaching Complex Board revisit the drawing board for careful formulation with clear objectives[mid and long term] before demanding for more budgetary support.

Vote Head 201.00; Ministry of Deference.


The third paragraph: The Vote Controller disclosed that the decrease in the Ministry’s original budget will affect the general operations of the Ministry.

The Committee however noted that if the Ministry of Finance disburse as stated allocation to the Ministry of Defence without further decrease, the amount is deemed as fairly adequate.

Vote Head 210.00; Office of the National Security [ONS] Page 15: The Committee noted the decrease as stated.
The last paragraph: Considering the importance of security sector of the country, the Committee considers this allocation as inadequate, and therefore recommends a supplementary budget.

Vote Head 209.00; Central Intelligence and Security Unit [SISU] Page 16, second paragraph: For 2021 Financial Year [FY], the Unite submitted a budget of as stated.

Last paragraph: The Committee views this allocation as fairly adequate and therefore recommends for it approval by this Honourable House.
Vote Head 108.00; Sierra Leone Commission of Small Arms.

56 Page 17, third paragraph: From the review of the filled questionnaire, the Committee further observed that as stated.

Last paragraph: The Committee views this Commission’s 2021 allocation as fairly adequate and therefore recommends for it approval by the House.

Vote Head 303.00; Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs.
Third paragraph: For 2021 Financial year, the Ministry submitted as stated to the Minister of Finance, but was allocated the sum as stated.

The decrease according to the Permanent Secretary, will affect programme implementation such as cultural and tourism activities, general operating cost and statutory travels.
Vote Head 405.00; National Tourist Board [NTB] Page 19, the second paragraph: The Committee noted from the review of the filled questionnaire that out of as stated revenue target, the Board generated as stated revenue form the land development fees and use of Off Beach front, Tourist establishment such as Hotels, Guest House, Night Clubs, Restaurants, Casinos, Traveling Agencies etc.

as stated.

The least paragraph: In view of the above, the Committee recommends the following as stated.
Vote Head 501.01; Monument and Relics Commission Page 20, third paragraph: For 2021 Financial Year, the Commission made a submission of as stated, but was allocated as stated.

Last paragraph: In view of the above, the Committee recommends that the 2021 allocation for this Commission be approved by this House and the Parliamentary Committee on Finance looks into Staff Salaries and other emoluments.
Vote Head 409.05; Sierra Leone Produce Monitoring Board [SLPMB] Page 21, third paragraph: The Committee observed a prudent management and reporting system, cataloguing extra budgetary support from Donors as stated.

57 Last paragraph: With a closing balance as stated, the Committee recommends that the 2021 allocation as stated be released in full and on time, and advises that the Board periodically update the Parliamentary Committee on Trade on its activities.
Vote Head 421.00; Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency.

Page 23, third paragraph in bold writings: The Committee was satisfied with the overall activities and performance of the Agency, especially in the areas of Revenue generation.

The Committee is of the view that the Agency is an example worth emulating by other Revenue generating MDAs, and therefore recommends that this allocation on as stated in the Appropriation Bill of 2021 be approved.
Vote head 308.00; National Commission for Social Action [NaCSA].

Second paragraph: The Committee observed that the Commission is operating more than one Account against the spirit of the PFM Act, 2016, and requested the Vote Controller to give reasons for not conforming with the Law.

The Vote Controller informed Members that NaCSA is 90% Donor funded, and the Credit Agreement signed between the Government of Sierra Leone and Donors specified the opening of the special Account for each project.
The Commission’s budget to the Ministry of Finance is as stated.

Last paragraph: Mindful of the numerous national development projects unfolding in almost all the Districts in the country, the Committee considered the 2021 budgetary allocation to the Commission as grossly inadequate and therefore recommends a supplementary provisions on prioritised pressing programmes.
Votes Head 129.00; Ministry of Finance Fourth paragraph, page 26: In responding to the above, the Ministry Official stated that areas in over spending are on development projects like support to Public Financial Management Integrated and Consulted Project, payment of Legal Fees to some MDAs and the amount spent on International statutory subscriptions like IMF, ADB, ECOWAS, WAMS, the UN family, which total as stated.
Reacting to the Committee’s probing question on the Ministry of Finance challenges, the Financial Secretary [FS] disclosed 58 that the Ministry is confronted with the issue of allocating limited resources to the various MDAs for service delivery.

The Committee agreed that the amount as stated allocation provided for the Ministry is fairly adequate and recommends it approval.

Votes Head 424.00; Sierra Leone Petroleum Directorate.
Page 27, third paragraph: During the scrutiny, the Committee observed the following: There was no breakdown of the huge figures on purchase of equipment and office furniture in 2019 as stated.

The last paragraph in bold writing: For efficient and timely allocation of revenue from credible International Oil Companies, the Committee recommends that the approval of as stated [6.0 Billion as stated] in the appropriation Act.
Vote Head 130.00 National Revenue Authority [NRA] Page 29, second paragraph: For 2021 Financial Year, the NRA made original budget submission of budget as stated, and the sum as stated on 2021 Appropriation Bill will be approved by the Authority for each proposed activities as stated.

Last paragraph: In view of the above, the Committee recommends the approval of as stated for FY 2021 for the Authority.

Vote Head 106.00; Office of the Chief Minister.


Second paragraph: The Committee observed that the Permanent Secretary attached to the Office of the Chief Minister is also the Vote Controller for the Office of the Presidential Infrastructure Initiative, the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation [DSTI], Governance Advisory Unit, Directorate of Service Delivery, Communications Unit, and therefore accounts for all the six votes.
Vote Head 106.00 Office of the Presidential Infrastructure Initiative [OPII] Page 31, the second paragraph: From the review of the filled questionnaire the following were observed as stated.

59 Last paragraph: Considering the critical role of the Office of the Chief Minister, the Committee recommends supplementary budget allocation while the Parliamentary Committee on Finance probe into the Office’s 2020 expenditure.
Vote Head 132.00; Accountant Generals Department Page 32, First paragraph: For 2021 Financial Year with no ceiling, the Department’s original budget submission as stated, and the sum of as stated to be approved by Parliament.

In light of the above, the Committee views the Department’s allocation as adequate and therefore recommends it approval.
Vote Head 110.17; Public Sector Reform Unit [PSRU] Page 33; the second paragraph: During scrutiny, the Committee observed that the PSRU had extra budgetary expenditure as stated.

The last sentence in the paragraph: The Committee recommends that extra budgetary expenditure should be approved before spending, and further recommends the approval of the Unit’s allocated amount.
Votes head 112.00; Office of the Vice President Page 34, the second paragraph: For 2021 Financial Year, the VP’s Office made budget submission of as stated, but as stated in the Appropriation Bill, it awaits approval by Parliament.

The Committee views this allocation as inadequate and therefore recommends a supplementary budget.

Vote Head 110.00; Office of the Secretary to the President Third paragraph: For 2021 Financial Year, this Office was allocated a sum of as stated.
The Committee views this allocation as adequate and therefore recommends it approval.

Vote head 139.00; National Commission for Privatization [NCP] Page 34, second paragraph: For Financial Year 2021, the Commission’s budget submission was as stated, but was allocated the sum of as stated, which the Committee 60 views as fairly adequate.

The Committee observed that the Commission faced challenges relating to the payment of Salaries and Operational Cost by Sierra Leone Postal Services SALPOST.
In view of the above, the Committee recommends that as stated.

Vote Head 105.00; Ministry of Political and Public Affairs Page 37, First paragraph: In Financial Year 2021, the Ministry submitted an original budget of as stated to the Ministry of Finance and was however approved with as stated, as listed in the Appropriation Act of 2021 which is far below it original budget submission.
The Committee observed that there was a huge decrease in their original budget submission, which according to Permanent Secretary will undermine the Ministry in the accomplishment of wide range and cross cutting programmes they have outlined as their 2021 deliverables as stipulated in their medium term development program.
The Committee therefore recommends that the Ministry of Finance should increase the allocation of the Ministry in order to impact meaningfully on the implementation of the MTNDP; an awareness raising program in the area of promoting Citizens’ Engagement, Social Mobilization, Civic and Voter Education and Inclusive Governance in the country.
Vote head 131.00; Revenue appellate Board Third paragraph: For 2021 Financial Year, the Commission submitted a budget of as stated, but was allocated the amount of as stated.

The Committee observed that the decrease in the Commission’s original budget submission will affect the Public Relation [PR] Department and operational cost.

In view of the above [page 38], the Committee recommends that the Parliamentary Committee on Finance looks thoroughly into the operations of this Board.
Vote Head 110.11; Political Parties Registration Commission.

The fourth paragraph: For the Financial Year 2021, PPRC made a budget submission of as stated.

The actual allocation made to the Commission was as stated on the Appropriation Bill.

The Committee observed that there was a huge decrease in the 61 Commission’s original budget submission, which according to the Acting Registrar, will affect the following programs as stated.
Vote head 305.00; Ministry of Social Welfare The Fifth paragraph: For Financial Year 2021, the Ministry made an original budget submission to the Ministry of Finance the sum of as stated.

But the sum of as stated on the 2021 Appropriation awaits Parliamentary approval.

During scrutiny, the Committee observed the following as stated [Undertone] Mr Chairman, THE SPEAKER: You are well protected, you are well protected HON.

FRANCIS KAISAMBA AMARA: [Laughs] Thank you Mr Chairman.
THE SPEAKER: You are well protected, especially from the mother of the House.

HON.

FRANCIS KAISAMBA AMARA: Thank you very much Mr Chairman.

Vote Head 305.01; National Commission for Persons with Disability Page 42:, Key findings as stated.

The Committee recommends that government should provide Busses, Buildings and Motor Bikes that are disable friendly as stated.
Conclusions: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, pursuant to section 111 sub-section 3 [1] and SO 66 [1&2], the Committee on Finance now recommends that the entire budget heads, including sub-heads listed below stand part of the schedule; and that the recommendations contained therein be approved in order to enhance effective service delivery to the nation, thank you so much [Applause].

THE SPEAKER: I thank the Chairman of the Finance Committee for his report.
May I just, before I open the matter to debate, may I enquire from you how many more reports are expected tomorrow?

HON.

FRANCIS KAISAMBA AMARA: Expect to have one more consolidated report.

THE SPEAKER: Tomorrow.?

HON.

FRANCIS KAISAMBA AMARA: Yes Sir.

THE SPEAKER: One and the last?

62 HON.

FRANCIS KAISAMBA AMARA: Yes Sir.

THE SPEAKER: Very well!


So, let me indicate here and now that I think two hours will be more than sufficient for us to deal with this particular report and get it approved, and then we meet tomorrow [Undertones].

One hour?

[ordnance answer] Excellent!

So when I do this please [Clears throat] as stated.

Alright, so the Report is now opened to the debate.

And as I said the Report, the Report is now opened to the debate.

HON.

MOSES B.

JORKIE.


: Thank you very much Mr Chairman, thank you very much Madam Minister and thank you very much Mr Chairman of Finance for going through this vigorous Report.

I want to talk in relation to the Health Ministry.

Of cause as it is stated there, there is a Column wherein we referred the Ministry to the Committee of Transparency and Select Committee of Finance in order to actually look into the Donor funds which the Ministry has been spending.
The money allocated to this Ministry as stated is not actually enough, considering the activities undertaken by the Ministry.

One clear example is the Connaught Hospital.

Connaught Hospital was previously awarded Le5Bln, but that money has been sliced down to Le1.6Bln this latter part.

That amount is certainly not enough to run that particular hospital which is serving as both referral and teaching Hospital.
Let us look into what is happening at the Connaught: For every five months, Connaught Hospital is using up to Le140Mln on Anaesthetics and consumables.

For Generator use, they told the Committee that they are using over one hundred Litres of Fuel to run the Generator within four hours.

From all indications you will see that the Hospital is using a huge money and therefore, that money which has been sliced from Le5Bln to Le1.6Bln is not enough for Connaught Hospital.
There are other issues which I cannot go intro because we are only talking on the Ministry.

Let me also comment on the other aspect, which is the Teaching Hospital Complex Administration.

Mr Chairman, this is a very important institution.

For us to have trained Medical Staff, we rely on this particular institution but this institution has problems 63 which are really affecting them.

Previously, the Hospital used to have consultants from Overseas countries who came and helped in teaching the staff.
But because the funding of the Hospital is now getting less, these Consultants are no more coming to teach our Sierra Leonean brothers and sisters who are manning our Centres or Hospitals.

So this is a very big concern, Madam Minister and you need to look into that issue very seriously.

Moving from there, I would want to look at the National Medical Supplies Agency [NMSA] which is another key Agency in the country.
The previous government in 2010 came up with the Free Health Care service delivery to our people.

Previously, there were three categories of people who were benefiting from the services.

But now, you will realise that we have increased the number of beneficiaries to five categories, and I did say, we have even gone above that number.

Instead of the five categories which is stated, almost everybody is now benefiting from these drugs.

Why do I say this?
Why do I say this?

Because there are no cost recovery drugs in the Centres, you will realise that when these Free Health Care Drugs are taken to the Centres they stock out in less than two months simply because everybody is being catered for by these drugs.

You will realise that now that the In-charges do not have money to buy their own drugs, when other categories of people get sick, they chop into the drugs being brought for the Free Health Cars.
So therefore as a result of that you realise that in less than three months the drugs are stock out.

So therefore, they have decided to actually come up with the Free and Cost Recovery Drugs which were previously in existence.

But because they do not have enough money now, they are therefore facing very big constrain.

So you need to actually look into the budget of NMSA or else it is going to be a problem.
And the major reason also why this money should be increased is that previously, the Ministry was offered Free Health Care Drugs by Donors free of cost; government was not paying anything to the Donor funding Agency which is DFID.

But what happened?

In 2018 , this present government gave 10% of the total amount being paid to the Ministry for the Free Health Care Drugs.

In 2019, they also paid 30% and for this 64 coming year, they have decided to pay 50% of that money.
And where is this money coming from?

It is from the government and by extension the money allocated to this Department.

So therefore, if you do not increase their budget or consider the Ministry during supplementary budget, then I am afraid for that particular obligation which they have undertaken.

Now permit me to touch on my last point; the Sierra Leone Pharmaceutical Board.
We are all aware of what is happening in the country in terms of fake or substandard drugs entering the country, including the proliferation of Pharmacies all over the country.

The Board is unable to go round the country to see what is actually happening to the Pharmacies or Drug stores.

The reason for that, according to them is because they do not have enough money and mobility to do this particular function.
Actually we need to see into the activities of the Pharmacy Board or else I am afraid because substandard drugs will continue coming into the country, and where will they end up?

They surely end up into the Pharmacies, Drug Stores and the rest.

So without wasting time, I want to say thanks to everybody for paying attention to me, thank you very much.

THE CHAIRMAN: I thank the Honourable Member for his contribution.

Oh yes!

The Honourable Member from Karene District and Chairman of….
you have the floor first, followed by the Honourable Member from Constituency 067.

HON.

ROWLAND KARGBO [Dr]: Thank you Mr Chairman.

Mr Chairman, I want to thank the Minister and the Chairman of Finance for making this report so simple; so simple that I wonder what the people listening from outside make of what we are saying because it is customary that people follow the budget debates from outside the Well.
And the way it is presented today; making it easy to go through, leaves a lot to be desired, especially from the point of view of people listening to this budget debate outside of this Well.

I want to also commend the Development Partners.


I think at a time like this, it is our responsibility as Parliament representing the people to express thanks to the Development Partners who have contributed to the realization of the projection for last year and who have committed themselves to also support the Budget for 2021.

I think 65 it is a great work, especially when we take NaCSA for example, which is 90% supported by donor funding.
I think we cannot discuss this budget to the end without expressing thanks and gratitude to them; so we want to say thanks for their committed partnership.

Looking at the budget for NaCSA, and I think this goes for education which we did not mention earlier when we debated that as well.

Ermm, we see a lot of funds coming from partners and the government of Sierra Leone is asked to just fund the core areas of the budget, which is the overheads.
And looking at NaCSA, I see that the allocation was cut down so severely that our Committee observed that what is allocated may not be enough because we have to consider NaCSA today as a Commission that is covering the whole country; delivering development on behalf of government.

And so, when you think about running costs, offices, rents, power and other things, spread across the country, then what used to be enough may not suffice this time because their work has extended nationwide.
And so it is not surprising that our Committee recommended that the Ministry of Finance reconsiders the allocation to NaCSA and tries to see how they can improve on that figure during the Supplementary Budget so as to meet their present needs.

I think for the rest of the areas, the recommendations speak for themselves.

And so on this note, I just want to once more thank the Minister and I thank Mr Chairman.

THE SPEAKER: I thank the Honourable Member for his contribution.
Honourable Member of Constituency 067 HON.

ALUSINE B. KAMARA: Thank you very much Mr Chairman.

Mr Chairman, I just want to join my Chairman of Health in his submission.

You see, when we talk of health, it is very important for our people especially people in remote areas.
For some of us, we normally do our oversights in our Constituencies, and when you go to our PHUs, we most times realize that the actual drugs which they are supposed to receive are normally not present in those Health Centres, and our people are seriously suffering in that aspect, and this is very important.
But having seen the report from the Committee, we realized that, for example, if we look at the budget allocated to the Pharmacy Board Sierra Leone for this year 2020, 8Bln, 33Mln, 100,000 66 [Le8,333,100,000] was approved by this Parliament but only Le4Bln, 11Mln [Le4,011,000,000] was received.

This simply tells us that the Pharmacy Board cannot be able to perform their actual responsibility.
And we all know their responsibility as stated by the report, that they have the right to take drugs to our people.

If you look at the distance from here to Kissy Teng or Kissy Tongi, or from here to Kamakwa or Gbinty, you will agree with me that those areas are remote areas.

If people living in those communities cannot get or access drugs, how do you expect them to be?

Definitely, they will be very close to their graves.
And the issue of lack of monitoring from this particular Board is also another problem.

Because they do not have the capacity or mobility to undertake their monitoring activities, that is why we have drug peddlers whom we call, S O [2], ‘Peppeh Doctors’ within our communities, and those guys are killing our people.

So, I want to ask the Ministry of Finance to provide the actual Budget approved by Parliament for the Board.
Every human being, irrespective of the Ministry you belong, the moment you know that an amount is slated for you, you are immediately going to prepare your budget for that amount.

But if at the end of the day, having expected such amount and you get less, then it becomes a serious challenge.

This cuts across in all MDAs in this country.

This Parliament, as Mr Speaker has already said, we don’t want to be a rubber-stamped Parliament.
Having approved a money or a particular budget here, then at the end of the day the MDA for which that particular amount was approved gets less of that amount, definitely that Ministry, Department or Agency cannot be able to function well.

So on that note, I want to adhere because we have already stayed here for one hour.
But Mr Speaker, it is very serious, we want the Ministry to take this Parliament as a House responsible to approve budgets and whenever we approve budget for MDAs let them adhere to what we approve in this House.

Thank you Mr Speaker.

67 HON.

DR. ABDULAI D. SESAY: Thank you Mr Chairman.

I just want to elaborate on the situation of the Teaching Hospital Complex Administration.

It costs the government a lot of money to send Doctors to specialise in foreign countries.
And the idea was, to set up a Teaching Hospital Complex wherein young Doctors could do their Postgraduate Studies to become specialists, thereby creating an enabling environment whereby you do not lose the workforce.

Because as you send people outside for studies, they would be spending a lot of time outside and you need to employ more people.
I think it is so important for government to invest in the Teaching Hospital Complex Administration because, monies spent in to bring in Experts to train nationals to specialise in various areas will be saved in the future.

The biggest challenge we have today is, you go round the country, you go to all the various Hospitals, the various Specialists that you need are not available because it takes a lot of money to send them Abroad, and for them to come back after the training is a big challenge.
Therefore, I want to encourage the Ministry to see that much money is invested in this Complex to ensure that we have the required Professors to train our brothers and sisters to specialise.

The next thing I want to talk about focussed on the issue of the Pharmacy Board which is responsible to regulate and monitor Drugs in this country.

Let me share a sad story: A very close friend of mine had a dog bite.

He was sent immediately and got his vaccine.


He got three vaccines, just to die of Rabies within two months.

What was the problem?

Where the vaccines effective?

Was there something wrong with the Cold- chain Management?
It is simply because you cannot tell today because, the Regulatory Body which is supposed to look into all these issues; monitoring and checking quality is not able to do its job properly because it does not have the equipment and all the technology it needs to address some of these issues.

So if we really want to improve the health of our country, the Pharmacy Board needs to be strengthened to cut down on the number of fake Drugs coming into this country.
I also had another sad episode; a small child treated with Ciprofloxacin who had fever, never responded.

At the end of the day, this child had a perforated Typhoid Fever.

68 That means the Medicines this child was taking were not effective.

So therefore, this issue of controlling the type of Drugs coming into this country needs to be strengthened; the Pharmacy Board needs to be well equipped to ensure that we get quality Drugs.

That brings me to the National Medical Supply Agency.
An Act was passed here.

Today, they are focused on providing the Free Health Care Drugs.

But in this Act, it is also necessary that they are able to bring in Drugs for cost-recovery.

And also, they have the opportunity in that Act to bring in Drug that other Hospitals could utilize.
If we have a proper Chain of quality Drugs coming in, I strongly believe a lot of Private Hospitals and others will prefer to get proper drugs from the right source wherein you are sure of the Drugs that you are dealing with.

I must be honest with all of us here that some of the Importers of Drugs to this country do compromise with manufacturers and at the end of the day, we get substandard Drugs which are only a killer in this country.
So therefore Madam Minister, I want to appeal that much is done to strengthen the National Medical Supplies Agency to see that they become strengthened and that they have the resources they need to improve the importation of quality Drugs so that not only the government hospitals, but also other sectors apart from the Free Healthcare could benefit from quality Drugs supply.

I want to thank you, because of time, I stop here, thank you Sir.
THE SPEAKER: I thank the Honourable Member for his very pertinent contribution.

I think it was an eye-opener.

Yes, Honourable Members!

Despite the distance between us, I was able to… HON.

MOHAMED KABIA: Let me use this opportunity to thank the Chairman of the Finance Committee for the hard work that they have been doing for the past weeks to put these documents together.

And let me also not forget to thank the Deputy Minister of Finance.
In fact this Minister is one of the most hardworking Ministers in this particular government; she is very, very hardworking.

69 Let me use this opportunity to inform this House that the Deputy Minister of Finance is one of the most hardworking Ministers in this particular government.

Let me thank you for that; thank you Madam Minister.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, let me just comment on Vote 305.00 and Vote 305.

01.
01.

For Vote Head 305.00, Division of the Ministry of Social Welfare requested Le48,625,300,000 for them to meet their targets for the Fiscal year 2020.

This noble Institution approved Le17,298,903,000 but the Ministry only received Le2,526,275,717, and the Grant that they received was Le351,785,000.

So if you calculate these sums together, you will get Le2,878,060,717.

In fact that is why this Ministry is not really performing.
The amount of money that is allocated to them is very, very scanty; this amount cannot meet their operations cut across the country.

And we all know that the Ministry of Social Welfare has an important role to play.

Very, very important!

If you go down at the Cotton Tree you will see people running up and down begging.

Because the Institution is not empowered, it cannot perform it functions well.
That is why at the end of the day, its beneficiaries are out there on the streets begging here and there and sleeping on the streets.

So it is a major problem, Mr Speaker.

In fact, that is the reason why we asked for an increase in their allocation in one of the recommendations.

When you think of their target beneficiaries across the country; in fact, we do not really know what is happening to the destitute in the interior; the disable community living there.
If those staying in Freetown, right at the Cotton Tree are not receiving any support, then think of those who are residing in faraway places like Kailahun and other areas- just imagine what would be their fate.

So, we are asking that the Le12,769,561,700 be approved for them to meet their target.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, in fact, you would be surprised to hear that this particular Ministry does not even have an Office.
The building which they were using as Office was gutted down by fire some years back and they are currently managing somewhere else.

So, acquiring Office space is one of their major challenges that they are presently going through.

So we are really asking the Ministry of Finance and Donors 70 to see how best they could put resources together to construct a building for the Ministry of Social Welfare.
Another area of concern for that Ministry again is the provision of vehicles; the entire Ministry only has two vehicles for their operations.

Then think about the North, the South, the East and the North-West Regions.

So if the Ministry has only two vehicles, how are they going to use those two vehicles to continue with their operations cut across the country?

So I think it is a major problem that they are having.
Let me now go straight to Vote Head 305.01; that is the National Commission for Persons with Disparity [NCPD].

In fact, if you go through the mandate of the NCPD, I would not go through all of them; turn to ‘implementation of the under-listed key deliveries for 202- Live skills for Livelihood empowerment’.

So, this Institution has a great role to play.

In fact like for 2021, the money that was allocated to them was Le161,400,000.
In fact, this is really contributing greatly to the poor performance of this Institution.

In fact, they are working together with the Ministry of Social Welfare but one of their mandates is to make sure that they provide live skills and livelihood empowerment to the disabled community cut across the country.
Then if you take the statistics for the disable community within the shores of the country, it is about 93,129 people that are currently known to be persons living with Disability [PWD] within the shores of the country.

However, Persons Living with Disability are challenging this number because it is derived from the 2015 Census.
They are challenging this data because if you take a look at the rate of Okada and other accidents contributing to deformities, you would realise that the current figure might have increased and that is why they are always challenging this figure.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, one of the recommendations that they made was for the Ministry of Finance to make sure that they increase the allocation of this particular Institution.
And secondly, to make sure that they work together with government to come up with accurate statistics regarding the number of people living with disability.

71 If you do not have accurate statistics, then at the end of the day you will not budget enough for the target beneficiaries.

So, on behalf of the Chairperson of the Social Welfare Committee, let me use this opportunity again to thank the Chairman and his team for the hard work that they have already done, I thank you all, Honourable Members.
THE SPEAKER: I thank the Honourable Member for his contribution.

Yes, Madam!

Honourable Madam, you have the Floor.

HON.

JOSEPHINE MAKIEU: Thank you again Mr Chairman.

I still continue to say thanks to the able Chairman and the Minister for bringing us to phase II.

I am just going to make an addendum to my two Chairmen; the NaCSA Committee Chairman and the Health Committee Chairman in whose Committees I happen to be a Member.
To start with, I want this House to know that the National Commission for Social Action [NaCSA] is the breadbasket for this country.

Everybody is looking towards NaCSA because everybody knows that whatever is in the basket of NaCSA belongs to the people of this country.

[Undertone]… they have not given me any project but I know that they are doing the job; that I know!
As my Chairman was rightly speaking, we are still asking that even though NaCSA has other areas of getting money or funding, that notwithstanding, we are still pleading for their budget to be added during the Supplementary Budget.

This is so because, if you take for example my village, my Constituency or my Chiefdom, I happen to benefit from the Social Safety Nets which is currently on course; two communities benefitted, they have done the registration since then, and the people are waiting for that money.
Now, they are not asking any other person, they equally do not ask NaCSA but me as the Honourable Member of Parliament.

They always ask me; when are we going to get our money, and where is the money coming from?

NaCSA went there, they saw NaCSA but they are not talking to NaCSA now.

I, as their representative, always have the headache.

So we are requesting that this money be added because if not, it might not be enough even with the money they are getting from the Donor Agencies.
72 Let us think of the role NaCSA played during the outbreak of the Covid Pandemic.

It was only NaCSA that worked faster to come to the aid of our people at that very sad moment.

That Social Safety Net is really important.

Now let us think about the rehabilitation work that NaCSA is doing all over the country.

I have six sections from the Lower Bambara Chiefdom added to my Constituency in Malegohun Chiefdom.
The water facility, the rehabilitation of Roads, the construction of Peripheral Health Centres are all on-going there through NaCSA.

Where is all that money coming from?

If that money is not added there is going to be a head ache for us.

So I am still pleading in that regard and I am very much happy with the performance of the NaCSA Committee Clerk, Mr Mohamed Koroma [Whiter].
Mr Chairman, I am commending Whiter because he is really doing his job; Mr Mohamed Koroma always calls us to meetings, together with his Chairman and we go everywhere to see that things are working.

We are really pleased with the team you gave us.

To the health Ministry: As I said, I am just adding more flesh to what my Chairman said earlier on health.

We all know that ‘health is wealth’.


At our last visit, we made an on the spot check at Connaught Hospital and we saw a lot of things that need to be corrected.

For example, the Annex has been closed for a period of almost a year; people have not been going there because there were no facilities.

They were waiting for the materials for rehabilitation of that Annex.

We went there to check, and that Hall needs money.


We also went to the Radiotherapy Department and we got a report that they do not have a single Scanning Machine.

We further went to the Pathological Lab and there is still the problem of blood donation; people are not donating now, instead, only the NGOs are coming to the aid of the people.

And if they are not getting all those facilities, it is very, very difficult for us.
So for us, we have seen all the challenges they have highlighted about the Medical Teaching School and we have seen that they need a lot of money.

So we certainly need this Supplementary Budget to add to the Ministry of Health’s quota so that all these issues will be addressed for the benefit of our people, I thank you.

THE SPEAKER: I thank the Honourable Lady for her contribution.

73 HON.
73 HON.

JOSEPH L. WILLIAMS: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, thank you for giving me this opportunity to add my voice again.

I want to express gratitude to the Chairman of the Finance Committee and the Minister of the year, 2020.

We want to say thank you so much because you have been with us, and I believe my colleagues will endorse that one.

You know how to play the game, you know how to speak to Honourable Members, even when they are sad, your melodious voice is always there, so we thank you for that.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, vote 304; Ministry of Health and Sanitation.

As the Professor of that Ministry; Professor Alpha Wurrie said, a healthy nation breeds a good work force, and if we want our workforce to be healthy we therefore have to do the needful by providing very good medicines just like my colleague said; ‘potent medicines’.

Not fake Panadol, not fake medicines in our communities whereby you can take and take and there will be no positive result.
But when you have potent medicines, just few doses will solve your problem.

And we want the National Medical Supply to be mindful of this whenever we order our medicines.

They should order from a very authentic Pharmaceutical Industries around the world.

We know of countries like the Netherlands, India United Kingdom etc.

that manufacture potent medicines.


Mr Chairman, I am talking from a very informed background; I have been a Hospital Administrator where my Doctor sited here can attest to the fact that I played a key role in making him become a Medical Doctor.

So I am talking from that background.

So Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, we also want to express gratitude to the Ministry of Health and the NaCOVERC for the role that they have played in Sierra Leone.
As we stand here today, our causality level is very low; only seventy five persons have died of Covid19 in Sierra Leone compared to other places, and taking into consideration the flinging remarks that were levy against us that; if Covid19 comes to Sierra Leone we are going to die like flies.

But we thank God today we are still alive and we are grateful for that.
And Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, it is good that we maintain this Budget and in the event of any Supplementary, I crave the indulgence of the Ministry of Finance that 74 the Ministry of Health and Sanitation be considered for this simple fact.

I come from the Murray Town community, Constituency 130 and I have a special message to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation through Madam Deputy Minister here sited.
The message is that these people are working round the clock; they are taking care of Thomson Bay, Crookle Bay, Aberdeen Ferry Road and all the way coming down to Murray town.

These are all crowded communities and they only rely on the Murray Town Health Unit situated at Murray Town.

So on that note Madam Minister, we want to ask that necessary reagent be provided for them so that they could carry out effective medical work.
And also, the people of Constituency 081 are faced with numerous Health Centre challenges.

I have had situations wherein I am called upon to provide simple Infrared Thermometer for them.

And several of the boreholes provided at the Health Centres in Constituency 081, especially in Mamboma, Wonday and other places have gone out of order.

We are appealing to you because one cannot carry out any health work without a proper or safe drinking water.

So we appeal to you for those things to be considered.
And the last one Mr Chairman, Vote 105; the Ministry of Political Affairs.

This is the Committee I belong and it is charged with the responsibility of Political and Public Affairs.

When Officials from that Ministry appeared before us, we asked them; ‘where were you, we never heard you loud and clear despite all the uprisings that have taken place in this country?’.

And now we have urged them to be proactive especially now that we are approaching the 2023 Elections.
We have asked them to defend the Le 2.43Bln budget allocated to them.

Madam Minister, we hope that their quarterly allocations will be provided for them on time because they have a very critical job.

A peaceful environment in Sierra Leone, moving forward is our dream.

It is our dream to have an admirable Sierra Leone and the only way we could do that is when we coexist, and we can only coexist when we concertedly put that as our dream.
On that note Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I thank you for giving me the podium to talk on behalf of this Ministries, thank you.

75 THE SPEAKER: I thank the Honourable Member for his contribution.

I had wanted to close the debate with the last speaker but I notice that all of a sudden, considering your status as a veteran, I cannot ignore your request.

HON.

IBRAHIM BEN.

KARGBO: I wish you had told us that you were in the process of rounding up the debate.
But of course you will not deny me this opportunity.

I merely want to remind ourselves Mr Speaker, about the very importance of the National Commission for Privatisation, and the allocation made to that institution.

We have grappled with the NCP over the years, a good number of people have criticised it, but a good number of us have also seen it essence and the importance of this Commission.
And up to this time, I think the Commission has performed remarkably well by keeping at least the institutions alive; at least the Banks- Sierra Leone Commercial Bank, Rokel Commercial Kank are still alive, and then the Parastatals are still alive.

And I am very, very certain Mr Chairman, that as time goes on, when the privatisation process becomes full blown, we should be able to get the full benefit of the role played by the NCP over the years.
So I would insist Mr Chairman, that we continue to keep it as it is until we find a better alternative, until we begin to privatize the various Parastatals.

Any attempt to isolate the privatisation system will be of no benefit to us.

You must come a clear policy as of how to go back to the privatization process.

So Mr Chairman, I think the NCP has done remarkable well.
But what I also want to note Mr Chairman, is the status and the future of the Sierra Leone Postal Services under the schedule of the NCP- the Post Office is dying.

When I was Minister, I tried many options to see how we could rescue the Post Office.

We tried A, B,C,D, it simply did not work [Undertones] I said it did not work!

The options are obvious, I am going to say it now.

Mr Chairman, the Post Office, at one time owned the Parcel Post, now occupied by NaSSIT.
And they said they wanted to sell Parcel Post to generate funds to pay off staff and we gave them the go ahead.

And they negotiated, and NaSSIT Procured the Parcel 76 Post at Le1.2Bln at the time.

Without consulting the Minister and the Government, they went ahead and paid the money into the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank Account where they owed Le2Bln, [Speaker laughs] and automatically the money disappeared into the Account.
I could not as Minister tell Sierra Leone Commercial Bank to give them the money, I could not!

They owed the Bank so they could meet their commitment; so they lost that money.

So up to this time we are lamenting.

That is a good asset; They could have fully utilized it for the purposes of benefitting SALPOST itself but it was not to be.

And each time you discuss this with NaSSIT, NaSSIT will tell you that ‘Oh we bought it and we have the Receipt’.
So Mr Speaker, they have a difficulty, and yet the Postal Services operate elsewhere in the world.

In the UK, the Post Office still survives, in the United States it still survives.

When I went to Geneva one time to attend a conference on Postal Services, Regan, the Vice Chairman of the Postal Service of United States said; ‘Kargbo, you people want to privatise your Post Office?

How do you want to privatise it?

Give it to the Arm Robbers, to the Boko Haram and others?
I said no, we thought we should put it on the schedule because we wanted it to be more efficient.

But the fact is that it did not become efficient because the challenges were too many.

We moved one more step Mr Chairman, and allow the Minister of Finance to give us a Loan with the hope that we will improve ourselves and pay back that Loan.

We could not pay back the Loan because the Post Office simply could not meet all it commitment in one fell soup.
And besides, too many retired people were roaming the streets of Freetown complaining about payment of their benefits.

So all these challenges were there and we finally decided that at some point the Government must come in.

We even did suggest Mr Chairman, that we should remove SALPOST from the schedule for privatisation because it is not feasible.

All over the world I have not seen any system which allows it Postal Services to be privatised.
But of course what I am saying is that, in as much as it is true that NCP has done reasonably well so far, and we should keep it in its present format, the Post Office should be hived off and hand it over to the 77 Government so that people can receive their Salaries when the month comes to an end.

It is a pity that some people have retired more than five, seven, eight, nine years ago without receiving their benefits, why?
Because, the Post Office simply does not have the resources to pay off these workers.

So again, I want to thank the Chairman, Finance Committee for taking the pains to look into the details of this, and he has suggested actually that this payment of salary should be transferred over to the Government, which I think is a reasonable suggestion, and that answers your question; I think this could be the best answer so far.
Mr Speaker, before I sit down I want to look at a Ministry that has not been seriously addressed over the years, and that is the Ministry on Political and Public Affairs.

And when it was created, it was for good reason; because the President at the time was simply tired of settling disputes, travelling from point A to point B, from Bo to Moyamba to Makeni to settle disputes.
Most of them were political disputes or for public nature, and the President said let us set up a Ministry for this purpose and we set up this Ministry.

It also was given the added responsibility to handle the matters of Peer Review.

For those of you who do not know the Peer Review mechanism, we are a signature to it, which makes our own President presents himself to his colleagues for review; what has he done?

Is he promoting Democracy?

etc, etc.


President Koroma exposed himself to the Peer Review and he performed remarkably well.

And I hope President Bio too will one day subject himself to the Peer Review.

But for that to be possible, we must have this Ministry more functional than at the moment.
So Mr Chairman, I think these are some of the things I want to mention and therefore to make sure that to plead that the allocations be considered upwards so that these institutions can survive, thank you Mr Chairman [Applause].

THE SPEAKER: I thank the Honourable Member.

The Honourable Member from Makeni will be my last speaker.

78 HON.

ZAINAB C. TARAWALLY: Thank you very much Mr Chairman.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to say a very big thank you to the Chairman of Finance Committee for a very good work done, and thank you very much Madam Minister for being here with us and for always patronizing with us.

I want to say thank you to the two gentlemen, thank you so much we know she will be one day a minister because she has done so very much; she is capable, she is intelligent and she is very efficient, thank you Madam Minister.
Mr Chairman, I want to draw your attention to Vote 314; the National HIV Aids Commission.

I know it is an oversight from the Chairman of Health Committee.

He has made mention of the Health Ministry and other affiliated Commissions that fall under the Ministry of Health, but did not make mention of the HIV Aids Commission.

Mr Chairman, the HIV Aids Commission is a Commission that Sierra Leone should put emphasis on.

Mr Chairman, after the war, we were like 0.34 % HIV Positive.
But Mr Chairman, with the leave of the Chairman of Health, you will find out that HIV positive has increased over 100% in Sierra Leone, and with that, young people are dying in Sierra Leone of HIV.

And I want to draw your attention to the statement of Honourable Josephine; the problem of Blood donation.

Mr Chairman, People are not donating because of compulsory test.

[Interrupted] HON.

MATHEW S.NYUMA: Point of Order!

Sorry to interrupt.

I don’t know if you are talking about comparative figures.
You said 100%.

Does it mean all of us are all HIV positive?

HON.

ZAINAB C. TARAWALLY: No!

HON.

MATHEW S.NYUMA: So is it a comparative figure; Post War and with the current figure?

HON.

ZAINAB C. TARAWALLY: Yes, it is a comparative figure.

That is the reason why I made mention of the Post War and the situation we are in now, Mr Leader, thank 79 you very for the observation.

Mr Leader, the position of the young people in that regard is a very big problem.
And Mr Chairman, there is a problem of blood donation.

Some of us have been blood donors for years but because of age and other complications, we stopped donating.

And Mr Chairman, it is very difficult now to see young people donate blood now.

We the women are the highest receivers of blood because the problem of CS has increased rapidly over the past years, and you cannot go to caesarean section without blood; there should be a ready blood before ever the Doctor takes a pregnant woman to the Theatre.
But the problem of blood donation is increasing day by day as Honourable Josephine has said.

We do not have people to donate because you will be forced to do what we call a forceful HIV test, and out of 60% of the HIV tests conducted for blood donors, 40% are positive.

But these people will keep quiet, they will not say a word and they will just be infecting other young people.

And Mr Chairman, the Commission’s situation is very bad.
If you go to the regions, [I was a Member of the HIV Committee before coming to Parliament] Government does not pay premium to the HIV Commission and it is killing the young folks, it is killing the young generation.

This money, I am not saying is a pittance but it is very small of a Commission.

When we started HIV business some years ago, we had big Donors; the World Bank and other people were coming.

So Government was giving just small amount.

But now, all of these people have just backed out quietly.
So now, if you go to the Hospitals you would find out that people are dying of HIV; there is no food, there is no therapy and there is no counselling.

If you ask the people that are in the Regions they will say there is no money for that.

The last time I met with the Commissioner General for HIV Aids Commission, he told me categorically that in 2020, the Ministry of Finance allocated to them Le2Bln, but they only received Le52,278,300.

It is a very small amount of money!


There is nothing taking place in all of these Offices in the Regions.

So if we are a serious nation, if really we want to see to it that we help these people live positively, we should put premium on the Commission so that it will work with them [HIV Positives] and give them what they need.
Mr Chairman, I am not a Member of the 80 Health Committee but being somebody that has worked with the Secretariat before it became a Commission, I know what it means to work as a Counsellor and to even work as a food supplier to the people living with HIV.

One, the denial is a very big problem; the acceptance is another trouble, and they will chastise you even when receiving Drugs from you.

Mr Chairman, I am pleading kindly Madam Minister; please put premium on the problem of HIV during the supplementary.
HIV is more troublesome than even Covid19; It is killing the young folks and it is destroying the young generation.

So, on behalf of the people living with HIV, and on behalf of the Commission, I am pleading; asking that we consider them into the Supplementary, thank you [Applause].

THE CHAIRMAN: Over to you now, Madam Minister.

Any response, and then finally move your motion again.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE [MADAM PATRICIA LAVALIE]: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I take note of your reactions to the volume of finance in the allocations that we have made to some of the Agencies.

We simply cannot give what we don’t have.

So we will come back to this House with the Supplementary Budget at mid-year.

And for the Health sector, I take note of health; the National Medical Supply Agency, the Pharmacy Board, the HIV Commission and the Annex at Connaught Hospital.
We will come back to Parliament with additional resources for this institutions in the health sector.

For Social Welfare, the National Commission for Persons with Disability and the Ministry itself, I also take note of the need for Office space and vehicles for Social Welfare.

For NaCSA, NaCSA does have a lot of Donor funded projects.

So, we will revisit the allocation at mid-year.


With respect to the comments made by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in relation to SALPOST, that SALPOST should not be privatised, but rather be maintained as a public institution, we will take that back and in the discussions with the National Commission for Privatization [NCP] Board, we will bring this to their attention.

81 I think I have pretty much responded to the contributions from Honourable Members.
Honourable Chairman, Honourable Members, I move that the following Vote Heads stand part of the schedule.

[Question Proposed put and Agreed to] HON.

SENGEPOH S.THOMAS: Mr Chairman, I had earlier moved a particular Motion which was carried.

I now wish that Motion to be amended, to appear as a notice for the amendment of the relevant laws relating to the placement of Local Court; instead of under the AG’s Office, but under the Ministry of Local Government.

THE CHAIRMAN: Any seconder?

HON.


CATHERINE Z. TARAWALLIE: I so second, Mr Chairman [Motion Proposed put and Agreed to] THE CHAIRMAN: And I would want to recommend very, very strongly that this Motion be brought to the fore for urgent consideration by the House.

The matter is really very urgent, thank you.

TABLE CLERK: The House resumes, Wigs on THE SPEAKER: As indicated earlier, we have one more report to consider tomorrow morning as early as the Leader of the Opposition manages to get here [Applause].
Before that, I have asked for the Minister of Finance and his Deputies to meet with the Leadership tomorrow morning at 9:30.

There is a very important outstanding issue to be discussed.

9:30am in my Chamber.

Any announcement?

With that, this is the convenient point for us to adjourn for the day, thank you!

I want to thank all of you for your patience and your contributions, and I look forward to meeting with you again 10:00am prompt, tomorrow.
And please spear me the agony of having to remind you about attendance again.

Let tomorrow be a new beginning, I thank you very much.

With that, we stand adjourn to Friday 18th December, 2020 at 10:00am prompt.

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