Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698079405136.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 FIFTH SESSION - FIRST MEETING TUESDAY, 20TH JUNE, 2017 SESSION – 2016/2017 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: 34 First Meeting of the Fifth Session of the Fourth Parliament of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone.
Proceedings of the Sitting of the House Held Tuesday, 20th June, 2017.

2 CONTENTS I. PRAYERS II.

RECORD OF VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS FOR THE PARLIAMENTARY SITTING HELD ON THURSDAY, 8TH JUNE, 2017 III LAYING OF PAPERS [A] HON.

DR BERNADETTE LAHAI MINORITY LEADER, FOURTH VICE PRESIDENT OF THE PAN-AFRICAN PARLIAMENT [PAP] AND HEAD OF SIERRA LEONE DELEGATION TO PAP REPORT ON THE SITTING OF THE PERMANENT COMMITTEES OF PAN-AFRICAN PARLIAMENT, HELD IN SOUTH AFRICA, MIDRAND FROM 3RD TO 11TH MARCH, 2017.
[B] THE MINSITER OF ENERGY DEED OF VARIATION OF THE POWER PURCHASE BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE, REPRESENTED BY THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ON THE ONE HAND AND THE ADDAX BIO-ENERGY SIERRA LEONE LIMITED ON THE OTHER HAND, DATED THE 1st JUNE 2017.

IV.

MOTION OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPOINTMENTS AND THE PUBLIC SERVICE PROPOSER: HON.

LEONARD S. FOFANAH SECONDER: HON.


KOMBA E. KOEDOYOMA BE IT RESOLVED: THAT THE SIXTH REPORT OF THE FIFTH SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPOINTMENTS AND THE PUBLIC SERVICE BE ADOPTED BY THE HOUSE AND THAT THE RECOMMENDATIONS CONTAINED THEREIN BE APPROVED.

IV.
IV.

GOVERNMENT MOTION THE MINISTER OF ENERGY 3 BE IT RESOLVED THAT THIS HONOURABLE HOUSE RATIFY THE FOLLOWING AGREEMENT WHICH WAS LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE HOUSE ON TUESDAY, 20TH JUNE, 2017: DEED OF VARIATION OF THE POWER PURCHASE BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE, REPRESENTED BY THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ON THE ONE HAND AND THE ADAX BIO-ENERGY SIERRA LEONE LIMITED ON THE OTHER HAND, DATED THE 1st JUNE 2017.
4 THE CHAMBER OF PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE Official Hansard Report of the Proceedings of the House _____________________________________________________________ FIFTH SESSION – FIRST MEETING OF THE FOURTH PARLIAMENT OF THE SECOND REPUBLIC _____________________________ Tuesday, 20th June, 2017.

I. PRAYERS [The Clerk of Parliament, Mr Ibrahim S. Sesay, Read the Prayers] [The House met at 10:30 a.m. in Parliament Building, Tower Hill, Freetown] [The Speaker, Hon.
Sheku Badara Basiru Dumbuya, in the Chair] The House was called to Order 5 Suspension of S. O.

5[2] HON.

LEONARD S. FOFANAH [Majority Leader and Leader of Government Business]: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to solicit your indulgence to amend the Order Paper.
Item III [b] should be laying of paper by Honourable Henry Macauley; Minister of Energy; i.e., ‘The Deed of Variation of the purchase between the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone represented by the Minister of Energy and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development on one hand and the ADDAX Bio- Energy Sierra Leone Limited Company on the other hand, dated 1st June, 2017.

The second amendment I would want to make relates to item IV on the Order Paper.
Again, your indulgence is being sought to delete that item on the Order Paper to be replaced by the same Minister of Energy.

That is to say, the Agreement that has just been laid by the Minister of Energy should be debated and ratified.

THE SPEAKER: So, in effect you are saying that the paper that has just been laid should be debated?

HON.

LEONARD S. FOFAFANAH: Exactly, Mr Speaker.


This is because of the urgency attached to it, and we are not certain how long the House is going to be adjourned and the company wants to go to work.

This is a non-controversial Agreement and again that is the reason why I am asking that we lay the paper and ratify it at the same time today.

THE SPEAKER: The Honourable Foday Rado Yokie is in agreement.

CORRECTION OF II.

VOTES PARLIAMENTARY SITTING HELD ON THURSDAY, 8TH JUNE, 2017.
PROCEEDINGS AND FOR THE COMMUNICATION FROM THE CHAIR THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, we go through the record of Votes and Proceedings for the parliamentary sitting, held on Thursday, 8th June, 2017.

As usual, we go page by page.

Page 1?

Page 2?

Page 3?

Page 4?

Page 5?

There being no correction or amendment could somebody move for the adoption of the record of Votes 6 and Proceedings for the parliamentary sitting held on Thursday, 8th June, 2017 as presented?

HON.
HON.

MOHAMED KAMARA: Mr Speaker, I so move.

THE SPEAKER: Any seconder?

HON.

KUSAN SESAY: Mr Speaker, I so second.

[Question Proposed, Put and Agreed to] [Record of Votes and Proceedings for the parliamentary sitting, held on Thursday, 8th June, 2017 has been adopted as presented] III.

PAPER LAID [A] HON.
PAPER LAID [A] HON.

DR BERNADETTE LAHAI MINORITY LEADER, FOURTH VICE PRESIDENT OF THE PAN-AFRICAN PARLAIMENT [PAP] AND HEAD OF SIERRA LEONE DELEGATION TO PAP REPORT ON THE SITTING OF THE PERMANENT COMMITTEES OF THE PAN-AFRICAN PARLIAMENT, HELD IN SOUTH AFRICA, MIDRAND, FROM 3RD TO 11TH MARCH, 2017.

HON.

DR BERNADETTE LAHAI [Minority Leader of the House]: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker Honourable Members, I rise to lay on the Table of the House the report of the sittings of the Permanent Committees of the Pan-African Parliament, held in South Africa, Midrand from the 3rd to the 11th March, 2017; and in doing so, I stand on S.O 18[7].

THE SPEAKER: Proceed, Honourable Member.

HON.


DR BERNADETTE LAHAI: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, it is a procedure for reports, either from Committees within the House or Members representing parliamentary bodies in international conferences, to be laid in this Parliament.

It is also expected that when these reports are laid in Parliament, they could be debated.
For some time now, we have been laying the reports of the delegation to the Pan-African Parliament, but nothing has been done in terms of debating those reports.

These reports contain very important discussions and they could be of help, not only in the Pan-African Parliament, but also issues that are discussed in the African Union because 7 Pan-African Parliament is one of the ten organs of the African Union.
Therefore, most of the things we discuss in the Pan-African Parliament emanates from the discussions, resolutions and decisions of the heads of African states.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, if you have been listening very keenly to Star TV and Star Radio, and also 98.7 Universal Radio stations, these were the two media outfits that we took to the last sitting in May because as a Vice President, one of the privileges is that you take media outfits, one TV and also one radio, so that they can witness the proceedings and at the same time relaying it to your national country to know exactly what is happening and what exactly your delegation in the Pan-African Parliament is doing.
The Universal Radio station has been brining scripts of what has been happening in the Pan-African Parliament every morning, especially during the May sitting.

I think it has really gone well with a lot of listeners through the text messages they usually send and the calls they make.

It is very educative, especially for the people of Sierra Leone.
Therefore, Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to draw your attention to the fact that when we lay these reports, I would want to encourage Honourable Members to read them and even to move a motion for us to debate some of these issues.

These issue impinge on the development of the African continent.
When we discuss for example, the integration of the one Africa passport, immigration, one stop border in Africa, we are talking about one policing in Africa; and you may not be previewed to a lot of these things, but we bring these documents to you so that we can debate them.

Those of us representing this House and the country as a whole in the Pan African Parliament could take the lead in the debate and elaborate on some of these issues.
Again, Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I would encourage Honourable Members to take note of what I have just said because we spend tax payers money to go and take part in those conferences.

If we debate these reports, the public will know about pertinent issues being discussed and the resolutions being reached.

That is why every time we come from those trips, we go to the electronic and the print media to convey the issues being discussed.
8 Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, any Member of Parliament can feel free to stand on a motion that some of these documents we have laid are debated.

In fact, in other Parliaments, it is mandatory that when such documents are laid, they are debated, so that Members know the issues and sometimes after that we can also come up with our resolutions and our own action points for implementation.
With those few remarks, Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, it is my singular honour, on behalf of my delegation and on behalf of the people and Government of Sierra Leone, to lay the Report of permanent committee sitting.

I thank you very much [Applause].

[B] THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AMBASSADOR HENRY MACAULEY AMB.
HENRY MACAULEY [Minister of Energy]: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I beg to lay on the Table of Parliament, ‘the Deed of Variation of the Power Purchase between the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone, represented by the Minister of Energy and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development on one hand and the ADDAX Bio-Energy Sierra Leone Limited Company on the other hand, dated 1st June, 2017.

VI.

MOTION OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPOINTMENTS AND THE PUBLIC SERVICE PROPOSER: HON.
LEONARD S. FOFANAH SECONDER: HON.

KOMBA E. KOEDOYOMA BE IT RESOLVED: THAT THE SIXTH REPORT OF THE FIFTH SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPOINTMENTS AND THE PUBLIC SERVICE BE ADOPTED BY THE HOUSE AND THAT THE RECOMMENDATIONS CONTAINED THEREIN BE APPROVED.

HON.

LEONARD S. FOFANAH: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I present to you the Sixth Report of the Committee on Appointments and the Public Service on Parliamentary Vetting of Presidential Nominations.

9 1.
9 1.

Introduction The Rt Honourable Speaker, Honourable Members, the Committee on Appointments and the Public Service, alive to its constitutional responsibility of vetting and approving appropriately qualified candidates for appointment to public offices, met on Friday, 16th June, 2017 and interviewed two Presidential nominees for appointment as follows: Members, National Assets and Government Property Commission.

2.

Procedure The Committee conducted the hearing within its set framework of procedures.
The nominees were interviewed on pertinent issues relating to their educational backgrounds, track records in pertinent work situations, declared assets, tax obligations and their vision for a nationally productive tenure.

Issues of unsuitability or otherwise were also closely looked into.

3.
3.

Seventh Sitting of the Committee on Friday 16th June, 2017 Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the following nominees were interviewed on oath: Mr Andrew Samuel Curtis-Johnson, Proposed Member, National Assets and Government Property Commission Mr Andrew Samuel Curtis-Johnson has a ten year private legal work experience as a Barrister at Law and Solicitor of the High Court of Sierra Leone and corporate financial institutions.

He has previously served in the following institutions as: a.
Legal Counsel, Law Reform Commission, 2004 to date; b.

Country Head, Legal Compliance/Acting Company Secretary, United Bank for Africa, Sierra Leone Limited, 2011 to 2012; and c. Head of Legal and Corporate Affairs Development, Zenith Bank SL Ltd., 2009 to 2011.

Reacting to the Committee’s probing questions, Mr Andrew Johnson assured the Committee that he had read the Act that established the National Assets and Government Property Commission and was well au fait with the provisions of the Act.
Questioned on his functions as a member of the Commission, he said, “According to the Act, my functions as a member of the Commission would be to provide 10 oversight of all Government assets and properties with regards acquisition, usage, disposal and everything that has to do with such properties nationwide.
In short and if I obtain the blessing of this Honourable House, I will be there to help the Commission achieve the national objectives for which the Commission was established.” Commenting on the new experiences and skills he hoped to bring to the Commission, Mr Andrew Johnson said, “I have had the privilege and opportunity to serve in several institutions.
I would draw on my experiences as Head of Legal Compliance in a financial institution to ensure that we properly monitor and do due diligence to the national goals, set out in the National Assets and Government Property Commission Act.” Mr Andrew Johnson also promised to draw on his experience in the Law Reform Commission ”to look at the areas that need reform and make the necessary recommendations for amendments, so that we can have a Commission that will be better able to execute it functions,” he concluded.
ii.

Ing.

Alhaji Mohamed Bailor Allieu Timbo, Proposed Member National Assets and Government’s Property Commission Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, Ing Alhaji Mohamed Bailor Allieu Timbo is a retired public servant who joined the National Authorising Office [that coordinates and manages the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all European Union [EU] Projects in Sierra Leone] in 1977 as Assistant Project Engineer.
He rose through the ranks and retired as Director of the National Authorising Office in 2008.

He is currently engaged in consultancy work as the Chief Executive Officer of the Development Corporation and Investment [DCI].
Responding to the Committee’s inquiries, Ing Alhaji Mohamed Bailor Allieu Timbo said that if he obtained the blessings of approval of the Honourable Members of Parliament, he was going to be pre-occupied with the provision of a National Assets Register of Government property nationwide and to ensure that it is regularly upgraded.

“Government,” he said, “has so many assets [houses, vehicles, equipment, 11 lands etc.]
and its rate of acquisition of new assets is so high that Government does not actually know the totality of its assets.

Government is losing because some of these assets are easily converted to personal use by some people.

Something has to be done now to stop it,” he said.

4.
4.

Recommendations Mr Speaker, Honorable Members, the Committee adjudged the Presidential nominees to be adequately qualified for their proposed appointments and are accordingly recommended to the House for approval: i. Mr Andrew Samuel Curtis Johnson, Member, National Assets & Government Property Commission; and ii.

Ing.
Ing.

Alhaji Mohamed Bailor Allieu Timbo, Member, National Assets & Government’s Property Commission Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the Sixth Report is the unanimous decision of the Committee.

I therefore move that the Sixth Report of the Fifth Session of the Committee on Appointments and the Public Service be adopted by the House and that the recommendations contained therein be approved.

Signed by Honourable Leonard S. Fofanah, Chairman.

HON.
HON.

KOMBA E. KOEDOYOMA: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I rise to second the Motion moved by the Leader of the House.

[Question Proposed] HON.

KOMBA E. KOEDOYOMA: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I will not be too long in making my contribution on the two nominees before this House this morning.

The issue of government lands and properties in this country has been in some disarray.
Thank God we now have a functioning Assets Commission with the appointments of the two gentlemen who are here before us for approval.

I say so because of their varied backgrounds and they have adequately demonstrated that during the course of their interviews.

My only advice to them is that they have to be firm in their decisions.

I say so because of the commitment and assurance they gave to 12 this Committee.

It is my fervent hope and trust that they will live by what they have said.
Like what I have said, the Asset Commission is nothing to write home about because there was no asset register to show what Government owns in this country.

So, we hope that if this House approves their nominations, effective measures will be put in place to ensure that a register is regularly updated.

However, I must state here that some efforts have been taken, but we want this asset register to be in full use at this time.
It is going be a challenge for both Mr Andrew Samuel Curtis Johnson and Alhaji Mohamed Bailor Allieu Timbo in terms of effectively moving that Commission forward and accomplishing the Asset Register.

I hope you will take this challenge seriously.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

HON.

SUKAIMAN M. SISAY: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I rise to talk about Alhaji Mohamed Bailor Allieu Timbo.

Not too long ago, we lost his younger brother, Ambassador Serray Timbo.
Alhaji Mohamed Bailor Allieu Timbo is a very good man.

He happens to come from my constituency, which is Rokula and his father, Alhaji Wuror has produced sons and daughters that have contributed immensely to the development of this country.

So, the nomination of Alhaji Mohamed Bailor Allieu Timbo is no surprise to me and I want to thank the President for this nomination.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I am pretty sure the National Asset Register, as my colleague rightly said, is nothing to write home about it.

In fact, not too many people know about the National Register.

Mr Speaker, when the late man, Alhaji Alim Sesay was there as Chairman of that Commission, he tried his own bits.

In other words, he tried to bring that Commission into prominence.

I am pretty sure that Alhaji Mohamed Bailor Allieu Timbo will live up to expectations.
I know him to be a no nonsense Engineer and I am pretty sure he will take his expertise to the National Asset Commission.

I want to thank the President for giving him this opportunity.

I thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

HON.

SAHR FATORMA: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I rise to make my contribution on the presidential nominees that are before us this morning.

I am not going to comment on the educational background of the nominees.
My concern here is 13 that their nomination is a complete violation of the austerity measures that we took as Government to salvage the economic meltdown.

In other words, these appointments made by the President are not important for now, looking at the economic situation in the country.

To me, there is no way Mr President could continue to nominate people when we are very close to elections.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, if I have my way today in this House, I should have asked the nominees before us to go out of this Well.

However, I do not have a way to do that, but I want to recommend and to crave the indulgence of my colleagues Members of Parliament to make sure that these people are not approved in this House.

I thank you.

HON.

IBRAHIM BEN KARGBO: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, on a more serious note, may I state here that what we are witnessing today is a clear indication that the President, Dr Ernest Bai Koroma, continues to perform his statutory functions as President of this country [Applause].

One of his statutory functions is appointing officials to run the Republic of Sierra Leone.

I must state here that the two gentlemen are very suitable for those positions they have been nominated to serve.
I am not going to concentrate on that because I know that before they were nominated by the President, he must have studied their backgrounds and I am satisfied that the President did a good job in that regard.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, over the years, we have been debating both within and outside the walls of this Well on the need as a people to take care of our assets.

We have seen dilapidated buildings all over the country simply because there was no institution to take care of them.
I want to remind my friends here that if you go to places like the Koyema School, which was very important school in this country, you will see how deteriorating that school has become.

We must do something to save these institutions.

Even the Bo Government School is deteriorating.

It was and continues to be a very famous school.

Something ought to be done to recue these institutions, Mr Speaker.
We also know that there are other institutions that are deteriorating very rapidly in this country and something ought to be done.

14 Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, when the concept of introducing this Commission became clear and needed at the time, a good number of people thought it was a matter of confiscating properties of people during the days of the National Provisional Ruling Council [NPRC].

However, it was meant to take care of such property.
The fact of the matter is that it came to be realised that as a state, we must find a way through which we would be able to take care of our national assets.

National assets, in this regard, will also include the lands of this country which have also been badly handled in this country.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I can only state here that the President has nominated two prominent people to take care of this very important Commission.
We should not only be concerned about our buildings, vehicles, etc., which constitute national assets, but also the very important aspect of land.

One of these days, Mr Speaker, when it becomes necessary, the issue of lands will be discussed in this House and all of us will discover that something serious has to be done to save the lands in this country.
I am saying this because what has happened is that a good number of people have hijacked state lands in this country and nobody has been able to stand up to challenge those people who hijacked these lands.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to remind this House about a gentleman who wanted to invest in this country.

He wanted to bring helicopters to fly people from Lungi to Liberia, from Lungi to Freetown, etc.
He was going to bring in twenty helicopters for that purpose to fly from Lungi to Freetown to make the distance from Lungi to be shorter.

The government agreed, but it was discovered that there is no landing site in Freetown because the helipad had been sold.

These are some of the problems we have, but I am very satisfied that the President is aware of this and the President is also aware of the fact that we need people to take care of our national assets.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, an Honourable Member wanted to know who sold the land in question.

Well, I will not answer now, but I know that year in and year out state lands have been sold and given away to friends and relatives.

You cannot simply 15 say it was done by Mr ‘A’ alone.

But I am merely asking the new Commissioners to ensure that our property is safeguarded.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

HON.

DR BERNADETTE LAHAI [Minority Leader of the House]: Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, we have two Sierra Leoneans before us who have been nominated to sit on the National Assets Commission Board.

Both nominees are really institutional representatives.

If you look at the National Assets Commission Act and the composition of the Commission, you will find out that the Sierra Leone Bar Association sits on that Commission and also the Sierra Leone Institute of Engineers also sit on the Commission.
So, it is these two organisations or organisations on the Commission that would nominate their representatives to sit on the Board.

This is how these two nominees before us have been nominated by the Associations they belong.

The Sierra Leone Bar Association nominated Mr Andrew Samuel Curtis Johnson and the Sierra Leone Institute of Engineers nominated Alhaji Mohamed Bailor Allieu Timbo [Applause].
Sincerely speaking, they are not here in their capacity, but they are representing their institutions; and from time to time as it pleases the institutions, they will either be withdrawn or replaced by other members of the institution.

Having made that clarification, Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the two nominees would sit on the National Asset Commission.

I do not need to underscore the importance of National Assets.
We have people in this country who are human asset of a country, but we also have the non-human assets and they form the country’s asset.

It is the human asset that translates the goods and services that become the asset of the country for the use of the country.

Even in our households, a good head of the household should know, to his or her fingertips, the last asset of the house because that also determines the wealth of that house, so also is a country.
Therefore, Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the National Asset Commission has a very great job to do.

As already mentioned by those who have spoken before us, there is chaos because we do not have a very good knowledge of the assets of Sierra Leone.

This is why individuals take liberty to transform government’s assets into personal 16 assets at the detriment of those who would need to use those assets or those who would benefit from those assets.

That is why it is very important for us to know our assets.
If we know the state our assets are, then we can determine those we can dispose, those we can rehabilitate and those we need to add.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the National Assets Register is very important because it tells you the number of assets you have as a country.

Just like our homes or in any other institution, you should know your assets.

This Parliament is no exception because we should know the assets of this Parliament for accountability and transparency purposes.
If we know our assets, periodically we would be able to assess whether our assets are intact or not, and we can trace where the other assets are.

So, it is very important.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the two nominees were asked whether they had read the Act that created the National Asset Commission Asset and what would be their roles.

I am happy to state here both are from institutions where they have dealt with assets.
Alhaji Mohamed Bailor Allieu Timbo has worked for a long time at the National Authorising Office and Mr Andrew Samuel Curtis Johnson has also been the legal officer at the Law Reform Commission.

In performing their respective functions in those institutions, they have also [one way or the other], be looking after the assets of those institutions they are working.

Therefore, they know exactly what they are supposed to be doing.

During their interview, we asked them to state their challenges.
The challenges are many and one of such challenges is updating the National Assets Register.

We do not have a National Assets Register, which is a very big challenge for us.

The question, how do you create an assets register?

This is very important because at the end of the day, even when you know your assets, the issue of maintaining those assets is very important.

State assets are expected to last for generation yet unborn.
The nominees assured the Committee to utilise their experiences in ensuring the right thing is done.

As a Committee, we noted the assurances they made and we took them for granted.

A Commission cannot be complete if you do not have all the members sitting on it [Applause].

This is because when we set up these Commissions, we talk of 17 quorum.

A Commission can only meet if they have certain number of members present to discuss issues.
Therefore, it is in this vein that they have been asked to replace those who have served before them.

I am sure they are replacing members who have sat on this Commission before.

I do not know what sort of remuneration that would be given to them, but for me, it will be very small compared to the work they will be doing.

This is because they are also employed in their own rights.

However, they are going to represent their institutions and they are not going to be permanent members of that Commission.
We do not expect them to go and have offices in the Commission, but they will sit as and when the Commission needs them to do their work.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, we would take them by their words and we hope that they will bring all the experiences they have garnered, especially in the National Authorising Office, which is an office of excellence in this country.

That office is charged with the responsibility of looking after European Union/Sierra Leone relationship and projects.
With his legal background, Andrew Samuel Curtis Johnson has worked for the Law Reform Commission and I understand he is also the legal officer for two important banks in Sierra Leone.

I think it is the UBA and another bank.

Nowadays, the business people need people of such pedigree in their institutions to provide value for money.

In the same token, we expect them to do the same for their country.

What they will be receiving is sitting allowance and not salaries.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I sat on the interview, we interviewed these nominees.

We took a unanimous decision as a Committee to recommend to the House for their approval.

We wanted them to go and assess the assets we have in this country and to know exactly the assets we have and will call these people from time to time to come and tell us what they have done.
They will invited here, as the people’s representatives, to come and show us the register they would have put developed, the assets we have as a country, the challenges they would have encountered during the course of executing their jobs and the way forward.

I think this is what this Parliament will do after we would have ratified their nominations.

I thank you and may God bless us all.

18 HON.


LEONARD S. FOFANAH [Majority Leader of the House and Leader of Government Business]: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I would want to thank the Minority Leader for the explanations she has made and I hope those explanations have benefited the Honourable Member from Kailahun [Applause].

I am sure the Honourable Minority Leader would have come from a very different angle in terms of supporting the nominees before us for approval.
However, she deliberately ignored what she was going to say and rather diplomatically has answered sufficiently, I supposed, the issue raised by the Honourable Member from Kailahun.

It is extremely important and I want to also add that these nominees are not a new creation at all.

They are going to fill vacancies that currently exist on the Commission.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, just as we conduct bye-elections even during austerity period to replace diseased Members of Parliament, the President has that same responsibility to nominate people to replace those who have either died before the expiration of their term of office or to replace those whose tenure of office has ended.

You are not going to hold the Government at ransom because of austerity.

Vacancies have to be refilled, so that the work of Government continues.
That is one reason why these people before us have been nominated and it is also the reason why this Committee interviewed them.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to categorically state here that the Committee on Appointments and the Public Service is composed not only of the Minority Leader, but the Deputy Speaker and the Deputy Minority Leader from the other side also sit on that Committee.
I am sure, if we do not see the essence of recommending a candidate to this House for approval, we still have that gut to do so without hesitations.

In that regard, we can now see the reason why these nominees have been nominated for the approval of this House.

Fortunately, as the Minority Leader has said, these nominees are competently qualified and have the necessary experience to make meaningful contributions on that Commission.
Again, Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the nominees before us are not foreigners from another country.

These are our own brothers in this country.

The first nominee, 19 Mr Andrew Samuel Curtis Johnson, has a wealth of experience.

In other words, he is not only a qualified Lawyer in his own right, but he has also worked for commercial entities and he has served on the Law Reform Commission.

Look at the answer he gave to one of the questions posed to him.
He was asked what would be his contribution if this House approves his nomination.

He said, “I will not only look at the properties, I will also read the Act and make recommendations where necessary the need to reform the Act.” A lot of parliamentary Acts are obsolete and derelict because they need to be upgraded constantly.

Therefore, if a man like him has been nominated to the National Assets Commission, I think he will utilise his wealth of experience from the Law Reform Commission.
Therefore, Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to assure the Honourable Member from Kailahun that the nominees are in place, notwithstanding the austerity measures, the services of this country have to continue.

Thus, it will be a very grotesque mistake if this Parliament fails to approve these nominees.

In fact, we would be doing a disservice to this country if we fail to approve them.
Having said that, Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I have nothing more but to solicit this House’s approval, so that the nominees before us could fill those vacancies.

I thank you very much and wish you well [Applause].

THE SPEAKER: Mr Majority Leader, although your contribution is a reinforcement of what the Minority Leader has said, but the Minority Leader’s contribution is a lecture [Applause].
In essence, what she has been saying is that we as a Parliament do create Commissions, but in all these Commissions, insistence is made on the quorum.

That is if there is no quorum, then the Commission cannot function.

So, the Minority Leader has really given her knowledge by lecturing some people this morning [Applause].

[Question Proposed, Put and Agreed to] [Motion of the Committee on Appointments and the Public Service has been ratified].
20 THE SPEAKER: Honourable Bashiru Silikie, please stop disturbing the Honourable Sahr Fatorma, [Laughter].

The Honourable Sahr Fatorma has been enjoying himself.

I want to congratulate the gentlemen before the House for their approval.

I wish them well.

IV.

GOVERNMENT MOTION THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AMB.


HENRY MACAULEY [Minister of Energy]: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, be it resolve that this Honourable House ratify the Agreement which was laid on the Table of the House on Tuesday, 20th June, 2017: The Deed of Variation of the Power Purchase Agreement between the Government of Sierra Leone and Addax.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, you would recall that on the 8th September, 2011 the Power Purchase Agreement was signed between the Government of Sierra Leone and ADDAX for the provision of electricity from the Bio-mass Plant in Makeni.

That Power Purchase Agreement was to have achieved commercial operating date on 1st November, 2013.
Unfortunately, due to bad harvest of the sugar cane that is used to process the bio-gas, which was the fuel, the Plant was unable to perform that function for quite a number of years.

However, we are delighted to inform this House that some re-engineering has subsequently been done.

During this dry season, the Plant at ADDAX was able to supply us with some power, which we were able to use to fill in the gap caused by the down turn of Bumbuna.
This re-engineering was achieved by using alternate fuel rather than the bio-gas and this has indeed been able to make the plant functional once again.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, we now request this Honourable House to ratify the Deed of Variation, which now has recognised the variation in the fields that will be used for this power Plant and also in the commercial operating date which we have targeted to be the 1st August, 2019.
On that note, Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, be it resolved that this Honourable House ratify the Deed of Variation of the Power Purchase Agreement between the Government of Sierra Leone and ADDAX.

21 [Question Proposed] HON.

SULAIMAN M. SESAY: Thank you, Mr Speaker for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this Agreement.

This is a non-controversial Agreement.

As you all know, we have ratified this Agreement way back in 2011.

ADDAX Bio-Energy has been providing 10megawatts of electricity supply.
Changing this Agreement is like dotting the i’s and cutting the t’s.

It is a very old Agreement, but at the time this Agreement was ratified, the Ministry of Energy was known as the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources.

It is now called the Ministry of Energy.

So, brining this Agreement is just the right thing to do.

I see no controversy in this Agreement.

So, I want to urge my colleagues to speedily ratify this Agreement.

Thank you.

HON.

JUSUFU B. MANSARAY: Thank you, Mr Speaker.


Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, when we talk about electricity in this House, we may be looking at development and in this case we are talking about variation to get ADDAX moving.

No good Sierra Leonean will ever go against development.

I only want to throw a caution to the Ministry of Energy.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to remind Sierra Leoneans that a lot of money has been spent on energy production and the electrification of this country.
Again, a lot of effort has been put into it and the President of this nation has given so much of his good will in making sure that electricity is a priority for this country.

However, we have been encountering a lot challenges that are not good to the ears of Sierra Leoneans.

Pre-paid meters have been brought and people are willing to buy electricity, but the service they are paying for is not readily available to the public.
Therefore, I want the Minister to put more effort in terms of making sure that the people get the service they are paying for.

In other words, if they are paying for electricity, let them have it.

I want the Minister to know that people are paying for electricity before utilisation; and if that is the case, let us make sure that people enjoy the services they are paying for.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, if people are paying for something and at the end of the day they are not getting what they have paid for, it is disservice to this nation.

22 People are buying electricity, but they are not getting it at all.

The pride of the President of this nation has always been electricity and infrastructure, which we all admire.

I want the Minister to make sure that we get uninterrupted electricity.

I do not want a repetition of what I have experienced two weeks ago.
Mr Speaker, I bought a brand new refrigerator two weeks ago.

I took it to the new place I have just transferred.

Two days later, when electricity finally came, I was very happy because I was hoping to get cold water.

Surprisingly, everything was blown off because of the high power voltage.

So that is the experience we are having in Freetown.

As a very good citizen of this nation, I want the Minister to make sure that the services being paid for are supplied to the people.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, a lot of money has been invested into the energy sector.

Nobody will ever go against this Agreement because it is part of the development of this country.

Some of us appreciate the efforts of Government.

I want to support the ratification of this Agreement.

Thank you very much.

HON.

NAVO KAIKAI: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker for giving me this opportunity to say a few words.

I wanted to talk to the Minister and luckily he is here today.
I want to thank him for what he has been doing.

However, like what my colleague has just said, you need to do more.

I live at Malamah, but electricity that was supplied yesterday could not even light a bulb in my house.

The voltage was very low, Mr Speaker.

The point is when the President took office in 2007; his first promise was to provide uninterrupted electricity 24 hours.

That promise has not been realised.


As my colleague said, the Minister is not doing us a favour by giving us electricity because we are paying for it.

There is no reason why we keep paying for a service that is not available.

I would rather tell the Minister not to worry with providing electricity because the voltage is so low that it cannot even light a bulb, let alone put on my freezer.

I would rather prefer using generator rather than paying for something that is not available.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, in January, 2017 I was in Kailahun and luckily the Paramount Chief from Luawa was also in Kailahun.

Both of us met and the Deputy 23 Minister of Energy went to Kailahun with his staff.

I followed them to a site and we were promised that come March, 2017 they will start working on that site in Kailahun to produce electricity.

As I speak, they have not gone back to Kailahun to commence that work.
So, I want the Minister of Energy to take note of that promise made by the Deputy Minister.

The Deputy Minister himself, myself, Honourable Maya Kaikai and Paramount Chief were all there.

When you make a promise, it is just decent that you follow that promise.

If it is not going to be possible, again it is only decent to let the people know that this is the situation.

He should not keep us in blackout.

This is blackout because if you do not give the proper information, it is a communication blackout.
I would like to go back and report to the people that because of ‘A’ and ‘B,’ the promise made by the Deputy Minister of Energy would not happen again.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, this is what I want the Minister to explain to us, especially with the promise in Kailahun.

I would take the message back to my people in Kailahun.

Thank you very much.

HON.

ABU JAJUA: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker for giving me this opportunity to lend my voice on the document before us this morning.
I want to thank the Minister for bringing this Agreement.

It is a document meant to provide sustainable electricity.

There must be an alternative method of providing electricity and this Agreement before us is one of the alternatives.

We have Bumbuna that supplies hydroelectricity to the country.

However, during the dry season, the Bumbuna supply drops downs.

So, the only alternative is for us to have another bio-gas power supply, ADDAX to be specific.
We are now trying to revisit the Agreement and I would want to know why the Agreement is still going to be ADDAX.

This is because I have heard that ADDAX is already down.

In other words, they have changed the Management team and even the name.

Again, Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, in my constituency, I host one of the first battalions and that battalion was closed down because of the war.

After the war, it has been revived and they have a hospital and a lot of military personnel reside there.
However, there is a total blackout in that particular part of the country.

For security 24 reasons, I want to plead with the Minister for him to help us with power supply in that Barrack.

Thank you very much.

HON.

ANSUMANA J. KAIKAI [Deputy Minority Leader]: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the Agreement we have before us is a very good Agreement.

This is telling us that whatever we do here, there must be a room for amendment.
This is because when they do not work, it is incumbent upon the Ministers of Government to bring them here for amendment of this nature.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I see a lot of changes throughout this Agreement.

This is confirming to us that what Government proposes may have the best of intentions with these commercial enterprises, but what actually happens after that may be different because the original Agreement that came to this House in September 2011 had a lot to do with nature.
Sugar cane or what you called cane juice is not able to perform because they did not have the relevant natural support to produce that energy they promised the Government and for which the Government in good faith entered into Agreement with them.

It happened with Bumbuna and for a very long time Bumbuna was unable to provide electricity because past Governments experienced such natural failures.

Suspension of S.O 5[2] being 12:00 noon HON.


ANSUMANA J. KAIKAI: Mr Speaker, Honourable Member a lot of us are somehow affected by policies of electricity projects or energy projects that were initiated in our constituencies and have had gone moribund.

In my Constituency, Constituency 087, interestingly one of the deputy ministers of Energy was at that time working with the Ministry of Energy and Power.

And he was the supervising person that carried out the installation of electricity in Pujehun.
That project was abandoned after the 2007 elections the last time we saw electricity in Pujehun was probably seven years ago.

The overhead cables have been stolen and that was a project I achieved by begging from donor organisations.

I want to inform the Deputy Minister that his effort in Pujehun had gone bad because Government had abandoned that work that you did.

I am therefore calling on the Minister to find time to visit Pujehun.

I want him to make 25 sure that you give us what we had in 2007.
I want to inform this House that such stories are all over this country.

I am sure because if it is happening in Pujehun, it could happen anywhere.

On that note, Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I am sure this Minister will make sure that my project in Pujehun will be revisited.

Mr Speaker, I want to appeal to the Minister to make sure that electricity is provided in Pujehun because your Deputy Minister worked so hard with me in having those installations.
To conclude, Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I thank you and I ask that we ratify these amendments.

HON.

ABU B. KOROMA: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

Today, we are talking about Agreement between ADDAX and the Government of Sierra Leone.

I would like to deviate from the Agreement and to talk about personal experience I am having at Devil Hole with regards to energy.
I want to draw the attention of the Minister and officials that the people of Devil Hole have been suffering with regards to electricity.

Three years ago, when I moved to Devil Hole, they installed a transformer but the Ministry said the transformer was too small to supply electricity.

Interestingly, the house that I am residing is owned by a Sierra Leonean who lives in China.

Her name is Maria.

The lady in question bought a transformer for over $10,000.
In fact, she went to the Ministry and made arrangement with them to go and install this transformer and even supply some energy to the surrounding communities.

The Ministry went to that area, but nothing fruitful came out of it.

As we speak, that area has not been provided with electricity and the lady has told me to go to the Ministry.

I have gone to the Ministry about three to four times but I could not see the Minister and key personnel.

I tried to contact the Permanent Secretary, but to no avail.
My plea now is for you to please give instructions to your officials to go there and give power to that community.

The lady has helped Government and we should play our own part.

She has spent $10,000 to purchase that transformer.

On that note, Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to call on my colleagues to speedily ratify this Agreement.

26 THE SPEAKER: Honourable Member, what you said appears to be somehow inexplicable.
I know that transformers cost a lot and that is it usually difficult for individuals to purchase them.

Are you saying that this lady went thus far and you people called on the Ministry to install the transformer and they have not done anything about it to date?

HON.

ABU B. KOROMA: Yes exactly, Sir.

THE SPEAKER: Honourable Member, as a very senior Member of Parliament, did you make any attempt to go to the Minister?
I am not saying it because the Minister is seated right in front of us, but he is always receptive.

This Minister is always receptive to Members of Parliament enquiries and the one advantage as a Parliament that we seem to have and a joy in the Ministry is that incidentally the Permanent Secretary [PS] in that Ministry was a very senior official of Parliament.

HON.

ABU B. KOROMA: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.


I know the Minister is receptive and I have gone there several times to talk to him on issues relating to the BEARFOOT Electricity Project at my Constituency.

He is indeed very receptive, but I am appealing to him to put more efforts in terms of instructing the officials to go and do the work.

I know he is receptive, so also is the Permanent Secretary.

The PS was in a meeting, but I spoke to her on the phone.
THE SPEAKER: I want Honourable Sulaiman M. Sisay, Chairman of the Energy Committee and his Deputy take this up and report to me by Friday.

HON.

KERIFALA S. CONTEH: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

His Excellency Ambassador Speaker, Her Excellency PAP thank you very much.

Mr Speaker, I say thanks to the Minority Leader for giving me the opportunity to help other Members of Parliament to understand the better phase of electricity.
THE SPEAKER: Well, Honourable Foday Rado Yokie, I think it is not totally unparliamentarily because we make jokes in Parliament.

In parliament, we do such things.

27 HON.

FODAY RADO YORKIE: Mr Speaker when you take that as an absurd I will take it to the intelligence of the other person.

I consider it as an affront.

If he can educate me I can understand, but when he considers it as an affront, he is first degree and I have a Master degree.

THE SPEAKER: Did he use the word unintelligent?


What did you say?

Say what you said.

HON.

KERIFALA S. CONTEH: Mr Speaker, I said I want to help out and quite beside by 2006 I have got three Masters and he is talking about one Master.

HON.

ANSUMANA J. KAIKAI: Mr Speaker, the Honourable Member is in clear violation of Standing Order 32[8].

THE SPEAKER: Honourable Member, if you think you are educated, you have to show it by your contribution.

Your acquisition of ten Masters does not make you educated.
HON.

KERIFALA S. CONTEH: Mr Speaker, my contribution this time is for Members of Parliament to understand why electricity is always in demand.

In normal economics, when we talk about demand and supply, we give reference to demand and supply relative to market.

In electricity, there is a difference.

The laws of demand and supply do not hold when it comes to electricity.

The principle of electricity is that the more you provide, the more the demand is required.
Therefore, you can say higher demand lower supply.

You can say higher supply and lower demand; but in electricity, the higher the supply, the higher the demand.

In other words, the more you supply, the more the demand.

So, most of the time people are not satisfied with the supply of electricity.

I give you a typical example, Mr Speaker two years back… - [Interruptions].

HON.

ANSUMANA J. KAIKAI: Again, Mr Speaker, the Honourable Member should take cognisance of Standing Orders 32[5].
The issue here is ratification and not about demand and supply per se.

Let us carry out the amendment we are here for.

HON.

KERIFALA S. CONTEH: Mr Speaker, this Government is concerned about providing electricity and this Agreement is geared towards providing electricity for the 28 people of Sierra Leone.

In other words, it is also geared to towards increasing the existing megawatts for the country.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, two years ago, I was only having one refrigerator in my home.
The more the reliability, the more the supply and I am happy to note here that as we speak, I now have three.

Similarly, the more you continue to request for electricity, the more we continue to bring the Agreement and the more we continue to ratify them.

After the provision by ADDAX, if there is need for Pujehun or Koribondo, the Minister will bring another Agreement again to solve the problem of Koribondo and Pujehun.

This is the essence of this Agreement.

THE SPEAKER: Order!
THE SPEAKER: Order!

I am stopping you right there to call on Honourable Dr Bernadette Lahai.

HON.

DR BERNADETTE LAHAI: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

Honourable Members, the Minority is on her legs [Laughter].
This Parliament is getting me worried because judging from past experience, most of the documents that have been brought to this Parliament; I have come to the conclusion that anytime an Honourable Members says a particular Agreement is not controversial, that Agreement becomes the most controversial and the most debated Agreement.

I want to appeal here that in future, it is but prudent to discuss the document and leave that document whether it is controversial or not.
The more we say a document is not controversial, that is where all the controversies will start.

On that note, Mr Speaker Honourable Members, I think the import of ratifying the document before us is very clear.

It is very clear in the sense that things have changed since 2011.

Things have changed because when we ratified the ADDAX Agreement, it was really about providing clean, green and renewable energy from organic material and the organic materials in this case was sugar cane.
At that time, we had the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources.

Today, these Ministries have been separated because we now have the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Water Resources.

29 Mr Speaker Honourable Members, what has also changed is that maybe ADDAX is unable to provide the stated amount of energy from sugar cane and that is why they want to go into energy mix by producing energy from sugar cane and also fuel, biomass and solar.
In Sierra Leone, we have very high solar potential, but we are importing fuel.

We also have high biomass potential in the country, even though we are yet to fully utilise it.

What is now the practice all over the world is for countries to go into energy mix, so that you can exploit the potentials of each and every energy source.

Today, South Africa is amongst the African countries that are trailing the blaze when it comes to energy mix.
They are using wind energy, solar, gas and they have started using the ‘dump sites’ to generate energy.

Mr Speaker Honourable Members, while we were in South Africa recently, we took a field trip to two dump sites, a very huge household wastes.

In Sierra Leone, our household waste is at Burmeh, Ferry Junction.

The wastes are not being put to use; but in South Africa, they are now generating good electricity from the daily refuse from the houses.
If we are talking about energy mix, this is the area we should begin to look at.

Mr Speaker Honourable Members, in addition to what ADDAX is proposing to provide, not only the energy from sugar cane, but also from other energy resources, we should try to explore the possibility of providing energy from our household wastes.

For now, they are a menace.

I went to the Sierra Leone Road Authority [SLRA] last week.

I felt sorry for the people who are living around that area.
You really cannot breathe and I am worried about the health situation of people living in those places.

Even those Government quarters like SLRA and other places are under threat.

It is not good for our health at all.

We can transform it into something useable and productive for our use.

This is something we should also start looking at, Mr Speaker.

We can use the wastes as manure or convert it into fertiliser.
We have to do something in terms of clearing those sites and reduce the health hazards they may cause.

Mr Speaker Honourable Members, as I said earlier, what ADDAX is doing is to vary the Agreement by varying the commission date, the starting date and also the supply from using sugar cane to other energy sources.
We do not know, with this energy mix, what 30 will be the quantum of energy that is going to be produced, so that some of it could be used for their own internal work but also put into the national grid for the use of the country.

Mr Speaker Honourable Members, the changes that are to be done in this new Agreement are minimal and I really do not want us to be labour this point.

Let us do the changes and ratify this Agreement.


However, as we look at other sources of energy, we should also look at household waste.

We are generating hundreds of tons of household waste every day.

We could turn it into useful product instead of letting it go like that and serve as a threat to the health of citizens who are living around those areas.

It is really a health hazard.

I could not breathe fresh air when I went to SLRA.


If I am living there, believe me I will be thinking of moving from that place until that dump site is cleared.

I thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

HON.

LEONARD S. FOFANAH [Majority Leader of the House and Leader of Government Business]: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, if we are going to list down those who are guilty for having called the Agreement non-controversial, I think I stand number one.
In my amendments to the Order Paper, I did say that the Agreement was non-controversial.

Of course there is a difference between the amendment that we have and the topic of electricity which is so germane to the lives of people.

Honourable Members are smart enough to have used the opportunity to bring forth the issues they have in their constituencies.

Naturally, nobody will blame them for that.


Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, we have said that the Agreement is non- controversial and does not need too much time.

I want to commend those who have contributed to the debate and we have accepted that the amendments are in good faith.

They will help ADDAX to be able to go back to work.

The new company that has come to take over will be motivated by this Amendment, I supposed.
We are going down in history as having laid the paper today and we are ratifying it at the same time.

This shows that Parliament is willing to help the process and we hope that they will go back to work.

31 Having said that, Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to urge the Ministry of Energy and Power to do their very best in the process.
Like one of the Members of Parliament said, electricity is in constant demand because the development and sustenance of ourselves and our families depend greatly on the provision of electricity.

The Honourable Member said that he has moved from one refrigerator to three.

That shows that there is some affluence in his family.

He is therefore making more demand for electricity.

I want to urge that we ratify this Agreement that is before us, so that the new company will go back to work with satisfaction.
I thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

[Question Proposed, Put and Agreed to] [Government Motion by the Minister of Energy and Power has been ratified] [The House rose at 12.45 p.m., and was adjourned to Tuesday, 4th July, 2017 ADJOURNMENT at 10.00 a.m.] 32