Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698080945280.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 FIRST SESSION - SECOND MEETING FRIDAY, 7TH DECEMBER, 2018 SESSION – 2018/2019 OAU DRIVE, TOWER HILL, FREETOWN P A R L I A M E N T A R Y D E B A T E S ____ [HANSARD] ______________ OFFICIAL HANSARD REPORT VOLUME: II NUMBER: 41 Second Meeting of the First Session of the Fifth Parliament of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone.
Proceedings of the Sitting of the House Held Friday, 7th December, 2018.

2 CONTENTS I. PRAYERS II.

RECORD OF VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS FOR THE PARLIAMENTARY SITTING HELD ON WEDNESDAY, 5TH DECEMBER, 2018.

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

SIDIE M. TUNIS SECONDER: HON.

HASSAN A. SESAY IV.


BILL COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY THE APPROPRIATION ACT, 2019 Being an Act to authorise expenditure from the consolidated Fund for the services of Sierra Leone for the year 2019 and for other related matters.
3 THE CHAMBER OF PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE Official Hansard Report of the Proceedings of the House _____________________________________________________________ FIRST SESSION – SECOND MEETING OF THE FOURTH PARLIAMENT OF THE SECOND REPUBLIC _____________________________ Friday, 7th December, 2018.

I. PRAYERS [The Table Clerk, Mrs Bintu Weston, Read the Prayers] [The House met at 11:55a.m.

in Parliament Building, Tower Hill, Freetown] [The Speaker, Hon.
Dr Chernor Abass Bundu, in the Chair] The House was called to Order 4 Suspension of S. O 5[2] COMMUNICATION FROM THE CHAIR THE SPEAKER: Before we go any further, let me remind you Honourable Members that I conjoined two positions.

So you better beware.

As for you enclaves, you better take leave before it is too late.

II.

CORRECTION OF VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS FOR PARLIAMENTARY SITTING HELD ON WEDNESDAY, 5TH DECEMBER, 2018.

THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, any observations or amendments.
As usual we are going to skip pages 1 through to 4 and start from page 5.

Votes and Proceedings for Wednesday, 5th December, 2018.

Page 5?

Yes, don’t tell me you are going to correct your name.

HON.

OSAIO KAMARA: Mr Speaker, Fatmata Bintu Weston should either be Miss, Mrs or Madam, but they are stating her as Mr, We should change Mr to Miss, Mrs or Madam.

THE SPEAKER: Page 6?

Page 7?

HON.

DICKSON M. ROGERS: Mr Speaker, Page 6.


Mr Speaker, Ministry of Technical and Higher Education is being omitted in the report.

THE SPEAKER: That is serious?

HON.

DICKSON M. ROGERS: Page 6, under votes.

THE SPEAKER: Okay, the correction would be made.

HON.

DICKSON M. ROGERS: Thank you.

THE SPEAKER: Page 7?

HON OSAIO KAMARA: Sierra Leone Maritimes Administration should read Maritime and not Marinetime.

THE SPEAKER: Noted.

Page 8?

Page 9?


5 HON OSAIO KAMARA: Ruling by Mr Speaker, the ‘w’ is omitted for the spelling of answered.

The last line on the ruling by Mr Speaker, the ‘w’ is omitted.

THE SPEAKER: Did you do proof reading as an aside?

Noted.

Page 10?

Page 11?

Page 12?

Page 13?

No further corrections or amendments can, somebody please move for the adoption of the record of Votes and Proceedings for parliamentary sitting held on Wednesday, 7th December, 2018?

HON.
HON.

ALUSINE KANNEH: I so move Mr Speaker.

THE SPEAKER: Any seconder?

HON.

NENEH LEBBIE: I so second Mr Speaker.

[Question Proposed, Put and Agreed to] [Record of Votes and Proceedings for the Parliamentary sitting held on Wednesday, 5th December, 2018 has been adopted as amended] III MOTION OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPOINTMENTS AND THE PUBLIC SERVICE PROPOSER: HON.

SIDIE M TUNIS SECONDER: HON.

HASSAN A. SESAY HON.


SIDIE M. TUNIS [Leader of Government Business]: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, be it resolved: That the 21st Report of the First Session of the Committee on Appointments and the Public Service be adopted by the House and that the recommendations contained therein be approved.

1.
1.

Introduction Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the Committee on Appointments and the Public Service that is charged with the responsibility of scrutinizing and vetting Presidential nominees and selecting the most fitted and qualified persons to serve in public offices, met on Thursday 6th December to interviewed eight Presidential nominees for positions 6 listed below.

For administrative convenience, this report is presenting four nominees today.

Report for the other four will be presented next week.
[I] Director General, Water Resources Management Agency [II] Member, National Telecommunications Commission [III] Member, Board of Trustees, Sierra Leone Broadcasting [IV] Member, Tertiary Education Commission Corporation 2.

Procedure The Committee relied on specified documents provided by the nominees and other information obtained from the general public to conduct the hearings.
Pertinent questions put to the nominees were related on their educational backgrounds, track records in pertinent work situations, declared assets, tax obligations and the nominees’ visions for a successful and nationally productive tenure.

Issues of unsuitability or otherwise were closely looked into by the Committee.

3.
3.

TWENTY-FOURTH SITTING OF THE COMMITTEE ON THURSDAY 6TH DECEMBER 2018 3:1 The following nominees were interviewed on oath: [I] Mr Junisa Patrick Bangalie Esq-Proposed, Director-General, Water Resources Management Agency Mr Junisa Patrick Bangalie is a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of Sierra Leone.

He is currently the Company Secretary/Legal Adviser of the Sierra Leone Water Company.
7 Reacting to the Committee’s inquiries, Mr Junisa Bangalie said that he was very much aware of the water problem in the city of Freetown.” That was why I was very much instrumental in drafting the law that established this Agency.

This is a novelty in Sierra Leone because the Agency is meant to regulate and manage water resources.

We are not in the business of supplying water.

What we do is to protect the water resources that the Sierra Leone Water Company and Guma Valley Water Company Supply.
My responsibility is to ensure that the natural resources we have, which is water, is regulated to point that all the competing users would use it for the socio-economic benefit of the nation,’’ he said.
[I] Ing Shiekh Allieu Swarray-Deen, Proposed Member, National Telecommunications Commission Ing Shiekh Allieu Swarray-Deen is a multi-skilled Engineer and Manager with broad experience in Airport Engineering and Operations, Highway Engineering, Procurement, Management, Planning, Project Management, with excellent Administrative skill.

From 2015 to 2016 he served as General Manager, Sierra Leone Airports Authority.

Ing.
Ing.

Shiekh Allieu Swarray-Deen promised to draw from his wealth of experience as a retired Engineer for the success of the Commission and for the actualisation of His Excellency, the President’s dream for this Country.

[I] Mr Victor Lansana Koroma, Proposed Member, Board of Trustees, Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation [SLBC] Mr Victor Koroma is a Development Management Specialist with a long standing experience in Public Sector Management; Project Management and Financial Management.
He is currently, serving as Executive Director of ‘HEALTH ALERT’ a Civil Society Organization.

8 Responding to the Committee’s inquiries, Mr. Victor Koroma deposed that he was quite au fait with the problems and challenges facing the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation, one of the leading broadcasting stations.
If approved by this Honourable House, he promised to work with the Director-General to advocate so as to ensure that the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation is given the support it requires to be an independent station and is not politicized in anyway, he said.

[IV] Ms Edna Jones-Proposed Member, Tertiary Education Commission Mrs. Edna Margaret Jones is a renowned Educationalist and linguist who is currently serving as an invigilator at the Sierra Leone Law School.
Responding to probing questions, Mrs Edna Jones deposed that she has been in the field of education for almost forty-five years including serving in the Ministry of Education for twenty-five years.

She promised to work to the best of her ability for the success of the flagship program of His Excellency, the President.

5.
Recommendation [s] Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the Committee adjudged the following Presidential nominees to be fit and qualified for their proposed appointments and they are recommended to the House for approval: [I] Mr Junisa Patrick Bangalie Esq- Director-General, Water Resources Management Agency Ing Shiekh Allieu Swarray-Deen, Proposed Member, National Telecommunications Commission [I] Mr Victor Lansana Koroma, Proposed Member, Board of Trustees, Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation [SLBC] 9 [IV] Ms Edna Jones-Proposed Member, Tertiary Education Commission Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the twenty-first Report reflects the unanimous view of the Committee.
I therefore move that the twenty-first Report of the First Session of the Committee on Appointments and the Public Service be adopted by the House and that the recommendations contained therein be approved.

Hon.

Sidie Mohamed Tunis Chairman THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, any seconder?

HON.

HASSAN A. SESAY: I so second Mr Speaker.

[Question Proposed] THE SPEAKER: The debate now begins.
I have been properly consulted by both sides of the aisle and I feel satisfied that indeed there is a new mood and spirit developing so I recognise the seconder.

HON.

HASSAN A. SESAY: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, today we have a situation in our hands which we have to be very careful with because we have not only a Speaker but the Acting head of State.

We are fully cognisance that there are numerous duties that he has to perform, so we have to be very brief here.
Because we know Mr Speaker you are very well aware that brevity is necessary, so we are going to make it very brief for you, so that you go attend to state matters [Applause].

Having said that Honourable Members, today again we have a set of fine gentlemen and lady in front of us for approval which is a normal situation for us.
Because whenever we have people here, we on this side of the aisles have always told you we will approve them for the business of the state to go on and we are well aware, having people like Ing.

Swarray-Deen, Victor Koroma, Madam Jones and of course the man for the Water Resources.

We know that they have been carefully selected, nominated by 10 the President to serve in their various capacities.

Like we normally say, we would only implore you to work for the state.
SLBC, you heard in the Well of Parliament that every Member of Parliament on both sides of the aisle was advocating for increase resources to SLBC.

We want to see SLBC grow, we want to help you grow and Mr Koroma when you are there please, don’t be partisan, just work for Sierra Leone and let SLBC our national broadcaster continue to grow.

We think, we expect much more from you that is why you are having all this support.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, for Ing Swarray, his resume speaks volume about him and we expect also that telecommunication industry is not short of talents, it is not short of people who are qualified.
Last week we had one of our own that we approved in this House in the person of Honourable Commissioner J.B Mansaray, now you are going to join that crew, we expect to have things done in the way and manner that we expect them to be done so that the tariffs, the anomaly that we know i.e., sim box fraud etc., must be taken care of at NATCOM if we are to reduce the tariffs for the people because majority of the people who are using cell phones are poor.
So we expect that to be effected because now we have people that we trust and believe they will address those issues adequately for the people of Sierra Leone.

Madam Jones, with your pedigree in education, after you have spent over 25 years in the field of education much cannot be said about you.

If we cannot say much about you we expect that you deliver very much to us and this House would always be there to support you because what we want to see is to improve the quality of our human resource base.
No matter what we say, let us accept it is a fact whether we say it or not, that the quality of our products from the universities have been watered down considerable.

It is a fact and if we don’t say it, nobody will say it.

That is why we have tremendous trust and belief in the fact that you will do the best you could to make sure that you add value to the tertiary education commission.

So you have our support, as a lady we know you will do the best you can.
So we expect much from you and we congratulate you if approved by this House.

11 Of course, the man for the Water Resources, we have said it and I was part of the screening process and he answered the questions posed to him giving us the idea that you are very much au fait with the problems and how you have thought of addressing those problems.
So if approved which I believe my colleagues will do, we expect that you would go and address those issues which are very thorny because water supply wastages, etc., all of those things there must be laws to make sure that people who violate the right of others cutting pipes so that other people in their residences would not get water is a crime.

We want to see all of those things addressed and we count on you to make sure that we see that happen.
Having said that Mr Speaker, Acting President I think I would only call on my colleagues, to let us speedily approve these people let them go to work for Sierra Leone.

THE SPEAKER: Before you end, you were corrected just now, did you accept the correction.

HON.

HASSAN A. SESAY: Sure, acting H.E.

We are very much aware of that Mr Speaker.

THE SPEAKER: I will not join you in calling me H.E without the acting because you must be aware of the implications of that [Laughter].
HON HASSAN A. SESAY: I understand Mr Speaker but S.O [2] “wan day king sef na king”.

Having said that Honourable Members, I think I want to ask my colleagues to let us speedily ratify these people, let them go to work and make sure that they live for Sierra Leone.

Thank you very much.

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

Now I would take only two more speakers, one from either side of the aisle.

I am always worried when I see the chief wanting to take the Floor.
Brevity has never been part of your DNA if I may say.

Okay, in that case yes Chief.

I am sure you are going to be very brief.

12 HON.

P.C BAI KURR KANAGBARO SANKA III: Thank you Mr Acting President and Speaker of this noble House, we want to congratulate you and this is to say that the world and Sierra Leone should know that this House is very important.

You are the head of the legislative body then as well the Third in command.
So if that is the issue and we have very good people here today, like always, whether you are in the first aisle, second aisle, third aisle, fifth aisle, we have always been congratulating these people who have been sent by the President including those who were on the right hand side, they have been congratulating every other person they nominated, those who have been here before.
So we are happy as a Parliament, that we want to show that we are together and we are united in this Parliament to promote the new President’s New Direction.

If that is the issue, when some of us speak go back to the Hansard of Sierra Leone and in this Parliament, they would tell you particularly for some of us, that what we are saying here today, we have said them before and I have been reported many times at State House for not supporting government’s view.
For me government’s view, if it is wrong it is wrong, I go with the views of the public and that is why I stand to say congratulations to all the nominees.

Let us be proud of Sierra Leone, make the change, the people want a better system, the world is looking for better leadership and President alone cannot do it, he cannot look at all the corners of Sierra Leone.

It is us, Members of Parliament to promote the agenda of the New Direction.

Let us have a national agenda, let us be proud of ourselves.
Leave legacies to where you have been sent.

As I am saying, I have been calling for water, I lived at Aberdeen, for the past 6 weeks, we have got no water, in the city of Sierra Leone.

I know you have found the problem, but now you must solve the problem.

The function of a government is continuous and the limits are from -1 to infinity, from zero to infinity.

So whatever the APC left, good or bad which you inherited we are going to ask you to perform.
Mr Speaker, this Parliament has no water; I am repeating again, no water, whether today, it should be 24 hours [Undertone].

Some of us have been here since 1962.

I was a small boy, yes, I was here when my uncle Honourable J.A Conteh was sworn in 13 1962, I was in class 5, a 9 years old boy.

When you see the floor of this Parliament, you see your image, you see the environment, immediately you are sworn in, you find a new vehicle waiting for you with a driver and a flag.
That is why I don’t put number plate on my car Mr Speaker, because you give me a number plate but you don’t give me a vehicle it is funny [Applause].

I don’t put it, you cannot go and give me something, I will hold it like that, Constituency, Tonkolili, it’s ridiculous.

When I was here in 1962, a small boy, Honourable J.A Conteh was given a new vehicle after taking the oath of office, a flag and a driver.

I sat in that vehicle [Applause].

Why are we going backwards?


We would have expected by now, to be given vehicles.

Mr Acting President, you make the difference [Applause].

You see the security of this Parliament, you see their clothes, you look at them and you know that these people are not well taken care of.

The clothes, the shoes and this is the House of the people of Sierra Leone.

I am going to bring people from Belgium who want to come and support government here, you would see how shameful it is if they go to those toilets.
When you go to Youyi building, that building stinks, no toilets, no water facility, it is terrible.

Where are we as a nation?

So Mr Speaker, I am urging, let us have self-esteem, we lacked self-esteem, we lacked national agenda.

Politics is to deliver, when you deliver, people will vote for you, they would not say Mende, Limba, Temne, Koranko, Soso, people want development.

We talked too much and do little.


So I am appealing to all of us, including myself here, Mr Speaker and Mr Acting President, I am paying in Masingbi over 40 teachers a month, yes sir, I am challenging anybody, the CEO knows that and all of them are graduates, the Member of Parliament can bear me witness.

I just came from the bank borrowing Le40,000,000 to pay them their salaries.

Yes sir, because I am providing uniforms so I am the boss of the free education because you found me doing it.
You go there now you would see them.

Mr Speaker, I am so happy, so elated, so honoured.

I therefore say, let us give the President the opportunity to approve all his men and women and some of us would not begin to criticise now but come 2021, we would begin to open our mouths to say the good and the bad things, but now I support the President 150 percent, no matter what 14 people say, let us give him the opportunity and let us see, 2021 then we begin to ask questions.
I thank you very much Mr Acting President.

Suspension of S.O.

5[2] THE SPEAKER: Let me take this opportunity to thank the Honourable Paramount Chief for his very constructive contribution to the debate.

The point he has made is well noted.

I don’t think if you could have anyone in this House that is better able to make them better.
What I derived from what you have just said is that this House should re- dedicate itself to affirming and re-affirming the imperative of growing the economy so that we can improve the condition and standard of living of the people of this country.

But we have first thing first get to grow the economy first and then everything else that you have just mentioned will follow.

HON.

ABUBAKARR FODAY SILLAH: Thank you very much Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I am Honourable Abu Bakarr Foday Sillah representing Constituency 128 the host of the Acting President of the Republic of Sierra Leone and the Vice President as well.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, let me first of all start with a great political philosopher Plato the man that propounded and became the founder of the philosopher king’s theory.

He once said “…in politics we presume everyone knows how to win votes and[ how to administer a City or a State”.
Today our responsibility here as representatives of Sierra Leoneans outside there is to represent them adequately in the Well of Parliament.

Having said that we have nominees here today who have been appointed by His Excellency the President for you to help him administer the smooth running of the State.

In governance we have branches and other institutions.

These institutions are covered or run by individuals that are appointed and approved by this Well of Parliament.

I know we would soon approve you.


It is for you to serve diligently and be professional in service delivery.

Just be rest assured that this Parliament will stand by your side.

This Parliament will always advocate for service delivery whosoever is serving an institution as a Commissioner or Director be rest assured that we will always stand by you in terms of oversight and advocating as we 15 are doing now in this appropriation budget.
We are here to advocate for the increment of budgetary allocations for certain MDAs that are less funded, this is our responsibility.

It is not that you are going there because you are the most handsome among the Seven Million population in Sierra Leone or because you are the most eloquent one.

It is the responsibility of you now for you to go and serve our people.
Serving people means that you need to make sure that the ‘New Direction’ succeeds because when the ‘New Direction’ succeeds it is the benefit for all of us here as Sierra Leoneans.

Remember one thing when you are there you are not representing SLPP or APC or neither your regions, you are there representing Sierra Leone.

It is against this backdrop that I call on all Members of Parliament for us to speedily approve the nominees now.
For the Civil Society, I will also encourage you when you go to the SLBC as a Board Member please just practice and continue to be professional.

Thank you very much.

THE SPEAKER: Order!

Order!

I want to thank the Honourable Member for his contribution and for the exercise of his poetic license to the applause of the other side of the House.

Don’t worry we shall all check our dictionaries later on.
With that we would now windup the debate and I will recognise the Honourable Amadu Kanu followed by the Leader of Government Business.

HON.

AMADU KANU: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I am mindful of what has been said by the Acting Majority Leader of the House.

I will limit my intervention to give Acting President ample time to address to other State matters.
Having said that Mr Speaker, Colleague Honourable Members, having listened to the report of the Committee on Appointments the 21st report that was so eloquently presented by the Leader of this House and Leader of Government Business and considering also Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the composition of the Committee on Appointments Mr Speaker we have a barrage of experienced, seasoned and very knowledgeable abled men and women from both sides of this Well with integrity.
No doubt therefore Mr Speaker as a Committee we must have surely done justice to this nation.

We must have done justice to have very theoretically, very carefully and appropriately screened all of 16 the nominees seated before us here putting the interest of the people of this country first.

Therefore Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, issues related to their qualifications, their capabilities or competences must not be a subject of discussion for this hearing.
The business of this House Mr Speaker, Honourable Members is to draw the attention of the nominees to those statements His Excellency the president presented to us the other day on the historic occasion of the State Opening of the First Session of the Fifth Parliament of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, as a Member of the Committee, I want to attest to what I will refer to here as an undiluted truth.
A disputable fact that all of the nominees seated are adequately qualified and suitable for the positions for which they are all nominated for.

Therefore Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to take this opportunity to thank President Maada Bio for this fine nominees, it will interest you to know that 95% of the nominees seated before us here are coming from Moyamba District.
So we have to be thankful to President Bio, but also to draw your attention that whilst President Bio was making these nominations he knew that those categories of nominees are expected to go and perform remarkably well.

I have no doubt that you are going to perform.


Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, not to belabour the approval of the nominees, on my personal behalf and on behalf of the people of Constituency 93 Moyamba District thank President Bio for these nominations and to appeal to all colleague Honourable Members to speedily approve all of the nominees.

Thank you very much.

HON.


SIDIE M. TUNIS [Leader of Government Business]: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to start by thanking my colleagues and also to start by congratulating the Honourable Speaker for his current position as Acting President of the Republic of Sierra Leone.

Your Excellency Sir, we are here to serve you and today we would continue in that vain by approving your nominees.
17 Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the four nominees that we have before us today are highly qualified individuals.

Mr Swarry Deen I always considered as a great asset considering his prowess in the engineering sector and taking into consideration his experience in the Airport Authority and project management generally I believe NATCOM is the best place for him to serve.

Mr Junisa Bangali the proposed Director General for Water Resources Management Agency is no stranger to water.
He is being involved in water business for a very long time and he participated in creating even the very Agency that we are talking about so there is no doubt, he would do his level best.

Aunty Edna, I cannot say much about her because she is a household name in the education sector in this country.

She is being in that field for over 25 years and has served in the education field generally for 45 years.
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, our brother in the Civil Society has been advocating already for the people of this country.

He is now going to a place where he has all the opportunities to advocate for the people of this country I therefore have no doubt that he would do his level best.

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to address the nominees.

I want you to understand that the President is in a hurry to develop Sierra Leone.
You are the lucky ones out of the Seven Million individuals in Sierra Leone the four of you are today before this Honourable House for approval for various positions.

I therefore call on you not to let His Excellency down.

I call on you not to let the people of this country down.

The positions in Water Resources, Telecommunications, Broadcasting and of course our flagship program Education are all very important.
I know for my President to nominate you means he has trust and very serious confidence in you and I therefore call on you not to let him down.

This Parliament would work very closely with you.

We are here to support you.

There are Committees in this Parliament and the Committee Members would be around.

They would be there to supervise and provide oversight.

Please I would call on you to give your full cooperation to them because if you don’t do it they would bring you back here to answer questions.
18 Having said that Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I would call on every one of us to speedily approve these nominees and allow them to go back and do their work.

I thank you.

[Question Proposed, Put and Agreed to] [Motion of the Committee on Appointments and the Public Service has been ratified] THE SPEAKER: It is now my pleasant duty to extend our warmest congratulations to all the nominees who have just been approved.
As all may have heard from the contributions made, this House is under no doubt that all the nominees have the capacity to perform and live up to the expectations of not only His Excellency the President, but of this House and the entire nation.

We congratulate you once more and wish you well in your new assignments good luck.

We shall now proceed with the other items in the Order Paper.

IV.
IV.

BILL THE MINISTER OF FINANCE COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY THE APPROPRIATION ACT, 2019 Being an Act to authorise expenditure from the consolidated Fund for the services of Sierra Leone for the year 2019 and for other related matters.

[Fourth Allotted Day] THE HOUSE RESOLVES INTO COMMITTEE THE CHAIRMAN: Before the Minister takes the Floor, yesterday we placed a ban on the Vote of the National Commission for Small Arms.

I now order that the ban be lifted and I presume they are now properly represented.
Am I right?

Where are they?

Will you be able to help the Chairman of Finance Committee?

19 HON.

FRANCIS A KAISAMBA: There are other MDAs whose Votes were withheld, but they are here now Mr Chairman.

THE CHAIRMAN: Do you go through the list?

That is what I am asking for.

HON.

FRANCIS A KAISAMBA: Sierra Leone National Commission for Small Arms are here.

Ministry of Water Resources they are here.

Ministry of Energy, Independent Police Complaint Board, and they are here Mr Chairman.
THE CHAIRMAN: Of course we gave a blanket lift of the District Councils yesterday at your request.

HON.

FRANCIS A KAISAMBA: Yes Sir.

THE CHAIRMAN: Okay we would do the same for these ones.

We would lift the ban on them.

We are lifting the ban on the Votes of all those MDAs that were absent but let me make this abundantly clear it is not going to be business as usual.
We hope the next time if there was any attitude of treating Parliament with levity that attitude would now disappear and people would make it a duty to come especially the Vote Controllers when the Committee of Supply is meeting otherwise you would end up not getting your supply for the year.

And without money there is no point continuing in your job and this is the last warning I am giving to all MDAs.
This Parliament cannot be taken for granted not while I preside here as Speaker that’s the last warning.

I’m looking forward to greater cooperation next year with that let proceed with the business at hand.

DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I move that the following Votes stand part of this schedule for Committee of Supply 6 for the final report of the Appropriation Sub Committee.
Vote Head 42000 Sierra Leone Environmental Protection Agency Vote Head 30600 Ministry of Lands Housing and the Environment- Five Billion Four Hundred and Ninety Thousand Two Hundred and Thirty Nine Leones.

THE CHAIRMAN: Are they here?

Ministry of Lands Housing and the Environment, they are absent.

20 DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Vote Head 41000 National Protected Area Authority- One Billion Four Hundred and Thirty Six Million Six Hundred and Ninety Five Thousand Leones.
Vote Head 11011 Political Party Registration Commission- One Billion Two Hundred and Five Million Five Hundred and Thirty Thousand Two Hundred Leones.

Vote Head 11012 Law Reform Commission- Four Hundred and Ninety Million One Hundred and Eighty Thousand One Hundred Leones.

THE CHAIRMAN: Are they here?

Absent.

DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Law Reform Commission Vote Head 11017 Public Sector Reform Unit Le 1,893,718,000 THE CHAIRMAN: Are they here?
DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: No THE CHAIRMAN: Absent again?

DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Vote Head 13400, National Electoral Commission – Le18Bln National Electoral Commission THE CHAIRMAN: And they are just a stone throw away from here.
DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: National Electoral Commission THE CHAIRMAN: No wonder they are next door to Foreign Affairs DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Vote Head 4010 THE CHAIRMAN: Absent.

DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Yes, absent.

Vote Head 41000 Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security Le101,423,5,000,60 - Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security 21 THE CHAIRMAN: I am sure they must be here considering the priority they occupy.
DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Ok THE CHAIRMAN: Are they are here?

DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Yes.

Vote Head 34500 Pharmacy Board Services –Le6,379,180,500 THE CHAIRMAN: Are they here?

DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Vote Head 13900 National Commission for Privatization – Le2,32,137,000 THE CHAIRMAN: Are they here?

DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Yes, the National Commission for Privatization representatives are here.
Vote Head 14200 National Public Procurement Authority.

THE CHAIRMAN: They ought to be here because they have been the centre of attraction over the last few days DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Le 3,207,514,700; Vote Head 13900 Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development – Le 4,196,619,000 THE CHAIRMAN: Are they here?

DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Ministry of Local Government THE CHAIRMAN: Absent.
DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Vote Head 10705 Provincial Secretary, North/West, Port Loko –Le 2,226,473,500 Provincial Secretary, North/West.

THE CHAIRMAN: Absent 22 DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Absent.

Vote Head 13000 – National Revenue Authority Le98Bln.

THE CHAIRMAN: Are they here?

DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Yes sir.

Vote Head 40200 – Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Le 26,801,224,900 THE CHAIRMAN: Are they here?
DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Fisheries?

THE CHAIRMAN: Okay.

DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Yes sir.

Vote Head 14500 – Right to Access Information Commission Le 1,24,706,500 THE CHAIRMAN: are they here?

DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Vote Head 37000 – National Medical Supplies Agency Le7,817,298,600.

Various water projects SALWACO Le 8,410,000 THE CHAIRMAN: Are they here?
DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: SALWACO THE CHAIRMAN: Yes.

DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Vote Head 411200 – National Telecommunications Commission, Le 59,397,288,700.

NATCOM THE CHAIRMAN: Are they here?

DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Yes sir.

Vote Head 42300 – Sierra Leone Petroleum Regulatory Agency Le 3,857,118,400.

Petroleum Regulatory Agency THE CHAIRMAN: Okay.

23 DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [Deputy Minister of Finance]: Yes.
Vote Head 70101 – Waterloo Rural District Council, Le4,936,428,352, District Council-Waterloo, yes.

Vote Head 70101 Bo City Council, Le2,482,682,981.

Bo District Council?

Vote Head 70101 Bo City, so we have both city Council and District Council represented?

Okay.
Okay.

THE CHAIRMAN: Honourable Members, before I put the question, I just want to go through the MDAs that are absent; the Ministry of Lands and the Environment, Law Reform Commission, Public Sector Reform Unit, National Electoral Commission, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Provincial Secretary, North/West, Port Loko.

I am going to extend the same generosity that we have observed to the others but that generosity will only last until we end this debate.
This is the last allotted day so Mr Chief Whip.

HON.

DICKSON ROGERS: Yes sir.

THE CHAIRMAN: It falls on you to alert the MDAs concerned to hurry up and arrive here before we close the debate.

With that Honourable Members, the question is that the following votes as pronounced by the Minister stand part of the Schedule.
THE CHAIRMAN: Again, let me just advice the Chairman of the Sub-Appropriation Six to adhere strictly to the essential matters of the Report similar to his predecessors of Committees 1 through to 5.

HON.

SALIEU O SESAY: Thank you very much.

THE CHAIRMAN: We do not actually wish to stay here too long today so I leave it to your discretion.

HON.

SALIEU O SESAY: Thank you very much.

THE CHAIRMAN: To move as expeditiously as possible.

HON.
HON.

SALIEU O SESAY: Thank you very much Mr Chairman and I also want to join my colleagues to congratulate you on your new appointment as Acting president.

I want to allay your fears that I would be very brief and to the point so that we can go for prayers.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, please allow me to draw your 24 attention to Committee Six report of the Sub-Appropriation of Committee on Supplies on the Appropriation Bill of 2019.
Page 1, Table of Content, page 2 Introduction, procedures, Objectives, Committee Members and Support Staff as stated, General Observations and Findings.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I wish to draw the attention of this House to the following General Observations in reports of the MDAs and Local Councils that appeared before Sub-Appropriation Committee Six.

TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTENTS PAGE NO.
Cover Page Table Of Contents Introduction Procedure Objectives of the Exercise Membership of the Committee General Observations and Recommendations Specific Observation and Findings Sierra Leone Environment Protection Agency Ministry of Lands, Housing &the Environment National Protected Area Authority Political Parties Registration Commission Law Reform Commission Public Sector Reform Unit (PSRU) 1 2 3 3 3 4 5 5 National Electoral Commission Ministry of Agriculture & Food Security Pharmacy Board Services National Commission for Privatisation National Public Procurement Authority Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development Provincial Secretary North/ West Port Loko National Revenue Authority Ministry of Fisheries & Marine Resources Right to Information Commission National Medical Supplies Agency Sierra Leone Water Company(SALWACO) National Telecommunication Commission Sierra Leone Petroleum Regulatory Agency Waterloo Rural District Council Bo City Council Bo District Council Conclusion INTRODUCTION 12 13 14 14 15 16 26 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, pursuant to Section 111, Sub-section 3 and Section 112, Sub-section 6 of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone, Act No.
6 of 1991 and Standing Orders (S.O.)

64(3), Parliament committed the examination of the under- mentioned budgetary heads of the Bill entitled “the Appropriation Act 2019”, to the 26 Appropriation Sub-Committee Six (6).
In line with Standing Order 66(1), this Committee was charged with the responsibility of working together with the Vote Controllers and the Accountants of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) stated below, and to carefully scrutinize the budgets allocated to them in 2018 in order to ascertain whether these funds were judiciously expended and to justify their submissions of 2019 budgets in accordance with their work plans presented to the Committee.
The Committee started hearings on Wednesday, 21st and ended on Tuesday 27th November, 2018 at the Upper Gallery of Parliament Building.
The proposed 2019 budget estimates for the various Heads and Sub-heads under review are as follow: MDAs ACCOUNTS HEADS (INCLUDING SUB-HEADS) FOR 2019 Vote Division Vote Description Total Sum Voted (Le) 420 00 Sierra Leone Environment Protection Agency 15,154,178,800 306 00 Ministry of Lands, Housing &the Environment 5,490,239,100 410 00 National Protected Area Authority 1,436,695,000 110 11 Political Parties Registration Commission 1,205,530,200 110 12 Law Reform Commission 490,180,100 110 17 Public Sector Reform Unit (PSRU) 1,893,718,000 134 00 National Electoral Commission 18,000,000,000 401 00 Ministry of Agriculture & Food Security 101,423,005,600 345 00 Pharmacy Board Services 6,379,180,500 139 00 National Commission for Privatisation 2,032,137,000 27 142 00 National Public Procurement Authority 3,207,514,700 107 00 Ministry of Local Government and Rural 4,196,619,000 Development 107 05 Provincial Secretary North/ West Port Loko 2,226,473,500 130 00 National Revenue Authority 98,000,000,000 402 00 Ministry of Fisheries & Marine Resources 26,801,224,900 145 00 Right to Information Commission 1,024,706,500 307 00 National Medical Supplies Agency 7,817,298,600 Water Project Sierra Leone Water Company(SALWACO) 8,410,000,000 Various 412 00 National Telecommunication Commission 59,397,288,700 423 00 Sierra Leone Petroleum Regulatory Agency 3,857,118,400 701 01 Waterloo Rural District Council 4,936,428,352 701 01 Bo City Council 701 01 Bo District Council 2,482,682,981 4,905,547,386 PROCEDURE Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Sub Appropriation Committee 6 followed the established procedure of scrutinizing heads of expenditure.
The Committee sent out questionnaires to all the MDAs assigned to it, for detailed information relating to the 2017 and 2018 budgetary activities.

Pursuant to S.O.

66(1), the Vote Controllers were summoned to come along with their financial documents pertaining to revenues and expenditures of their MDAs for examination, to ascertain the efficient and effective use 28 of both human and financial resources, the constraints of the MDAs and the adequacy or otherwise of their financial allocations.
OBJECTIVES Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, in line with the provisions of S.O.
66(1), the Sub Appropriation Committee probed with the following objectives:  The MDAs adherence to prudent public financial management regulations as means of enhancing accountability in the utilization of public resources allocated under the 2017 and 2018 budgets;  The strength and weaknesses (if any) in the budget preparation and performance with the view of improving on the appropriation process;  The challenges and constraints faced by the MDAs in executing their activities; and  Whether budgetary resources were equitably distributed.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Sub Appropriation Committee 6 comprised of the following Members: – CHAIRMAN – DEPUTY CHAIRMAN 1.

Hon.

Sallieu Osman Sesay 2.

Hon.

Kemokoh Conteh 3.

Hon.

Saidu Baba Kamara 4.

Hon.

Genewai Samuel Panda 5.

Hon.

Lolloh Emilia Tongi 6.

Hon.

Joseph Williams Lamin Hon.

Saa Paul Sam 7.

Hon.

Ariana Hariyatu Bangura 8.

Hon.

Momoh Bockarie - 9.

Hon.

P.C Bai Farama Tass Bubu Ngbak IV 10.

29 11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

Hon.


Abdul Karim Kamara- ( Const.069) Hon.

Osaio Alusine Kamara Hon.

Mario Foday Kamara Hon.

Abdul Karim Kamara ( Const.59) Hon.

Musa Lahai Hon.

Alieu Manuel Koroma Hon.

Eskimo Momoh Mansaray Hon.

Mittia Alex Rogers Hon.

Foday Abubakara Sillah Hon.

P.C Sahr Youngai K. Mbriwa 21 Hon.

Hajaratu Faith Samura 22.

Hon.

Samba Ahmed Turay SUPPORT STAFF 1.

Mr. Mahmoud Barrie – Lead Clerk 2.

Ms. Christian Syl-Turay 3.

Mr. James A. Kaikai 4.


Sheku Lamin Turay ( PR) 5.

Patience Brown-Dawson 6.

Isata Nima Bangura GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS Mr. Chairman, Honourable Members, I wish to draw the attention of this House to the following general observations in respect of the MDAs and Local Councils that appeared before Sub Appropriation Committee 6. i.
The Committee observed that most of the MDAs and Local Councils, have only received allocation for the 1st and 2nd quarters and those that have received for all the quarters for 2018 Financial Year (FY), received less than the amounts allocated.

This cut in actual receipts by some MDAs and Local Councils negatively impacted their performance.

30 ii.

The Committee further observed that allocations to the MDAs and Local Councils for 2018 FY were not released on time.
This has also negatively impacted their budgetary performance and similarly created huge, outstanding public debts for some MDAs.

This also affected the administrative activities and development projects of the MDAs and Local Councils.

iii.

The frequent transfer of Finance officers and Vote Controllers in most MDAs had adversely affected the budget process.

The newly assigned Finance Officers and Vote Controllers could not accurately respond to the Committee’s queries.

iv.
iv.

Documents submitted by some MDAs were haphazard and full of mistakes, as if some of these MDAs did not have time to correctly supply information needed on the questionnaire.

v. Except for some consideration for the current economic situation, the Committee viewed the allocations to some MDAs and Locals for 2019 FY as inadequate.

vi.

The delay to release allocations resulted in unfinished activities and projects that are rollover to the current F.Y.
These rollover expenditures were not properly defended by some Vote Controllers and could also be a recipe for corrupt practices.
SPECIFIC OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, below are the specific observations and findings on the MDAs and Local Councils that were assigned to Committee 6 for scrutiny of their budget allocations: VOTE 420-00: SIERRA LEONE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA-SL) 31 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Sierra Leone Environment Protection Agency was established by an Act of Parliament in 2008 as a body corporate to provide for the effective protection and management of the environment and other related matters.
The broad mandate of the Agency is to oversee, coordinate, monitor and regulate all environment issues in order to promote effective and sustainable environmental development in the country.
Mr. Chairman, Honourable Members, with no budget ceiling for FY 2018, the Environmental protection Agency submitted a budget to the tune of Le 16,302,800,000.00 to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and received no allocation during the first quarter until after the Executive Order #1 on the 9th April, 2018 when all bank balances were closed and transferred to the Treasury Single Account (TSA) at the Central Bank.

Thereafter a grand total of Le 22,211,054,798 for quarters 2 to 4 was allocated.
The Agency had a rollover of Le 5,651,427,000 from 2017, received a supplementary budget of Le 8,950,755,311 as at 30th September, 2018, donor funding received amounted to Le 2,207,806,929 and Le 14,707,369,000 was generated from other sources like licenses, fees, permit and monitoring, making a grand total of Le 31,517,358,240.
However, EPA incurred a total expenditure amounting to Le 15,011,934,000 on the following sub-heads:  Staff cost including training Le 9,259,853,000  Administrative Expenses Le 2,659,756,000  Board Expenses Le 155,133,000  Environmental Project Exp.
Le 2,937,192,000  Office Equipment Le 21,450.000 Mr. Chairman, Honourable Members, Section 20(b & c) of the EPA Act No.44 of 2008 allows the Agency to expend or finance their activities with funds consisting of:-  Monies generated by the Agency in the course of its activities and  Gifts or grants from donors.
32 During the budget scrutiny, the Committee observed that EPA has complied with Section 47 (1) of the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act of 2016 and has made first payment of over Le 17,000,000,000 as at September, 2018 into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) Mr. Chairman, Hon.

Members the Agency set a revenue target of Le 28,684, 264,500 but actually generated the sum of Le 15,929,167,000.
The reason for revenue shortfall according to the Vote Controller was the increase in compliance with the provisions of the Act especially in line with EIA process.

However revenue target for 2019 is set at Le 39.2 billion Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for FY 2019, the Environment Protection Agency made a budget submission to the tune of Le 19,383,200,000 within its budget ceiling.

The EPA was allocated the sum of Le 15,154,178,800 as listed in the Appropriation Act of 2019.
Mr. Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee was satisfied with the overall activities of the Agency more especially in the area contributing to the TSA and recommends approval of its allocation.
VOTE 306-00 : MINISTRY OF LANDS, COUNTRY PLANNING AND THE ENVIRONMENT Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Ministry of Lands, Country Planning and the Environment as contained in the Gazette No.21 of 30th April 2008, is mandated to develop the appropriate policies and programmes for land management, country planning and the environment under the following headings:- - Land and Land Tenure - Surveys, mapping and triangulations - Relationships with the Directorate of Overseas Geodetic and Topographical Surveys and other relevant international organizations.
- Enforcement of Planning & Building Controls 33 - Demolition of unauthorized structures - Development of National Environment Policy - Protection of the environment in collaboration with other relevant MDAs - Collaboration with National and International Organizations and institutions Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the FY 2018, the Ministry of Lands Country Planning and the Environment, made a budget submission of Le 4,399,400,000.00, same as its budget ceiling.
The Ministry was allocated Le 3,293,700,000 for recurrent budget and Le 1,800,000,000 for Capital development budget with a sum total of Le 5,093,700,000 The Ministry actually received Le 1,100,886,016 for the 2nd and 3rd quarters from regular budget and Le 1,500,000,000 as supplementary for payment for land owing to families in Bo and Kenema.

The Ministry also received Donor funding of Le 305,936,400 from UNCCD.

The Donor Funding was expended on National reporting process to combat desertification.
The Ministry expended funds received mostly on the following areas:  Local and overseas travels, Office furniture and equipment; Vehicle maintenance;  Building maintenance; Stationery; Local training; Office, general and running costs.

In FY 2019, the Ministry made a budget submission of Le 6,693,800,000 in line with its budget ceiling.

The Ministry was allocated the sum of Le 5,490,239,100 and the Committee considers the allocation as adequate.
However, the Committee considers the allocation as adequate and recommends its approval.
VOTE 410-00 NATIONAL PROTECTED AREA AUTHORITY AND CONSERVATION TRUST FUND Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the National Protected Area Authority (NPAA) and the National Conservation Trust Fund (NCTF) were established by an Act of Parliament in 2012, to provide oversight for National Parks and Protected Areas designated for 34 conservation purposes, with the aim of protecting the forests, fauna and flora in their natural state.
The Department was previously under the Ministry of Agriculture but due to its expanded network of Protected Areas (up to 15 natural protected areas nationwide) and against the backdrop of its role in fighting climate change, Government in its wisdom granted the Department an autonomous budget.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, according to the NPAA Act, Section 21 (1) provided that the funds of the Trust Fund shall consist of- (a) Moneys appropriated by Parliament for the purposes of the Authority; (b) All moneys given to the Authority by way of gifts, endowments, bequest, grant or other contributions by persons and Organisations for the purposes of the Authority.
In light of the above provisions, it is clear that the National Conservation Trust Fund carries the Vote Head for budgetary allocation purposes and the NPAA implements all projects and activities of the Protected Area Management.

For 2018 FY, the NPAA made a budget submission of Le 3,308,300,000 slightly below its budget ceiling of Le 4,133,100,000.

The Authority was however allocated Le 3,563,852,600.00 as listed in the Appropriation Act of 2018.
The Authority received Le 492,780,000 from GoSL regular budget, Le 417,200,000.00 as donor funding from UNDP and Le 43,682,980 from other sources like fees for licenses and research, making a grand total of Le 935,662,980.

According to the Executive Director, the sum of Le 925,385,403.27 was expended and the balance of Le 10,277,576.73 was reported to be in their bank accounts.

Donor funding was used for sustainable natural resource management and biodiversity within protected areas.

Mr. Chairman, Hon.
Mr. Chairman, Hon.

Members, for FY 2018 the Committee ascertained that the Conservation Trust Fund had a rollover of Le 36,000,000 from 2017 and received the sum of Le 58,000,000 from GoSL regular budget, and expended Le 87,000,000.

The balance of Le 7,003,000 was reported to be in its bank account.

The NCTF had domestic debt of Le 45,000,000 owed for rent purposes.

35 For 2019 FY, the National Protected Area Authority made a budget submission of Le 9,350,100,000 in line with its ceiling.
The Authority was allocated the sum of Le 1,436,695,000 as listed in the Appropriation Act of 2019.

The Committee recommends for both the Conservation Trust Fund and NPAA the following:  To review the Wild Life and Conservation Act and that the Vote Head be given to the Conservation Trust Fund instead of the NPAA as it is written on 2019 Appropriation Bill.

 To enact legislation to give authority or power to NCTF and NPAA to generate local revenue.
 To increase their budget allocations and timely release of funds.

VOTE 110-11 POLITICAL PARTIES REGISTRATION COMMISSION Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, The Political Parties Registration Commission was created by an Act of Parliament in 2002.The Political Parties Act, 2002 mandated the Commission to register and regulate the conduct of political parties in accordance with sections 34 and 35 of the Constitution and to provide for other related matters.

Mr Chairman, Hon.
Mr Chairman, Hon.

Members for the F.Y 2018 the Commission submitted a budget of Le 8,644,400,000.00 above its budget ceiling of Le 3,017,800,000.00.

The amount allocated to the PPRC for the Fiscal Year 2018 is presented in the table below.
QUARTER 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH AMOUNT(SLL) 532,000,000 87,748,850 669,700,000 Nil 36 TOTAL RECEIPT FY 2018 1,289,448,850 The amount actually received by the Commission is shown on the table below: Quarter Other Salaries & Donor – Donor - Registration Total Chargers Allowance UNDP WFD of Political s Parties 1,595,453,340 532,000,000 2,500,000 534,500,000 1,548,859,135 8,000,000 1,556,859,135 87,748,850 87,748,850 ROLLOVER FROM 2017 1st 2nd 3rd 4th TOTAL 619,748,850 1,548,859,135 8,000,000 2,500,000 3,774,561,325 RECEIPT FY 2018 Mr Chairman, Hon.
Members the grand total received for 2018 including rollover from 2017 was Le 3,774,561,325; less total expenditure of Le 3,459,091,880 is equal to a balance of Le 315,469,455 that is reflected in the various bank account of the commission.

Furthermore, the Commission had a total domestic debt of Le 144,679,666 including withholding taxes.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the F.Y 2019, the PPRC made a budget submission of Le 3,440,300,000 as other charges and 7,487,678,452 as salary and allowances.
The actual allocation made to the Commission was Le 1,205,530,200 as 37 stated on the Appropriation Bill.

The PPRC received Le 2,500,000 from registration which was paid to the Consolidated Fund.

The Committee viewed this allocation to be adequate and recommends its approval.

VOTE 110-12: LAW REFORM COMMISSION.

[Absent] Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Law Reform Commission was established as an Agency of Government under the Law Reform Commission Decree in 1994 and as amended in 1999.
The Commission has a statutory mandate to review the Laws of Sierra Leone for the purposes of the need for reform, consolidation and codification.

Mr. Chairman, Honourable Members, in the 2018 FY, the Commission’s original budget submission was Le 1,151,500,000 for the recurrent expenditure and Le 410,000,000 for Capital Expenditure, which summed up to Le 1,561,500,000 above the budget ceiling of Le 820,700,000.
However, the Commission was actually allocated Le 751,600,000 for the First and second quarters of 2018.

The Committee observed that the Commission did not receive any allocation from the Government regular budget but however received Le 40,340,500 from Donor Funding, which was spent in respect of consultative meetings on the Draft Abolition of Child Marriage Bill.
Mr. Chairman, Honourable Members, for 2019 FY, this Commission made an original budget submission of Le 1,275,900,000 for Non interest recurrent expenditure and Le 700,000,000 for domestic capital expenditure, which summed up to Le 1,975,900,000.

With a budget ceiling of Le 1,275,900,000, the Commission was allocated Le 490,180,100.

The Committee viewed this allocation as inadequate and recommends a supplementary budget.
VOTE 110-17 PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM UNIT (PSRU) [Absent] 38 Mr. Chairman, Honourable Members, the PSRU is charged with the responsibility to provide leadership, co-ordination and strategic guidance in the design, implementation and monitoring of Public Sector Reform Programmes.
Therefore, the PSRU’s vision is a Public Service that works for all, in support of national development, and a mission to create a lean, performance-oriented, highly motivated, modern and efficient Public Service that delivers high quality services to the people of Sierra Leone in a timely and cost-effective manner.
It ensures great collaboration and communication with key reform ‘Champions’, including the Secretary to the President, the Public Service Commission, HRMO, MoF, Cabinet Secretariat, Office of the Chief Minister, ACC, Audit Service Sierra Leone.

The Unit also looks into the Pay reform – reviewing of staffing in sub-vented Agencies, improvement in systems, processes and tools for improved service delivery and capacity building and training.
Mr. Chairman, Honourable Members, For FY 2018, in line with its budget ceiling, the PSRU submitted an original budget of Le 1,236,100,000.00 to the Ministry of Finance and Le 612,400,000 was actually allocated.

The PSRU actually received Le 361,200,000 from Government Regular budget and Le 340,278,533 from the World Bank making a total of Le 701,478,533 and expended Le 449,443,000 with a balance of Le 252,035,533 is reported to be in their bank account.
The Unit spent the above amount on the Pay and Performance Project (P & PP) and its related expenses.

Mr. Chairman, Honourable Members, for F.Y 2019, the SPRU made a budget submission of Le 1,369,700,000, in line with the its ceiling and was actually allocated Le 1,893,718,000.

Hence, the Committee considers the budgetary allocation to PSRU as adequate and recommends its approval.
VOTE 134-00 NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSIONS (NEC) 39 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, Section 32(1) of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone provides for the establishment of a neutral, impartial, independent and non- partisan Electoral Commission that is charged with the responsibility of organizing, conducting and supervising all public elections, referenda, registering of eligible voters, demarcation of constituency boundaries and making regulations for the efficient performance of its electoral functions.
In 2018 FY, the original budget submission of this Commission was Le 131,509,503,015 with a budget ceiling of Le 127,578,700,000 and was actually allocated Le 66,300,411,880 .The Commission had a rollover of Le 44,023,100,000 from 2017, received Le 33,950,000,000 from the Government regular budget, and Le 3,100,000 from other sources (i.e.

bank interest) and Le 6,173,000,000 as donor funding, making a grand total Le 84,149,200,000.
The Committee observed that the Commission generated Le 4,452,500,000 as revenue raised from ‘nomination fees; which, according to the Vote Controller, was paid to the National Revenue Authority (NRA).
It was ascertained that total expenditure amounting to Le 83,036,000,000, excluding staff cost of Le 6,879,102,934.03, was spent as follows:  Recurrent Cost and other programme expenditures Le 9,273,745,665.83  Elections cost Le 73,762,362,916  Technical assistance, report, and production of Constituencies and Ward Maps  Regular National and District Boundary Delimitation, Monitoring Committee meetings to discuss the process and provide technical advice to NEC.
 Payment of polling and Data Centre staff The balance of Le 1,113,000,000 is said to in the bank accounts.

Mr Chairman, Hon.

Members, for 2019 FY, this Commission submitted a budget of Le, 60,932,800,000 in line with its ceiling.

The Actual allocation to the Commission was Le 18,000,000,000 for Recurrent & Programme Expenditure and Le 6,300,000,000 for Public Investment Programmes (PIP).
The Committee observed a decrease of Le 36,632,800,000 which according to the Vote Controller will affect their activities.

40 However, the Committee viewed the 2019 FY budgetary allocation to this Commission as adequate and recommends its approval.

VOTE 401 00 MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY.


Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security was established to formulate agricultural development policies, and advise the Government on such policies relating to its administration and management of the agricultural sector of Sierra Leone’s economy.
Mr Chairman, Hononourable Members for the F.Y 2018, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry made a budget submission of Le 60,500,000,000 in line with its budget ceiling and was allocated with Le 10,056,815,996 but actually received Le 575,000,000 from regular budget and Le 126,064,949,334 from donor funding.
The donor funds were mainly utilised on Agricultural Activities such as West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAP), Agriculture for Development Project (A4D), Rehabilitation and Community Improvement Programme (RCPRP), Rural Finance and Community Improvement Programme (RFCIP), Oil Palm Production.

Mr Chairman, Hon.
Mr Chairman, Hon.

Members the Ministry expended a total of Le 133,844,804,345 on the following sub heads: general administration, production of cash crops, forestry conservation, agricultural engineering services, argic extension services etc.

Mr. Chairman, Hon.
Mr. Chairman, Hon.

Members, the Ministry sets revenue targets of Le 23,078,853,900 and Le 564,372,500 for 2018 and 2019 FYs respectively and was able to collect a total Le 817,305,000 from the sale of tender documents, phytosanitary crops, livestock and forestry activities in 2018 FY.

The Vote Controller informed the Committee that the reason for the revenue shortfall was Poor Sensitization of the Public on revenue collection.
The Vote Controller informed the Committee that revenue collected from timber logging is no paid to the Ministry but rather to a private agent 41 Mr Chairman, Hon.

Members for the F.Y 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry made an initial budget submission of Le 390,109,900,000 above its budget ceiling and has been allocated with Le 101,423,005,600, recording a decrease of Le 288.7bln as against its original budget submitted to Ministry of Finance.
The Committee noted that the decrease in the budget submission will adversely affect their activities.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, you would agree with me that one of the priorities of this government is on Agriculture and as a nation, we would not grow, we would not move this country forward if our investment in agriculture still remain at record low levels.
In my view, I want to submit to Ministry of Finance that the allocation made to the Ministry of Agriculture is not only inadequate but very insufficient to allow the Ministry to move agriculture from this level to another level.

I therefore, crave on the indulgence of the Chairman and Members to please look into this allocation and improve on what has already been allocated.
Therefore Mr Chairman and Members, the Committee considered that agriculture as one of the priority areas of His Excellency the President, coupled with its potential employment of about 70% of the population, therefore recommends an increase in the Ministry’s allocation.
VOTE 345-00 PHARMACY BOARD SERVICES Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone was established by the Pharmacy and Drugs Act of 2001 as a regulatory body to control the supply, manufacturing and transportation of drugs, including nutritional agents and cosmetics to enhance potency and quality assurance.

Mr Chairman, Hon.

Members for the F.Y 2018, the Pharmacy Board Services made a budget submission of Le 4,500,000,000 and was allocated Le 3,208,170,000.
The Board actually received Le 1,845,370,000 for recurrent budget and Le 346,699,320 for salary, Board and taskforce members’ allowance making a total of Le 2,192,069,320.

42 The total sum $ 32,500 US Dollars and Le 235,000,000 was received from Donors which was spent for monitoring centre, vigiflow data base, internal audit inspectors and upgrading of existing laboratory structure.
The Board also generated Le 3,802,038,403 above its target of Le 3,114,424,000 for which the Committee commended the Pharmacy Board.

However, the Board expended the sum of Le 3,136,834,833 for recurrent expenditure and Le 502,005,238 for allowance for Board and taskforce members.

Mr Chairman, Hon.

Members, for the F.Y 2019, the Pharmacy Board Services made a budget submission of Le 6,886,200,000, above its ceiling of Le 5,880,900,000 and was actually allocated Le 6,379,180,500.
Revenue target for 2019 is Le 3,257,435,000.

The Committee noted that Pharmacy Board Services has been added to MDAs paying funds in the Treasury Single Account and hence, it considers its allocation as adequate and recommends its approval.
VOTE 139-00 THE NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR PRIVATISATION (NCP) Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the National Commission for Privatization (NCP) was created by an Act of Parliament in 2002 to take responsibility for the reform and divestiture of non-performing public enterprises.

The object for which the Commission is established is to serve as the policy and decision-making body for the divestiture and reform process of public enterprises.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the F.Y 2018, the NCP made budget submission of Le 1,324,929,450 to the Ministry of Finance and was allocated Le 2,711,095,300.

The Commission actually received for quarters 1 & 3, Le 1,098,186,000 from regular budget and Le 6,651,091,828 from privatization receipt.
In addition the NCP received a total of $ 6,735,183 US Dollars above its revenue target of $ 6,194,627 US Dollars from Bollore’s Container Terminal Concession, Break Bulk Licensing Agreement and Cargo Tracking Note Project for which the Committee commended the NCP.
43 Furthermore, a transfer of Le 7,108,427,806 was made to the consolidated Revenue Fund and the amount of Le 1,033,984,417 was spent on other charges comprising of audit fees, fuel, office rent, staff medical, staff training and overseas travelling etc., for the FY 2018.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the F.Y 2019, the Commission made a budget submission of Le 2,370,800,000 in line with its ceiling.
The Commission was actually allocated Le 2,032,137,000 and revenue generation target is $ 6,363,825 US Dollars.

The Vote Controller intimated the Committee that the decrease in budget allocation will affect privatization activities.

However, the Committee considers the allocation to the NCP as adequate and recommends its approval.
VOTE 142 00 NATIONAL PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AUTHORITY (NPPA) Mr Chairman Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the National Public Procurement Authority (NPPA) was established by an Act of Parliament in 2004 and was recently reviewed in 2016.

The mandate of the Authority is to regulate and harmonise public procurement processes in the Public Service, to decentralise public procurement to procuring entities and to promote economic development by ensuring value for money in public expenditure.

Mr Chairman, Hon.
Mr Chairman, Hon.

Members, for F.Y 2018, the Authority made a budget submission of Le 7,675,600,000.00, above its budget ceiling of Le 3,837,800,000 and was actual allocated Le 1,957,600,000.

The Authority has so far received the sum of Le 865,445,000.00 from GoSL regular budget, Le 107,111,968 as salary grant and Le 580,000,000 for building project and, it has expended the total of Le 1,222,787,542.47 with a balance of Le 329,769,422.53 reported to be in their bank account.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for 2019 FY, NPPA made an original budget submission of Le 4,252,400,000 to the Ministry of Finance, in line with its ceiling.
The actual amount allocated was Le 3,207,5140,700 below its submission 44 As Mr Chairman rightly noted that this Agency has been a centre of attraction and a very topical debate in this Well, the Committee observed that there was a decrease in their original budget submission, which according to the Chief Executive Officer will affect their activities.

Hence the Committee therefore recommends a supplementary budget for this MDA.
VOTE 107:00 - MINISTRY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT [Absent] Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, this Ministry is responsible for providing leadership, policy formulation, coordination and oversight of all 22 City and Local Councils and all 190 Chiefdoms Administrations, in order to ensure prudent local governance in the country.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for FY 2018, the Ministry made an original budget submission of Le 144,685,702,000 and was allocated Le 4,021,116,365.
The Ministry had a rollover of Le 2,600,660 and received Le 4,021,116,365, making a grand total of Le 4,023,717,031.The Ministry expended a total of Le 3,060,456,250 mainly on recurrent expenditures such as office and general, local and overseas travelling, vehicle maintenance and fuel, with the balance reported to be in their bank account.
In F.Y 2019, this Ministry submitted an original budget of Le 6,197,000,000 in line with its budget ceiling to the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry was however allocated Le 4,196,619,000 below the budget submission.

The Committee recommends that a supplementary budget allocation be made to the Ministry.
VOTE 107-05 PROVINCIAL SECRETARY’S OFFICE NORTH/WEST PORT LOKO [Absent] 45 Mr Chairman, I don’t know if the amnesty will cover them, because we all know that they are one of the Provincial Offices; so can I go ahead Mr Chairman, with the Provincial Secretary’s, North.

Since an amnesty has been given to the Councils in the provinces, I want to request that the same amnesty be extended to this Office.

THE CHAIRMAN: No, didn’t you hear the proviso I attached HON.
SALIEU OSMAN SESAY: But they cannot come; before we end.

THE CHAIRMAN: As long as they come before we end HON.

SALIEU OSMAN SESAY: They are all the way from Port Loko Mr Chairman.

THE CHAIRMAN: Who?

HON.

SALIEU OSMAN SESAY: The newly established Province the North/West Provincial Office.

THE CHAIRMAN: Ok the same amnesty that was applied to Bonthe would apply to them [Applause] HON.

SALIEU OSMAN SESAY: So I go on.


VOTE 107-05 PROVINCIAL SECRETARY’S OFFICE - NORTH/WEST PORT LOKO Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Provincial Secretary’s Office (North/West) in Port Loko District, is the newly established region created by an Act of Parliament of the De- amalgamation.

For the F.Y 2018, this new Region was allocated a budget of Le 2,049,400,000 for the 3rd and 4th quarters but actually received Le 285,303,112.
The new region expended Le 275,303,000 mainly on Office and general expenses, office stationery, local travelling and the region is yet to have an office building for it activities.

46 For 2019 FY, this region made a budget submission of Le 2,374,100,000 in line with its budget ceiling but was allocated the sum of Le 2,226,473,500 by the Ministry of Finance.

The Committee viewed the allocation to this new Region as adequate and therefore recommends its approval and timely release of allocation.
VOTE 130-00 NATIONAL REVENUE AUTHORITY (NRA) Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the 2002 National Revenue Authority (NRA) Act, gives the Authority the sole right to collect revenue on behalf of the Government of Sierra Leone.

However, the Committee noted with regret that the policy of centralized revenue collection has not been fully achieved, as some other MDAs still collect and retain revenue independent of the NRA.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, as part of the NRA collection mandate as spelt out in the 2002 Act, the Ministry of Finance is required to pay back to NRA 3% of the total revenue collected as incentive after meeting their targets; but this has not been implemented over the years.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the F.Y 2018 , the NRA’s made a budget submission of Le 104,100,000,000 and an actual allocation of Le 90,461,900,000 for quarters 1 – 4, was made indicating a decrease of 13.1% of the original budget submitted to the Ministry of Finance.

The sum of Le 60,230,950,000 was actually received for quarters 1 – 3 from government regular budget and Le 3,066,467,256 was also received from other sources.
The Committee observed that $ 47,000 US Dollars was received as donor funding from Osiwa.

The Authority actually expended Le 59,536,664,482.95 under the various sub Heads as follow: i. ii.

iii.

iv.
iii.

iv.

Board Costs 1,162,615,338.00 Staff Costs 42,973,355,650.48 Admin Costs 14,316,637,829.86 Finance Costs 536,718,439.61 v. Development Costs 200,000,000.00 47 Total Amount 59,536,664,482.95 The Authority had outstanding domestic payment of Le 1,141569,958, and Le 4.5 trillion was the revenue target for 2018, in which Le 3.5 trillion was the actual revenue generated.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the F.Y 2019, the Authority made budget submission of Le 137,000,000,000 above its ceiling of Le 98,000,000,000 and was allocated Le 98,000,000,000, indicating a decrease of 28.5% of the original budget submission.

The Vote Controller reported that the decrease might affect salary reforms, operational activities, revenue mobilization and the top priority areas in the 2019 Budget which are ICT infrastructure, Construction of NRA House, Staff motivation and incentives.
The NRA projected a revenue target of Le 5.66 trillion less Le 125b for road user charges as indicated on paragraph 113 and Annex 1 of the Government Budget and Statement of Economic and Financial Policies for FY 2019.
The Committee observed that currently only Le 22 billion of the quarterly revenue collected is given to the NRA for its operations, which is far below the statutory 3% commission stipulated on the NRA Act of 2002 and it also observed that NRA’s allocation of Le 98b for F.Y 2019 is far less than the 3% of net projected revenue of Le 5.541 trillion which is about Le 160b, recording a budget under allocation of Le 62bln.
Mr Chairman, you will agree with me that if we are to increase the mobilization of revenue we need to empower the NRA more than they are at the moment for the simple reason that, we know the leakages in the economy and President Bio was very emphatic on that during the campaign, that one of the ways he will use to finance the Free Education Project is to close down the leakages in the economy.
I want to believe that if I give you the example of Orange money and Africel money, these businesses operated by the two big mobile companies in the country I want to believe is slowly killing the Financial institutions.

What is happening is that most of the profit generated or collected from these transactions on a daily basis, I think Honourable Members could attest to the fact that we send monies to our relatives and friends up country or even with Freetown.
The profit calculated, the rate you pay for sending up to Le1Mln is 48 almost Le50,000 and the profit accrued by these companies are yet to be calculated or they are yet to be accurately calculated by NRA in the sense, if NRA is to tax on the profit, what they would do is to go to Orange Money for e.g.

tell us your transaction for this month and as a business man, I am fully aware that if I say I collected 5mln you have no way to counter that or to prove that I collected more than Le5Mln.
So what I will do, I will underestimate the profit and NRA as they are at the moment, cannot identify the volume of profits that Orange Money is making per day; they depend squarely on the information given to them by these same companies.

There is a leakage which I believe, if NRA is empowered with automated system, they would be able to track all those transactions and limits or increase the revenue collected.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, that’s just one way it would also help to prevent some of the NRA Officials from conniving with these companies to underestimate the profits so therefore, I want to draw the attention of the House and do this conclusion.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, looking at the very important role of NRA, the Committee recommends an increase in allocation, timely release of funds and to revert to the 3% commission on revenue collected as stated on the NRA Act of 2002.
VOTE 402 00 MINISTRY OF FISHERIES AND MARINE RESOURCES Mr Chairman, Hon.

Members, the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources was established to formulate policies, coordinate and supervise the management of the fishery and marine resources in the country.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the FY 2018, the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources made a budget submission of Le 9,500,000,000 but was allocated Le 4,244,100,000.
The Ministry actually received Le 5,117,579,700 for quarters 1, 3 and 4 and expended the sum of Le 2,283,386,456.

Mr Chairman, Hon.

Members, the Ministry is a revenue generating institution and in compliance with Part V Section 41 (1) of the Financial Administration Regulations of 1998, made a revenue target of Le 63,000,000,000 but collected Le 71,188,675,425 as 49 at 30th September 2018, exceeding its target by 11.5%.
According to the Vote Controller, the increase in revenue is due to the revised schedule of fees.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the F.Y 2019, the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resource made a budget submission as shown on the table below: S/N DIVISION 2019 (Le) 1.

2.

3.
2.

3.

Office of the Permanent Secretary Office of the Director of Fisheries Projects 1,552,500,000 6,159,700,000 15,100,000,000 Grand Total 22,812,200,000 The above submission is above its budget ceiling of Le 4,801,200,000, and the actual allocation made to the Ministry Le 26,801,224,900.

The Committee observed that the Ministry generated revenue above its target and encouraged them to improve on their performance in the coming years to boost the New Direction.
The Committee therefore viewed the allocation made to the Ministry as adequate and recommends its approval.

VOTE 145-00 RIGHT TO ACCESS INFORMATION COMMISSION Mr Chairman, Hon.

Members, the Right to Access Information Commission was established by an Act of Parliament in 2013, whose statutory mandate is to promote access to information held by, or under the control of Public Authorities which receive monies on behalf of the people of Sierra Leone.
The Commission consists of the Information Commissioner who shall be the Chairperson and Vote Controller, four other Commissioners with the Executive Secretary is the head of administration.

Mr Chairman Hon.

Members, for the F.Y 2018, this Commission submitted an original budget of Le 1,314,600,000, in line with its budget ceiling and an actual allocation of Le 1,138,644,700 was made to it.
The Commission had a rollover of Le 9,718,175 and 50 received Le 854,100,000 from Government regular budget for quarters 3 & 4, making a total of Le 863,818,175.

Actual expenditure incurred by the Commission totalled Le 600,710,687 and the balance of Le 263,107,488 is reported to be in their bank account as at September, 2018.
The Vote Controller reported that there is no revenue so far; however the Commission has the potential to raise funds through imposition of fines for non-compliance of the RAI Act, 2013.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the F.Y 2019, the Commission made an original budget submission of Le 1,358,600,000, lower than its budget ceiling of Le 1,756,800,000.

An allocation of Le 1,024,706,500, as stated on the Appropriation Bill was made.
According to the Information Commissioner, the decrease of 24.6 % in their budget allocation will bring about serious challenges as follows:  The high payment of rent for office amounting to $ 30,000.

The Commission has been currently served eviction notice by the legal Counsel of the land lord.

 The rehabilitation of the assigned office space at SALPOST estimated at Le 400,000,000.
 RAIC does not have a web site and thus making it difficult to enforce compliance of proactive disclosure of information by MDAs.

In light of above challenges, the Committee recommends the release of the remaining allocation to the Commission and recommends a supplementary budget in view of the above challenges.
VOTE 307-00 NATIONAL MEDICAL SUPPLIES AGENCY (NMSA) Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the National Medical Supplies Agency (NMSA) was established by an Act of Parliament in October 2017, to repeal and replace The National Pharmaceutical Procurement Unit (NPPU) Act, of 2012 as a public service agency with the responsibility of procurement, warehousing and distribution of drugs and medical 51 supplies in a transparent and cost- effective manner for and on behalf of all public institutions throughout Sierra Leone.
Mr Chairman, Hon.

Members for F.Y 2018, the NMSA made a budget submission and was allocated the sum Le 8,600,000,000 but has not received any funds from government regular budget up to date.

In addition no donor funding has also been received.

For the F.Y 2019, the NMSA made a budget submission of Le 8,512,000,000 above its ceiling of Le 1,415,000,000 and was allocated the sum of Le 7,817,000,000 as stated on the Appropriation Act of 2019.
During the deliberations, the Committee observed that the Agency has not been operationalized and had no staff and that the Managing Director and Deputy were recruited in October, 2018.

The Committee viewed the allocation to Agency as adequate and recommends the release of the 2018 allocation so that this agency will operate.

As we speak they are yet to receive a dime for this year’s allocation and this is December, what do we expect.
Please Madam Minister, we are pleading that you do something to this particular agency.

VOTE (Various): SIERRA LEONE WATER COMPANY (SALWACO) Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Sierra Leone Water Company (SALWACO) was established by an Act of Parliament in 2001, given the responsibility of ensuring Water Supply Services are effectively provided, especially in specified rural-urban areas of Makeni, Bo, Kenema, Koidu, Yengema and Lungi as stipulated in the Act.
For the 2018 FY, the Department reported making a budget submission of Le 18,500,000,000 above its prescribed ceiling.

The MDA was however allocated Le 4,015,000,000 in line with its ceiling and actually received, Le 3,509,800,000 from regular budget and Le 1,000,000,000 as GoSL’s counterpart support to projects implementation.
Donor funding amounting to $ 11,685,056 US Dollars was paid directly 52 to contractors for projects implementation, under the three towns Water Supply and Sanitization Projects, the Rural Water Supply and Sanitization Projects in the areas of Kambia, Kaionadugu, Kono, Pujehun and Bonthe and the Arab Red Crescent Project for the digging of 49 bore holes and 63 hand dug wells.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, The Committee observed during the discussions that phase one of the three towns Water Project was successfully completed and the phase two is on-going and up about 50% completion.

The Rural Water Supply and Sanitization Project had been implemented by the Local Government Councils, whilst SALWACO provides technical support and supervision.

The Arab Red Crescent Project has been completed.


The Department actually expended a total of Le 6,082,535,000(up to October 2018) in the following areas: Fuel and lubricant, vehicle maintenance, staff cost, chemical for water purification and admin.

and general expenses.

The Company set a revenue target of Le 2,500,000,000, and Le 1,103,728,452 was actually collected showing a decrease of 55.9%.
The Vote Controller reported that the company did not meet its target due to the Limited project support and hence distorting the efficiency of their service delivery, coupled with the non-payment of water rates by many Government owned establishments.

Mr Chairman, Hon.

Members, for the F.Y 2019, SALWACO made an original budget submission of Le 20,011,800,000, above its ceiling of Le 11,149, 800,000, and was actually allocated Le 8,410,000,000, indicating a decrease by 58% of its original submission.
The Department projected revenue target of Le 5,500,000,000.

However the Vote Controller reiterated that the decrease in allocation will adversely affect its operations.

Since we know the importance of SALWACO for us living in the provinces the three water town supply project is still to be actualized and I want to believe people want to 53 enjoy that service now.
So on that note, Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the Committee considered this allocation as inadequate and request that the MDA be considered for a supplementary allocation.
412 00 NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION [NATCOM] Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the National Telecommunication Commission [NATCOM] was established by an Act of Parliament in 2006, and amended thereafter in 2009 as the sole telecommunication regulator, licenses and regulation of telecommunication operators, manage radio frequency spectrum, geo-stationary orbit and radio transmission.
The formation of this regulatory body assumes regulatory role to liberalise and introduce more competition in the telecommunication sector.

To expedite its operations, NATCOM launched the National Advisory Council in 2011, which acts as the power house for telecommunication and ICT development in Sierra Leone.

For the F.Y 2018 , NATCOM never submitted a budget to the Ministry of Finance due to the fact that it depended entirely on its revenue to finance its operations.
However, with the implementation of the TSA in 2018 [which prevents it from utilising its revenue], NATCOM received Le 49,274,383,280 from the Ministry of Finance.

The Director General informed the Committee that the allocation was utilised on recurrent and capital expenditure; i.e., payment of salaries, benefits, payment to suppliers and support to national development.

The Director General tendered documents relating to the Commission’s expenditure pattern for the Committee’s perusal.
Inquiring into the Commission’s revenue generation drive during the period under review, the Committee noted from the review of the Appropriation Questionnaire that it generated Le 105,367,916,516 as at October, 2018 out of a revenue target of Le 127,083,819,000 from various revenue sources such as from licenses, boarding facilities [infrastructure], Licenses Solution Provider, Public Data, Communication Network Operators, Internet Exchange Point Service, Credit Card Validation Platform, Service Providers, Telecommunication Terminals, Installation Licenses, etc.
The Deputy Director General disclosed that penalty fines for late payment of regulatory fees, fines for 54 simbox fraud and review of the regulatory fees to match international standards could help to maximise the Commission’s revenue generation potential.

For 2019 FY, this Commission was allocated Le 59,397,288,700 by the Ministry of Finance, which the Committee considered as adequate and therefore recommends for its approval.
VOTE 423-00 SIERRA LEONE PETROLEUM REGULATORY AGENCY (SLPRA) Mr Chairman, Honourable Members the Petroleum Regulatory Agency (PRA) was established by the Petroleum Regulatory Agency Act of 2014 ( Act No 3), to license and regulate the efficient importation, storage, transportation and distribution of petroleum products so as to ensure its regular availability to customers at reasonable prices.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, the PRA is an Agency required by the Fiscal Management and Control Act of 2017 to pay moneys in to the Treasury Single Account (TSA).

For the F.Y 2018, the PRA had a cash rollover of Le 902,279,393.91 from 2017 and received a total of Le 5,845,417,185 for quarters 1, 2 and 3 of 2018, making a grand total of Le 6,747,696,578.91.
The Agency expended a total of Le 5,585,141,000 on staff cost, purchase of vehicles, office furniture and equipment and administrative expenses and has a balance of Le 1,162,555,578.91 is reported to be in their bank account.

Also the sum of Le 367,704,836,079.51 as petroleum import taxes was collected by the NRA for January to October 2018.
For F.Y 2019 the RPA made a budget submission of Le 4,708,300,000 within its budget ceiling of Le 4,714,300,000 and was actually allocated Le 3,858,300,000 as stated on the Appropriation Bill.

According to the Executive Chairman, the decrease of Le 850,000,000 will affect monitoring and inspection activities, construction of office space, meeting and staff training etc.
Mr Chairman Hoourable Members considering the fact that the PRA is revenue generating Agency supporting the TSA, the Committee recommends a supplementary 55 budget of Le 850,000,000 to enhance the effective and efficient operation of the Agency.

VOTE 701-01: WESTERN AREA RURAL DISTRICT COUNCIL Mr Chairman, Hon.
Members, for the F.Y 2018, the Western Area Rural District Council (WARDC) made a budget submission of Le 17,286,967,688.00, above its budget ceiling of Le 10,074,941,434 and Le 19,082,840,029 was actually allocated to the Council for quarters 1 – 4.

The Council received Le 1,517,626,381 from GoSL Regular Budget, and further received Le 1,194,313,857 from Road Maintenance Fund Administration (RMFA) totalling Le 2,711,940,238.
A grand total of Le 1,223,205,929 was the expenditure made to the devolved sectors including admin and general expenses, vehicle maintenance etc.

The Council set its Own Source of Revenue target of Le 12,333,888,000, but actually collected Le 1,009,307,871 as at 30th September 2018 with a decrease of 91.8%.
Responding to questions on reasons for the drastic fall in revenue collection, the Chief Administrator said the revenue shortfall could be attributed to poor compliance on the part of tax payers, Non – Availability of the cadastral System and Boundary Limitation between FCC and WARDC.

The Committee, having noted the poor revenue generation drive by the Council, strongly advised for more effective and efficient revenue collection strategies to be put in place to meet the target for 2019.

Mr Chairman, Hon.
Mr Chairman, Hon.

Members, for the F.Y 2019, the Council made a budget submission of Le 4,936,428,352 in line with the ceiling of Le 4,936,428,352.

The Council was actually allocated the sum of Le 4,936,428,352 and set a revenue collection target of Le 12,500,760,000.

The Committee viewed the allocation to WARDC as adequate and recommends its approval.
56 VOTE 701- 01 – BO CITY COUNCIL Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the FY 2018, the Bo City Council made an original budget submission of Le 4,778,782,744, and was allocated Le 6,536,816,108, which was above its original budget submission and the Council actual received Le 930,729,059 for quarters 1 and 2 and there was a supplementary budget of Le 535,210,059 from RMFA, Le 705,278,224 from Property Tax and Le 841,000,000, for National Monthly Cleaning totalling Le 2,081,488,224.
There was also the amount of Le 66,000,000 from other source (Orange Partnership with BCC for rehabilitation of Clock Tower) and the Council actually spent Le 2,944,582,455 from quarters 1 – 4.

The Council set a revenue target of Le 3,561,794,383 but actually generated Le 1,144,334,613, which is far below its target by 68.9%.

The Committee observed that the Bo City Council has a domestic debt of Le 2,112,369,000 comprising of retirees benefits, NASSIT contribution and suppliers.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the F.Y 2019, the Council made a budget submission of Le 6,031,449,946, above its budget ceiling of Le 2,453,675,561 and was allocated Le 2,482,682,981 below its original budget submission.

The Council has set a revenue target of Le 3,577,774,383.

The Committee considers this allocation as inadequate and therefore recommends a supplementary allocation to the Bo City Council.
VOTE 701-01 BO DISTRICT COUNCIL Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the F.Y 2018, the Bo District Council made a budget submission of Le 5,416,770,028 , above it budget ceiling of Le 3,803,814,135.

The Council was actually allocated Le 5,693,675,919 and 1,597,676,289 was actually received by the Council.

A total of Le 601,410,000 for January to September was the 57 actual expenditure on motor expenses, general admin cost, staff cost, fuel for office generator etc.
The Council sets a revenue target of Le 1,369,358,071, and Le 466,117,196 was actually generated showing a decrease of 66%.

The Chief Administrator said that revenue shortfall was a result of the following:  Inadequate Capacity of Revenue Collected – Personnel and logistics etc.
 Property tax collection is a new phenomenon in the District and it is a major revenue source for the District but the people in the District find it difficult to pay  District Council has challenge with City Council (Co–located Councils) who come into the District areas to collect revenue because they have hug revenue base compared to the District Council  Mining companies in the District are still on prospecting even though they are on active mining, thereby evading tax.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, for the FY 2019, the Bo District Council made a budget submission of Le 4,905,574,386, in line with its budget ceiling.

The Council was actually allocated Le 4,905,547,386, same as its budget submission.

The Committee considers this allocation as adequate and recommends its approval.

CONCLUSION Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, pursuant to Section 111 Sub-section (3)1 and S.O.
66(1&2), the Committee unanimously recommends that the entire budget Heads, including the Sub-Heads listed below, stand part of the schedule and that the recommendations contained therein be approved in order to enhance service delivery to the nation.

I thank you for listening.
MDAs ACCOUNTS HEADS (INCLUDING SUB-HEADS) FOR 2019 Vote Division Vote Description Total Sum Voted (Le) 420 00 Sierra Leone Environment Protection Agency 15,154,178,800 58 306 00 410 00 110 11 110 12 110 17 134 00 401 00 345 00 Ministry of Lands, Housing &the Environment 5,490,239,100 National Protected Area Authority 1,436,695,000 Political Parties Registration Commission 1,205,530,200 Law Reform Commission 490,180,100 Public Sector Reform Unit (PSRU) National Electoral Commission 1,893,718,000 18,000,000,000 Ministry of Agriculture & Food Security 101,423,005,600 Pharmacy Board Services 6,379,180,500 139 00 National Commission for Privatisation National Public Procurement Authority 2,032,137,000 3,207,514,700 Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development 4,196,619,000 142 00 107 00 107 05 Provincial Secretary North/ West Port Loko 2,226,473,500 130 00 402 00 145 00 307 00 National Revenue Authority 98,000,000,000 Ministry of Fisheries & Marine Resources 26,801,224,900 Right to Information Commission 1,024,706,500 National Medical Supplies Agency 7,817,298,600 Water Project Sierra Leone Water Company(SALWACO) 8,410,000,000 Various 412 00 423 00 701 01 701 01 701 01 National Telecommunication Commission 59,397,288,700 Sierra Leone Petroleum Regulatory Agency 3,857,118,400 Waterloo Rural District Council 4,936,428,352 Bo City Council Bo District Council 2,482,682,981 4,905,547,386 59 THE CHAIRMAN: Madam Minister.
Honourable Members, we are very short of time, although of course the procedure requires that I tell you that the report is now open to debate and for Honourable Members who are not Members of the Committee to make their contributions.

I am sorry to say considering that time is against us, it will be two minutes per speaker and I will not take too many speakers on this particular Committee report.

I will only entertain three [3] speakers from either side of the aisle.

[Question Proposed] HON.


BRIMA MANSARAY: Thank you Mr Chairman and His Excellency the Acting President of the Republic of Sierra Leone.

Firstly, I want to thank group six [6] and I doff my hat to the Chairman, for a work well done [Applause].

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to look at the recommendations particularly recommendation four [4] of which the Committee said that the document submitted by most of the MDAs were haphazard and full of mistakes.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, this is a very serious point that worth note taking because those moneys are the moneys of the people of this country and therefore, if those moneys are expended on behalf of the people the documents should be sober and properly submitted and not in a haphazard manner.
With your leave Mr Chairman, I want to recommend that for subsequent supplies of appropriation, any MDA that does not bring correct and accurate documents to be presented to those Committees must be arrested because those are people’s moneys [Applause].

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, let me briefly go to the area of Agriculture.
Sierra Leone is a developing country and every developing country to have a flight of take-off to the point we have to rely on Agriculture, not only subsistent one, but mechanised one and it has to be supportive by Government and therefore those areas of Agriculture as the Committee recommended, we know we are short of finances, but let us consider to see how we can support Agriculture so that our economy can grow.
Mr Chairman, with NRA and with regard to orange money Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, these mobile phone companies are making Million of Leones from this exchange of orange and Africel moneys, they are cheating on the state.

Therefore, the 60 NRA should be given more support to put mechanisms in place to track this mobile phone companies so that they can pay our dues correctly because of time Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to stop here [Applause].

THE CHAIRMAN: I thank the Honourable Member.


I recognise the Honourable at the far end.

HON.

IBRAHIM KAMARA: Mr Chairman and Acting President, Honourable Members of Parliament.

I want to thank group six [6] under the leadership of Honourable Sallieu Osman Sesay [SOS], I want to be very brief.

I am coming from Constituency 063 where we have a very big life conservation park that is; Ortambah Kilimie National park.
That park was created at the time when Adam was a boy and eve was a girl and if you go and look at the condition of that park, the conservation over the years has grabbed the entire or almost 3/ 4 of Tambaka Yorbayieh Chiefdom now our people are suffering.

The company or the wild life conservation is not going on at all and there is no proper agreement between the people of Tamabaka Yorbayieh and that of the wildlife conservation park.
I made the effort to look at the Agreement there was a very tiny paper where they called our people to come and thumb print and they gave them Le75, 000 a square kilometre of about 75,000 acres has been forcefully grabbed from the people of that Chiefdom.
Therefore, Mr Chairman, Honourable Members of Parliament, I am appealing particularly to the wild life conservation group so that after the session today you please provide me the opportunity for me to meet with you as a Member of Parliament for that area so that we will have thoughtful deliberations on that issue.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, finally, let me take a look at the Right to Information.

I have been a Journalist for some time before coming to Parliament.
So, anything that has to do with the media, it is almost closer to my heart beat.

Madam Deputy Minister, if you look at the allocation to that Commission it does not commensurate to the functions of that commission, but however the amount approved I am kindly making a passionate appeal that with time you release that fund to the Right to Information Commission.
If you look at the media in this country particularly 61 the radio, the print and electronic media we have our journalists in this country that are not placed on fixed salaries.

Taking into consideration our Le500, 000 minimum wage of this country about 95% of our Media practitioners are not receiving monthly salaries both electronic and Print Media.
Therefore, we have a Committee in this Parliament for Labour I am appealing to that Committee to collaboratively work with the Comission and also with the Ministry of labour to invite proprietors, Editors of all media houses let them present their staff list together with their monthly salaries.

So, that we could be able to understand yes indeed the media is going according to the principles and dictates of this country.
Whereby journalists or any staff or worker in this country must receive not less than Le500, 000.

I am making that appeal.

With this Mr Chairman and Acting President of this nation today I rest my case.

Thank you very much I am Honourable Ibrahim Kamara Constituency 063.

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

I recognise the Honourable Paramount Chief.

HON.

P.C.
HON.

P.C.

JOE K. MACAVORY III: Mr Chairman and Acting President, Honourable Members, the Paramount Chiefs from Bo Districts are disturbed by what is happening between the Districts and City Councils.

The City Council would want to swallow up the District Council in term of revenue generation and we are all aware of the fact that for every district council or for every council to survive, they rely upon revenue they generate which we call the home sourced revenue.
Subsequently government will stop giving grants to councils so they will now rely on their own revenue sources that was the reason why Bai Bureh had to fight to let us not pay the Local Tax.

Up to this moment, we are paying Le5,000 per year and it is a difficult problem for us to collect the Le5,000.

Therefore, the Councils rely upon what they collect.

As far as I know, the Bo District Council has fourteen Chiefdoms and some parts of Kakua Chiefdom under their own jurisdiction.
The City Council has the township, but it appears the fight has been on the Municipal Act that has not been able to define the boundary between the city and the District.

In fact, I understand that part of my chiefdom is not supposed to be in the city, but revenue is being collected there by the City Council.

That has to be 62 verified.

So the city is gradually swallowing the District.


Mr Chairman they say, when the desirable is not available, let the available becomes the desirable and when you want to empower the powerless you have to disempower the powerful.

Let us help to disempower the City Council to empower the Bo District Council.

On that note, I rest my case.

Thank you.

HON.

ALIMAMY D. KAMARA: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, I want to thank you for the opportunity you accorded me to take part in this debate.
I would narrow down my contribution to the National Revenue Authority [NRA].

Mr Chairman, we are all aware that the Authority has performed so well that it deserves some reward.

If we refer to the NRA Act, of 2002 we are giving 3% as commission to the NRA for revenues collected.

Over the years, this percentage has been dribbling and that has been affecting their performance.

I want to caution the Minister of Finance not to destroy or kill the goose that lay the golden eggs.
By my estimation looking at the submissions it is clear that you have allocated Le98Bln but when you look at their projections, for this year’s collection 2019, it is to the tune of Le5.66,000 and if you calculate 3% of that Le98Bln is not enough and it is not even equal to the 3% they are entitled to.
Speaking from experience the Problem with NRA and Finance has been paying the correct percentage to them as commission; in fact during my tenure, we fought very variously to make sure that the 3% is extracted or deducted from source because only then that they will be able to use those funds to undertake their operations.
As we speak to give us quality assurance the NRA has told us they are migrating from “ASYCUDA PLUS PLUS” [++] to “ASYCUDA WORLD” that means they are able by projection to raise the fund or the revenue they have just projected, but it is unfortunate that instead of them if you calculate 3% of Le5,66,000 it goes to the tune of something like Le160,000 but you have just given them Le98Bln which is far below.
In this vein I want to appeal to the Ministry of Finance to visit those calculations and do justice by given them the commission due which goes up to the tune of Le160Bln.

If we can boast of the progress and programmes of the New Direction it is the will and compliance of the National Revenue Authority to raise more revenue that 63 gives us the pride that we are sure of delivering the promises we have given to the nation.
So, in that vein Mr Chairman, I want to appeal through you to the Ministry of Finance to revisit their calculations to give them the capacity to perform.

I thank you.

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

I will now recognise the Honourable Hassan Sesay; he would be the last speaker on my left.

HON.
HON.

HASSAN A. SESAY: Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, again we have listened to the Chairman of Committee six [6] I want to thank him and his team for doing a wonderful job and of course for drawing our attention to certain issues which will definitely need to address such is the Ministry of Agriculture.
Mr Chairman, I know we are all of the view that we must try to reduce the importation of our Staple food rice and to accomplish that we need to allocate more resources to Ministry of Agriculture so that we will increase productivity and ensure that we will import less rice, but with the figures quoted here Mr Chairman, I am sorry to say that whoever advised along this lines is not doing a good job for our country and I will say why Mr Chairman.
Now they are asking for more but if we consider that we spent over $100Mln just to import rice, if we can increase the productivity at local level definitely we will curtail the amount of money and direct those resources to other more beneficial social services for our country and our people [Applause].

Mr Chairman, as I stand here I can say that for 2019 I am not going to buy rice because I did farming.

Mr Speaker I can give you at least a sample of it so that you can know, but the President was saying….
THE CHAIRMAN: I hold you to that promise.

HON.

HASSAN A. SESAY: Sure, take my word Mr Acting President.

Mr Chairman, the President was asking that every politician get involved in Agriculture, we are all willing to do that, but what I have been asking for or I may advocate for here is that the Commercial Banks are not friendly for Agricultural Investment.

If you go to the Commercial banks and you get 22/25% interest rate, how much will you be able to invest in Agriculture to make any sense out of it?
So what I have been advocating is let there be an Agricultural Bank for which the interest rate is completely different from what obtains in the Commercial Banks because that will give an incentive and Mr 64 Chairman, let us understand that the Private Sector is the only sector that can help develop our economy.

The Government is not a good business person.


So, let us create avenue whereby we can get assistance for Agriculture where people will access those loans and then ensure that they put the money where they are supposed to be so that we can increase the productivity and reduce the volume of capital resources we spend in importing rice I think that will help because when we talk about Agriculture, it is not only about rice; you have poultry etc.
now, if all of those, if you take the moneys used to import poultry feed ie; just chicken, eggs and then we will direct those resources to Local poultry definitely it will improve Agricultural activities and more food will be available in terms of diversity.

We must not always depend on the Mining industry to give us foreign exchange and when we do that it will affect the value of our currency compared to international currencies thereby leading to reduction in inflation.
Mr Chairman, that is just one and then we talk about the IMC.

We are talking about access to information and Access to information is not only limited to information used in the Media.

Those people who also want to do extensive research they need information they want to get access to.

So, if that is to be the case Mr Chairman I think we must also consider increasing what we invest in Access to Information because information is power.
Let us increase their allocations so that they will be able to provide adequate information and archival work.

Mr Chairman, I come back to an issue that I visited earlier on and that is the National public procurement Authority [NPPA].
Mr Chairman, now they are talking about the monies and it has been recommended by the Committee that we increase what will give to National Public Procurement Authority, but Mr Chairman, I don’t want to call any name here but I want to assure you that there is enough reason to believe that there is already a Directorate operating before it has been brought to this House.
Mr Chairman, I am bringing this up so that we all know that that issue is not dead therefore we are going to continue asking questions because if you have a Director, a Deputy Director etc.

Already if Mr Chairman gives me the opportunity I can present documents to show you that this has already existed before they came here for approval.

What are they 65 doing?


This is a back door business, we want to empower National Public Procurement Authority [NPPA], give them more strength because that is the institution that has been set up by an Act of Parliament in 2004 and amended I think 2016 if am correct.
But for now I have had discussions with Mr Speaker on that issue and am going to officially write a letter on that issue so that the Ministry of Finance will explain to us why that is happening and the recruitment process had already been done before it has been brought to this House.

Mr Chairman, we will not accept people doing what Parliament is supposed to do.
We have said in this this House that we are doing our job and let them do their jobs, let them leave us to do our job in Parliament and let us get what we need to get.

I have said it before and am going to say it again the Executive must not muzzle the Legislative, let us have our powers and let us make sure that we do what is right for this country it is not for today but for posterity.
Mr Chairman, on that note I think we have to go for prayers so I rest my case, but I know that I will have to come to you again as a Speaker so that we address the issues that I have raised now.

Thank you very much.

HON.

SIDIE M. TUNIS [Leader of Government Business]: Mr Chairman I want to end this Debate by congratulating MPs in this Parliament.
Mr Chairman, considering the fact that we have a Parliament consisting of over 80 present of new MPs, I am very proud that we have had a very successful budget process.

I want to also thank Mr Chairman and Acting President for the leadership he has provided that may be possible for us Honourable Members to do our work.
I want to congratulate the Minister of Finance, his deputy, the Financial Secretary the team from Ministry of Finance, but more especially the Deputy Minister of Finance I want to also say thanks.

THE CHAIRMAN: S.O [2] The Minister correct [Undertone].

HON.

SIDIE M. TUNIS [Leader of Government Business]: I want to also thank the MDAs.

Without the MDAs, we will definitely not be able to do our jobs.
I want to thank you for the support you have given Parliament and we look forward to your cooperation and collaboration, the Clerks that we have here and all the support that we have received from members of staff of Parliament, our Sargent at Arms.

I want to say 66 thanks to our journalists and Members of the Fourth Estate.

I believe you have done tremendously well.


Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, members of the fourth estate and our guests, this is the first time in many years that we are going to pass the National Budget on time.

For the first time we are having the Financial Strategy Statement, the Finance Act, the Government Budget and statements, Recurrent and Development Expenditure Estimate everything on time and in line with the 1991 constitution, for the first time in several years[Applause] .
I must congratulate myself as the Leader of Government Business and Leader of this House.

Honourable Members I thank you very much.

THE CHAIRMAN: I thank the Honourable Leader of Government Business and all Honourable Members who have spoken before him.

I will now invite the Minister to respond to the various questions and concerns expressed [Applause].
DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [The Deputy Minister of Finance]: Mr Speaker, I am going to begin my final response to the Debate with a Latin quote “Nemo dat quod non habet” you simply cannot give what you do not have.

We simply cannot give that which we do not have.

The Budget process as we are all aware entails gregarious prioritisation given the volume of resources that we have at our disposal.
We take note of all the areas where you have proposed for increases that will be helpful to strengthen our overall reform effort.

In particular, the Ministry of Agriculture it is only when we seriously work with the available Financial Instruments, not just the establishment of a dedicated Agricultural Banks, but through all Financial Institutions.

We must have commodity specific instruments targeting a very arranged products within the sector both live-stock and staple crops.
For us to generate the volume of export earnings that we need as a nation we obviously must support our farmers.

Let me mention those that I have heard whereby increase allocations will be needed when we come back to the House in June, July with a revised Budget we will look into it.
You have requested an increased allocation for the National Protected Area Authority for the Ministry of Agriculture, for the National Public Procurement Authority, for the Ministry of Local Government and National Revenue Authority [NRA].

In the case of NRA, one of the 67 Honourable Members mentioned that, given the volume of revenues generated by National Telecommunication [NATCOM], NRA does need to step up its effort in capturing the volume of revenues that are needed for the consolidated fund.
Yes, 3% of the net is what is in the Legislation as funds that should be allocated to NRA, but again the prioritization and the balancing.

So let me conclude by saying that this has been a learning process for me.

This is the first time that I have sat through this process here in this Honourable House and I would like to thank you very much.
For all your insightful views on the process, our short comings at the Ministry of Finance what we need to do is to improve on this effort and to improve the overall economy and the Public Financial Management System in the Country.

The Leader just mentioned that along the way we had major challenges for the welfare Committee here in Parliament.
When I first came to this noble House it was the CLSG Financing agreement for the energy project and listening to your concerns I made a commitment to you Honourable Members, that giving my own background, my own experiences working in other countries I am ready to work with you, to improve your conditions of service and please let us conclude this process with this point that I remain committed to improve your conditions of service [Applause].
I would do so as soon as am given the space and the authority to do so, “inshalla, inshalla”.

So your Excellency the Acting President, Honourable Members, including my commitments to improving your conditions of service.

Your Excellency the Acting President, Honourable Members, i move that the Vote as earlier indicated do stand part of the schedule for Committee of supply, six including the Sierra Leone Produce Marketing Company for Committee of supply number three, thank you.
THE CHAIRMAN: Before I put the question, I would like to add my own voice of congratulations to the Deputy Minister of Finance for the very abled and eloquent manner in which she has performed her duties piloting through this Parliament the estimates before the Committee of supply.

If there is one thing that has stood out most glaringly is the fact that this Deputy Minister is Parliament friendly [Applause].
On behalf of Parliament we have listened with rapt attention to the promise made, and 68 would want to join Members of Parliament in the New Year to work with her to realise the fulfilment of those promises and we shall do so most diligently.

HON.

DICKSON ROGERS: Mr Speaker, before you pose a question, vote head 107- 02 -Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development Southern Province Bo they are here.
THE CHAIRMAN: So whatever restriction we had imposed on their votes those restrictions are hereby lifted.

HON.

DICKSON ROGERS: Thank you Mr Acting President.

THE CHAIRMAN: With the warning that a repeat of their behaviour will not be tolerated in the next financial year, alongside the same warning extended to all other MDAs.

HON.

DICKSON ROGERS: Ministry of Lands are also here, the law reform they are all here now.

I made sure I called them and they are all here.


THE CHAIRMAN: All earlier restrictions imposed on any MDA, those restrictions are hereby lifted on the understanding that it will be the last time such behaviour will be tolerated by this Parliament.

That said Honourable Members; the question is that the votes as pronounced by the Deputy Minister of Finance stands part of the schedule.
[Question Proposed, Put and Agreed to] [The votes pronounced by the Deputy Minister of Finance stand part of the schedule] [Votes heads as pronounced by the Minister form part of the schedule: Votes 128-01 to 128-21 embassies and High Commissions including all the various heads stand part of the schedule] DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [The Deputy Minister of Finance]: Acting President, Mr Chairman, Honourable Members I move that Votes 128-01 to 128-21 including Embassies and High Commissions and all the various Consulates do stand part of the schedule.
Thank you.

Vote heads stand part of the schedule clauses 125 stand part of the Bill.

69 [Question Proposed, Put and Agreed to] [Votes 128-01 to 128-21 Embassies and High Commissions including all the various heads stand part of the schedule] [Clauses 1 to 5 stand part of the Bill] DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY: Acting President, Mr Chairman, Honourable Members I move that Clauses 1 to 5 stand part of the Bill.
[Question Proposed, Put and Agreed to] [Clauses 1 to 5 as pronounced by the Deputy Minister of Finance stands part of the Bill] HOUSE RESUMES DR PATRICIA LAVERLEY [The Deputy Minister of Finance]: Your Excellency Acting President, Honourable Members, having gone through the Committee of supplies I now move that the bill entitled the appropriation Act 2019 be read the third time and passed into law.
THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, before I put the question I want to congratulate all of us it is been a marathon but one that is truly worth it is especially for the new Members of Parliament.

You have been through a learning curve and you’ve learnt well, little by little you will perfect the art, you will perfect the art of been good Members of Parliament to the admiration of your colleagues in this nation, and more particularly to the acceptance and admiration of your constituents.
I hope you will take that into account come 2023.
[Question Proposed, Put and Agreed to] [The Bill entitled the appropriation act 2019 been an act to authorise expenditure from the consolidated fund for the services of Sierra Leone for the year 2019 and for other related matters has been read the third time and passed into law] 70 THE SPEAKER: Honourable Members, I will invite all of you to join me in making a resounding applause in our usual fashion for the time in living memory this House has succeeded in passing the budget before the expiration of the calendar year and the Finance Act.
In addition this is a great feather to the cap of all of you and I hope we shall continue in this spirit in the years ahead [Undertone].

Let me remind you that your presence is required here not only on Tuesday the 11th, but equally importantly on Wednesday the 12th for us to Debate the very alarming development in the streets of this country, the alarming development of the growing menace of youth violence.
That is what is going to constitute the main subject for Debate on Wednesday the 12th and in that connection the entire apparatus of national security the Military, Police, the ONS, everybody involved with security network have been invited to attend.

We cannot tolerate the present conditions where almost every day one hears of terrible stories of violence, perpetrated by or against the youths of this country.
It has to stop and this whole nation will hear all your contributions on this crucial and critical issue.

I invite all the media houses to be present to cover that Debate.

HON.

FESTUS LANSANA: But if you look at the staff of SLBC especially the male staff are smartly dressed up always; if you look at the female staff they are also fine except for the one who few days ago.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members of Parliament, SLBC over the years has suffered unduly.
Let us look at the screen, that is SLBC working; they are raising their own revenue which they manage to run the entire management these revenues are coming from their own very methods of raising or generating revenue for themselves they were not receiving regular budgetary allocation from the previous including all successive governments I am saying.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, SLBC deserves urgent financial attention.
Madam Minister, I am sure after the budget debate maybe few weeks later, you will be going to SLBC; you will see for yourself and then you will realise the amount they requested for about Le31Bln, there was no reason to reduce that amount to Le1,000,000.

It is very unfair to them at this moment.

I have more to say, but somebody is whispering to me that I must stop here.

71 MR CHAIRMAN: I thank the Honourable Member for his contribution.
I was particularly struck by the statement you made about Karene district considering the fact that those born in Port Loko District have become part of Karene District by legislation like you, like you.

HON.

ALUSINE KANNEH: Thank you Mr Chairman.

Mr Chairman, before I start the debate let me say few things that you need to know.
Committee Four Clerk that is Mohamed Koroma and I communicated not too long ago because the Youth Ministry Mr Speaker is a very important Ministry in Sierra Leone especially for the youths of this country.

The Clerk said he communicated to the Ministry for them to be present here today, but they are absent Mr Speaker that is serious; well maybe they are here now but they were absent when we called them they were not present at all.
Mr Speaker, let me say few things about the budget and being the Chairman, Committee of Internal Affairs, the National Drugs Agency which is a very important Agency in the Republic of Sierra Leone.
If we are talking about tackling the drug abusers, the tramadol boys in town you know they are all over the place and they are causing troubles and stabbing people because they are well drugged so Mr Speaker, in the Committee 4 what is written here the MDA applied for Le1,234,625,000.004 they applied for that money to be allocated to their Agency but what they received was 80m this is a joke Mr Speaker, it is a joke because how would you expect that Agency to run behind the drug abusers, to go to the ghettos so I’m asking the Ministry of Finance or craving their indulgence that they should help that Agency as far as their request is concerned.
THE SPEAKER: But is that the role of the… HON.

ALUSINE KANNEH: Mr Chairman.

MR CHAIRMAN: Aren’t you enlarging their role?

I was particularly surprised.

HON.

ALUSINE KANNEH: Well, I am calling their attention to do the necessary thing sir.

Mr Speaker, I am not saying much really because this is just the area I am going to deliberate on because being the Chairman for Committee on Internal Affairs, I believe this Agency should be treated seriously, I thank you Mr Speaker.
72 MR CHAIRMAN: I thank the Honourable Member for his contribution.

HON.

HASSAN A. SESAY: Mr Chairman, I don’t know whether I will take that as a compliment.

MR CHAIRMAN: It is meant to be unless.

HON.

HASSAN A. SESAY: Thank you very much.

[The House rose at 2:45 p.m. and was adjourned to Wednesday, 12th December, 2018 ADJOURNMENT at 10:00 a.m.] 73