By Alieu Amara Suwu
Debating the Appropriation Act, 2023, being an Act to authorise expenditure from the Consolidated Fund for the services of Sierra Leone for the year 2023 and for other related matters, Hon Paul Saa Sam, Constituency 025, Kono District, has said the government has deficiency in financial discipline.
Hon Sam further analysed that the Sierra Leone People’s Party led government in 2018 promised to block all leakages but spending excess. He cited that just a person empanelled to set on the tribunal to inquiry into affairs of Laura Taylor Pearce, suspended Auditor General and one of her deputies is paid 69 million Leones, and besides the tribunal has taken more than a year and its current status is not obvious to the public. He thus said leakages are closed but drainages are opened.
Hon Sam said food security cannot hold because even the 250 tractors for farming, the farmers cannot access money to rent them, which he described appealing.
He said Free Quality Education (FQE) is not effective because the first time school subsidies for this academic year have not been paid to schools, and packages promised like uniform has never been provided for pupils. He hence said the FQE flagship programme of the government should not be discussed again because those that drafted it deceived and misled the President. He suggested that said government should have first considered the primary level then consider the secondary onward. He said. On health care, He claimed that the medical centres (PHUs) have no medicines, though the budgets are approved for that.
