By Amin Kef Sesay
There seems no end to how His Excellency President Bio can keep Sierra Leoneans wondering how he goes about making his top political appointments and exactly what are the things that he takes into consideration when he does.
Very certain that his latest recycling of Dennis Vandi from the Ministry of Agriculture to the highly technical position of Finance Minister has left many Sierra Leoneans thinking out loud: why does President Bio have to continue putting old wine in new bottles?
Whilst the nation agrees that it is the President’s prerogative as Head of State to make appointments into his administration as he deems fit, many have wondered why should he settle for a man as his Finance Minister whose financial rectitude is highly questionable, by the mere fact that he was alleged by the Commissions of Inquiry of being in the know as Permanent Secretary and Vote Controller of the Ministry of Education?
Are there no other very competent pro-SLPP financial economists of very high standing public image and professional competence to be appointed to such a high profiled job at a time when what the IMF and other international financial partners want to see is fiscal discipline?
In most countries, the Finance Ministry is responsible for formulating and implementing the core financial functions of Government, and is at the center of economic and fiscal policymaking. Current design and reform prescriptions for fiscal policy and financial management tend to focus on strengthening the legal framework and business processes based on what is perceived as best practice. Another approach aims at analyzing political and other drivers within Finance Ministries in order to get traction for technical reforms.
In which light, Bread and Butter JJ Saffa and his hard working team at the Finance Ministry have been widely extolled nationally and internationally for having since he became Finance Minister in 2018 brought back fiscal discipline and prudent allocation of financial resources.
First and foremost, at a critical economic time like this, there are policy functions for the Finance Minister such as setting fiscal policy rules or targets, managing fiscal risks, developing a debt strategy, formulating the annual budget and the medium-term budget framework, and providing advice on alternative tax policy options. Such functions are at the core of a Finance Ministry’s work and occupy a substantial part of the time of its senior officials and Ministers.
What degree of public financial management, debt management and the overtly other economic qualifications needed for managing the business of finance expertly has Dennis Vandi got?
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who is a Nigerian-American economist and international development expert is now the Director-General of the World Trade Organization. She is the first woman and the first African to hold the office. She sits on the Boards of Standard Chartered Bank, Twitter, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, and the African Risk Capacity.
Okonjo-Iweala had a 25-year career at the World Bank as a development economist, rising to the number two position of Managing Director, Operations (2007–2011). She also served two terms as Finance Minister of Nigeria (2003–2006, 2011–2015) under President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan respectively. She was the first Nigerian woman to hold several public offices including, Minister of Finance where she served twice under two different presidents, and Foreign Affairs Minister. In 2005, Euromoney named her Global Finance Minister of the Year.
