By Fatmata Jengbe
On Monday 6th July 2020 Parliament concluded the debate on the President’s speech which was graciously delivered by His Excellency the President, Brigadier Retired Dr. Julius Maada Bio on the 28th May 2020; occasioning the State Opening of the Third Session of the Fifth Parliament of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone.
Continuing the debate on the motion, the Deputy Chief Whip, Hon. Alusine Kanneh commended President Bio for his studious and relentless fight against COVID-19, and decried the former regime for downplaying the fight against Ebola. He went on to say, the fight against COVID-19 is well coordinated and inclusive. “President Bio has done better than the previous leader,” he emphasized. He disclosed to the House that, his town, Tonkia, is currently enjoying solar electricity in light of the New Direction manifesto by fulfilling its promise in the area of energy. He said the current Government under the watch of President Bio has allowed the Judiciary to be independent by dispensing justice using the lens of impartiality and fairness. Concluding, he said the Government has done remarkably well to improve the economy of the country.
Hon. Dr. Ibrahim B. Kamara noted the efforts of health workers and referred to the bridges constructed by the past regime during the fight against Ebola as the very structures the current regime is using to fight against COVID-19. He went on to say, that the COVID-19 response is very disappointing in the provision of food to certain quarantine homes. Speaking on the impacts of COVID-19, he called on Government to judiciously use the funds that have been provided by international financing institutions to reduce its impacts on the economy and the people of Sierra Leone. Submitting on how the APC Government managed the economy, he asked the current Government to invest more in agriculture for the development of the country’s economy.
Hon. Dominic Tshombe described the speech as “a citizen oriented document”, which is geared towards the fight against poverty, corruption and indiscipline. He informed that the Government has evenly replaced and recruited over seven thousand teachers from 2018 to date. He also said that several schools have been approved under the New Direction Manifesto. He strongly condemned the past regime for trivializing issues relative to the education of the nation. Speaking on the introduction and implementation of the free quality education scheme, he praised Government for increasing school enrolments and massive recruitment of teachers. The economy, he said, started to progress steadily but was hit badly by the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, adding in spite of that all the sectors are doing well in order to avoid austerity. He also spoke on the minimum wage, pension, employment, salary increment, water supply, and early childhood development relating to the supply of books to schools, payment of fees, technical and vocational institutions and other deliverables. He commended the President for the robust fight against corruption.
Hon. Dr. Mark Mahmoud Kalokoh blamed the current regime for the low ranking of the country in the global hunger index. On energy, he recalled how the past Government transformed the energy sector by using functional strategies. Speaking on democratic tenets, he decried Government for using Regent Chiefs instead of substantive holders in many chiefdoms, arrest and detention, prolong vacancy of a parliamentary seat, missing biometric machines, and called on the Speaker to ensure a special investigation is carried out to prevent rigging or other form of electoral fraud. In the area of corruption, he decried SLPP for several alleged corrupt malpractices including embezzlement and destruction of election materials.
Hon. Festus Mohamed Lansana thanked President Bio for creating an enabling environment for the development of the country. He said that the revenue mobilization initiatives of the current Government outweigh that of the previous Government. “Revenue has increased by 2.0 Trillion Leones” accounting for an increase of 60%. Revenue GDP ratio has also increased rapidly with the support of the political will, and he decried the past government for executive orders and indiscriminate duty waivers. The appointment of a Duty Commissioner General, recruitment of additional staff, the effective and efficient use of technology in revenue collection, are major factors responsible for an increase in revenue generation for the development of the country.
On his part, Abdul Kargbo called on Government to ensure that they deliver on their promises in order to avoid mentioning same projects yearly in every State Opening of Parliament. “I have no hope in this document because what was said in the previous Speech has not been accomplished,” he informed. He also decried the Government for selective justice relative to the punishment of past Government officials, leaving the current ones who have committed similar crimes.
The President of the Parliamentary Female Caucus, Hon. Veronica Kadie Sesay commended all MPs for extending thanks to President Bio, adding the President has done very good job for the benefit of the people of Sierra Leone. She used the opportunity to thank the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources and the Minister of Tourism for their outstanding performances, saying President Bio deserves more accolades for appointing women of substance into high offices of State. She expressed serious disappointment on perpetrators of rape and gender-based violence which she described as threats to the existence, survival and development of women, children and girls in the country.
Hon. Rose Marie Bangura asked Government to redouble its efforts in all sectors that will improve the lives of the citizenry and criticized the Government’s bad decision of allowing pregnant girls to sit in same classrooms with minors. She appealed to Government to evenly distribute ambulances to all the chiefdoms, as well as fixing the roads across the country.
Hon. Sama Sandy said Extractive Mining and Agriculture are the backbone of the economy in light of job creation, development, revenue mobilization and food security, and called on Government to invest more in these sectors. He commended Government for proposing friendly laws aimed at improving the mining sector. He thanked donors for supporting Government in the agricultural sector in order to actualize food security and food self-sufficiency. He also called on the Government on behalf of faith-based organizations to ease the restriction on congregational prayers.
Hon. Alu Conteh thanked President Bio for rebranding local football in the country, and decried the Government for concentrating only on the improvement football and left other sporting disciplines to struggle for existence. He also expressed serious concerns in areas of accessing per diems and other facilities for players and officials promoting sports in the country.
Hon. Yusuf Mackery thanked President Bio and his Government for rebranding the image of the country by attracting support from donor partners amid COVID-19. He added that several improvements have been made in many areas including sanitation, hygiene and the peripheral health units.
Thanking the President, the Opposition Whip, Hon. Hassan Sesay said they believe in continuity and the legacies left by the past Government in the fight against Ebola, adding that they are helping the current Government in the fight against COVID-19. He said as an opposition, they would continue to acknowledge and praise late President Kabbah for the creation of NASSIT. He criticized the Government for the massive sacking of people who are Sierra Leoneans, recruitment without salaries, and termination of mining licenses causing high unemployment rate in the country. “Too much talk with less action will not take us anywhere,” he concluded.
Leader of NGC, Hon. Dr. Kandeh Yumkella while thanking President Bio said it is incumbent on all and sundry to put the Speech into context with COVID-19 relative to the potential impacts the pandemic has on the current and post-economy recovery in the country.
He commended the international community for the huge support to the country since the outbreak. Dr. Yumkella used the platform to call for national unity, peaceful coexistence, election, and judicial reforms in light of development and inclusive politics. “No development will come if the political tensions are high,” he concluded. He spoke on the need for MPs to support Government by coming up with Private Member’s Bill such as the transitional bill he is working on for sanity after every transition in the country.
Leader of C4C, Hon. Saa Emerson Lamina while thanking the President called for a total overhaul and advancement of the review of 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone in order to have peace and security in the country, whilst referencing the Rwanda Model of inclusive governance. Speaking on the attainment of peace and development, he said it was prudent for the authorities to ensure that they stop the idea of winners take all, saying APC and SLPP are practicing divisive and regional politics amid high political tension. He commended the Government for improving budgetary allocation to education, review of mining and local government laws for the development of the country.
Leader of Opposition, Hon. Chernor R.M Bah extended thanks to President Bio and assured that they will continue to give support to Government where necessary. He expressed disappointment in the President’s speech writers and contributors for the inconsistencies in the documents. He used the occasion to inform ruling MPs that they did several improvements when they were in governance citing revenue mobilization and infrastructural development. He asked the Government to work in collaboration to improve on environmental protection and afforestation especially in Freetown and other parts of the country. “Environment, Lands, Agriculture and other Ministries must work in synergy to protect the environment,” he remarked.
He commended the current Minister of Agriculture for his proactive steps and called on the Government to institute diversification for economic development. He decried the current Government for blaming the past Government for the introduction of austerity measures and criticized Government for fiscal discipline by “sacking 5 and employing 10”.He commended President Bio for continuing the implementation of the social safety net project dealing with direct cash transfers, adding it was introduced by the immediate past Government.
Concluding the debate, the Acting Leader of Government Business, Hon Bashiru Silikie commended all the MPs for their brilliant contributions to the debate and vehemently called on Parliament to ensure that they take their oversight role as priority in order to help Government to deliver. “If Government is to succeed, this Parliament must work,” he stressed.
Indicting the Government on the MCC benchmark, the Acting Leader said the Government passed several indicators including civil liberty, rule of law, corruption, and good governance; adding if they all support Government the overall goal of sustainable development will be achieved by 2023. For education, Hon. Silikie said the system needs special rebranding for quality that is relative to job creation and the development of the middle level manpower through the strengthening of technical and vocational institutions that have been created at district levels.
He informed that President Bio had received the highest criticisms from the media but his Government is doing well for the Press in light of supporting the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) with subvention, creating employment for journalists, and plans are being put in place to repeal Part 5 of the criminal libel law, citing a proposal to build an ultra-modern office for SLAJ. On the energy sector, he said as they were not going to quick-fix electricity but are bent on ensuring sustainable electricity supplies different from the previous Government.
In the fight against corruption, he decried the APC for being synonymous with the aforesaid activities, whilst decrying the former ACC boss and his Deputy of the immediate past regime to have served as Defense lawyers for alleged corrupt officials in the just concluded Commissions of Inquiry. “My Government will continue to fight corruption without the fear of being blackmailed,” he stated whilst assuring that they will provide sustainable development for all the sectors across the country.
The debate on the motion of thanks to President Bio was carried and lasted for three days pursuant to the House’s rules of procedures.
