By Mustapha Dumbuya
The National Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate (NaMED) has on Thursday 2nd March 2023 has held a consultation meeting with Ministries Department and Agencies (MDAs) including donor partners at the New Brookfields Hotel in Freetown.
The motive of this consultation was for NaMED to have an Act that will make provision for its establishment as an autonomous body with authority to ensure greater accountability and transparency in the disbursement and the use of Public funds.
This act will also serve to promote efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of programs as well as projects including to provide transparency and accountability for other related matters.
The governing body of this Agency shall be the Monitoring and Evaluation Agency Board in which shall be vested, subjected to this Act to supervise the Agency.
The Board shall consist of a Chairman who shall be a person with considerable knowledge and experience in Monitoring and Evaluation matters as well as other government members including the Financial Secretary (MOF), Auditor General, ACC Commissioner, NaMED Director General among others.
During the session, the Director General for the National Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate office of the President, Dr. James Edwin, said that government has many projects that have been given to government and Non-governmental officials, but there are still issues of lack of transparency and accountabilities.
“Going to 5 to 15 years back, Sierra Leone government had funded so many projects on building schools, roads and other structures, but yet still there is an increase in the demand because some of those projects were not completed and that the funds were also mismanaged or been used for something else”, he explained.
Dr. Edwin continued that the only way to stop this act is by giving his institution the authority to see how the beneficiaries are to be benefited from such funds given by government or donor partners.
According to him, his institution is in transforming to an Agency and after proper consultations there will be a bill that will be tabled in parliament and that bill itself will give access to his institution to monitoring and evaluations all projects.
The Director expressed that his institution would be overseeing all funded projects including Non-Governmental Organization projects for proper Monitoring and Evaluation.
