The Parliament of Sierra Leone has continued to debate on the Motion of Thanks on the Speech delivered by His Excellency the President, Dr. Julius Maada Bio on the occasion of the State Opening of the Fourth Session of the Fifth Parliament of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone, in the Chamber of Parliament on Tuesday 18th May 2021.
Hon. HafijuMaadaKanja said the Presidential Speech is an indication of rapid improvements of military personnel in the country. He adduced that theon-going efforts by the military in the provision of health services, peace-keeping mission and tactical infrastructural enhancement systems across the country.
Hon. Daniel Brima Koroma said as opposition, they would always give their support to the Government in order to tap into funds under the Millennium Challenge Co-operation (MCC) compacts. However, he raised concern on the poor delivery regarding the World Justice Project Report including weak and failure to follow established guidelines and principles in light of access and utilization of programmatic donor funds. Speaking on duty free concessions, he said he is of the opinion that public officials may enter into some of these agreements on the motivation of kickbacks.
Hon. BaiSamaKamara spoke about the hike in food prices and asked whether the trading sector is under improvement in that regard. He also threw light on the poor state of agriculture and used the occasion to call on Government to improve on that sector.
Hon. ShekuMuniruTuray commended the House for its support to the legislative agenda of the Executive. He called on colleague MPs to support Government in critical areas including human capital development, and the translation of policies into legislations for the development of the country.
Hon. Abu Mansaray said that he had been excluded from the activities relating to the Lungi Project. He said Government’s agenda on education is “cosmetic”, and added that homelessness, hunger and bad politics are affecting the people and are also on the rise in the country. Speaking on continuity regarding infrastructural projects, he blamed the Government for the current state of Limkokwing University in Sierra Leone.
Hon. Allieu Koyo Conteh said that the Government’s Medium-Term Development Plan is on track, adding human capital development and Public Financial Management actions are achievable among others. He also spoke on effective and efficient revenue mobilization and prudent financial management resulting in huge economic and social benefits to the country.
Hon. Musa Fofana called on colleague MPs to put the nation first and commended the Government for putting in place the National Medium-Term Development Plan for the country. On Agriculture, he said the Government needed to pay attention to it more and called on President Bio pay unannounced visits as part of monitoring and evaluation of state’s projects. Speaking on the implementation of local content policy, boreholes, and infrastructural projects, he conveyed huge felicitations for Government including Parliament from the people of Kono District for the construction of the University of Science and Technology in the said District. Â Hon. Peter Yamba Koroma referred to Speech as “self-realization” and said that most of the projects that have been implemented by this Government are “cosmetics”. He called on Government to be pro-active in its delivery of policies and programmes for the development of the country.
