By Saio Marrah
Following the suspension of the Auditor General and one of her deputies, All People’s Congress (APC) Member of Parliament, Daniel Brima Koroma of Constituency 046, Koinadugu district, has called on the government of Sierra Leone for proper management of the office of Audit Service Sierra Leone, so that it will not hinder the country’s scores on the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
He made this statement while debating the 2022 budget in the house of parliament on Friday 26th November, 2021. He highlighted the importance of the Office of Audit Service that since its establishment, it has been one of the most credible and independent accountability institutions in the country.
The MP also acknowledged and embraced some of the scores made by the country on the MCC score card. He, however, warned that: “If the issue of the Auditor General is not managed properly it will hinder our scores of the MCC.”
He added that as an opposition, they will not sit and watch the government make more mistakes that will hinder the MCC scores, which they can capitalize on to win the election. He said if the country has more or less, it will have adverse effects on every Sierra Leonean.
Koroma said with the Guma Valley dam under threat due to human activities, the MCC compact is enough to supply both the Western Area Urban and Rural with unlimited water from the River Rokel.
The 2022 budget indicated that the governance cluster accounts for 80 percent of the Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) ratings, an integral component of the Performance-Based Allocation Formula used by the World Bank and the African Development Bank to allocate resources to low-income countries, including Sierra Leone. In the 2020 CPIA report, out of the maximum score of 6, Sierra Leone scored 3.1 overall and 3.2 on the Governance Cluster.
The Budget has been committed to the Committee on Supply for proper scrutiny. This is where every MDAs will be asked by the various appropriation committees on how they had spent the 2021 budget before proposing for the approval of their 2022 budget.
At the end of the sub appropriation committees, the MPs will then debate it in the well of parliament for approval.
Copyright © Politico Online 01/12/21
