By Saio Marrah
The Acting Speaker of Parliament, Segenpoh Solomon Thomas, has given a ruling that parliament will not approve the budget of any government office that fails to send representative to parliament during the 2022 budget debate.
This came as a result of the conspicuous absence of officials that should have represented Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) at the start of debate over the 2022 budget that was presented to the house by Finance Minister Dr. Dennis Vandi on Friday 19th November, 2021.
It came as a result of the concern expressed by the leader of the main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC) in Parliament, Chernor Maju Bah’s that MDAs are not adhering to the Speaker’s ruling on the day of the budget presentation by the Finance Minister that they should all attend during the debate. He also said that the speaker’s ruling is equivalent to law.
“This is for the benefit of the required MDAs and the public. If an MDA is not represented here in the well of parliament during the budget debate, this house will not consider the allocation,” the acting speaker said. He also stated that notice had been sent to all MDAs to send their representatives during the debate.
The Acting speaker described his warning as a “grace period” after a suggestion by the Acting leader of Government Business in parliament, Silikie Bashiru, of Constituency 082, Bo district that the speaker should stand the house down for an hour so that they can call representatives of all MDAs before the commencement of the debate.
MP Bashiru pointed out that the presence of the officials is very important as they carry out implementation of projects contained in the budget being debated by MPs. He said a register was presented during reading of the budget by the Finance Minister, which proved that MDAs even failed to witness the event.
Copyright © Politico Online 26/11/21
