By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) has said they will need Le74 billion more than the current Le100 billion budget cap that the Ministry of Finance has given it. This demand takes the Ministry of Defense’s 2020 budget to Le 175 million.
MoD made the call during the presentation of their strategic and budget plan for 2020. The MoD is directly responsible for national defense against external threat, therefore in charge of Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF). The Director General of the Ministry, Mohamed Brima Daboh, said it is almost impossible for the army to function properly if its budget sticks strictly by the cap that was giving to it.
“If we stick by the ceiling that the Ministry of Finance gave us, we will only be able to provide rice for the army for eight months, the same for drugs and the same for fuel. This budget does not include capital spending like the air force or maritime capability. This is just the basic that we need,” he said.
The MoD says last year Le 133.1 billion was approved as its budget, but right up to the last quarter of the current year they have only received 35% of that money, which is Le 47.9 billion.
“Our challenge has been access to the funds. Two months to the end of the year we have not received more than 50% of our allocated budget,” Daboh stated.
It is difficult to know the number of military officers serving in the RSLAF. Chief of Defense Staff, Lt. Gen. Brima Sesay said that information is not for ‘public consumption’. However, he said the military spends at least 65% of its budget on logistics.
The army’s budget is more than the budget of Sierra Leone Police by close to Le80 billion.
As part of its numerous expenditures, the military also spends a huge chunk of its resources on rice supply. Their 2019 budget expenditure shows that they have spent over Le 9 billion of what they have received this year on imported rice alone. The figure could have been much higher if it was not engaged in rice production across the country, unlike the police.
As parts of its programs for the coming financial year, RSLAF say they are hoping to continue the reconstruction of Wilberforce barracks, Gondama barracks and the Boom Defense Guest House at Kingtom. Theor plans also include the construction of patrol and operational bases across the country. All this will be in addition to the recruitment and training of 600 personnel.
But the 2020 budget is not the only worry for the MoD. During its presentation on Monday, the Senior Accountant, Brima Kadri Kamara, said RSLAF has an outstanding debt to the tune of US$ 159 million. This debt is separate from the over Le 24 billion debt.
“We are pleading that these debts be considered as public debts, rather than the military’s alone. Some of these debts have been incurred now for over six years,” Kamara said.
Like every other budget, a determination on MoD’s budget will be made in the subsequent weeks. Whiles officials of the Ministry of Finance hang heads, they will be considering the security benefits attached to providing the necessary funds for the military to do its job.
© 2019 Politico Online
