By Nasatu Kargbo
The Government of Sierra Leone has allocated the sum of Le 349.5 billion to the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) for the 2023 elections. This revelation was made by the Minister of Finance, Dennis K. Vandi during the first reading of the bill entitled The Appropriation Act 2023 on the 11th November 2022.
Vandi explained that government was allocating the sum from the recurrent budget, as one of government’s priorities in the 2023 budget.
Other institutions were also allocated with monies that are meant to be used for election related activities. An amount of NLe6.0 and NLe38.9 million was allocated to the Ministry of Defence and the Sierra Leone Police respectively, for elections related activities.
Le 7 billion and Le 3 billion were also allocated to the Office of National Security (ONS) and Central Intelligence Security Unit respectively, whilst the Political Parties Regulatory Commission (PPRC) and National Council for Civic Education and Development (NaCCED) were allocated Le 6 billion and Le1 billion respectively, all of which are for carrying out elections associated activities.
Just like other institutions Le 2 billion and Le 4 billion were allocated to the National Commission for Democracy and the Judiciary of Sierra Leone (JoSL) respectively, for the same purpose.
The Speaker of Parliament, Chernor Abass Bundu said that as required by Parliament’s Standing Orders (SOs), five days would be allotted for a debate on the Appropriation Act 2023, scheduling the debate for 21st November 2022.
SO 63 (3) states that “After the Bill has been read the first time, it shall be put down for second reading not less than two clear days thereafter and five days shall be allocated for the second reading of the bill”, meaning five days will be provided to MPs to debate on the bill.
It is therefore important to note that the bill for the allocation of the above monies has not yet been approved by parliament.
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