By Crispina Cummings
Chairman of legislative committee in parliament has urged colleague parliamentarians to be aggressive in getting their constituents to understand the implications of not heeding directives from health workers against Ebola.
Ajibola Manley-Spaine, MP for constituency 103 in central Freetown, said their efforts around Ebola sensitisation must take a different level going forward because “our constituents are not responsible and this is frustrating us in the fight against the Ebola disease.”
He claimed that people had scorned instead of following prevention instructions that would help contain the Ebola disease. He said that way, the disease was spreading faster. “Bye-laws should be enforced, if not we are fighting a losing battle if the right thing is not done,” said Hon. Manly-Spaine.
The MP, covering some of the most congested areas spanning from Mend Street, Sorie Town and Fort Street, made the comments after parliament ratified grants agreements between Sierra Leone and the African Development Bank to finance the Ebola Sector Budget Support-Fight Back Programme.
The grants totaling US$ 49.5 million would provide technical assistance to the three most affected countries in the Mano River Union basin - Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
Moving a motion for the grants ratification, education minister Dr. Minkailu Bah, who represented the finance minister, said the grants had been signed in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and would “assist Sierra Leone’s efforts to overcome the effects of the Ebola epidemic.”
Dr. Bah said the programme would contribute to funding the execution of the budgets for fiscal year 2014-2015 and that 50% of the total proceeds of both loans and grants in the agreements would be deposited into the consolidated revenue fund at the Bank of Sierra Leone by mid October 2014.
“50% of the amount from the fund will be transferred by the ministry of finance to the Ebola Emergency Account. The balance 50% of the entire loans and grants will be disbursed in 2015,” said Dr. Bah.
(C) Politico 14/10/14
