By Ragan M. Conteh
Hon. Saa Francis Bhendu representing Constituency 027, Kono District has snubbed the Disaster Management Agency bill presented by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice.
The MP told his colleague law makers that any attempt to approve the bill will provide a situation where in the Agency will have overlapping functions with some other state institutions such as the Office of National Security (ONS, Environment Protection Agency (EPA), Ministry Of Environment, Ministry of Lands and Energy respectively.
He specifically related the functions of the proposed Agency to that of the EPA which is to protect and manage the environment.
The MP urged his colleagues to undertake a comparative analysis of the bill within the sub-region with a view to copy best practices before the passage of such a bill into law.
He revealed that, the bill presented to the house had not taken into consideration consultations especially in the disaster prone communities with a view to have a community led bill.
The MP furthered that selecting the Vice President as the Chairman of proposed Disaster Management Agency would create more burden for the Vice President who is constitutionally charged with other functions as per the constitution.
The MP stated that, the creation of more institutions has an impact of the economy.
“Let us have a disaster management plan under the Ministry of Environment rather than creating another burden for government”
Hon. Daniel Koroma from the opposition APC in his own submission noted that the bill presented by the Justice Minister is timely adding his only concern is that Sierra Leone has always approached disaster related problems from the reactive side and not the preventive.
Hon. Koroma further noted that the creation of the proposed new Disaster Management Agency would serve as an umbrella to coordinate the activities of all disasters in the country.He expressed optimism that government secures funding to finance the operations of the new Agency.
Hon. Hindolo Ngevao of the SLPP representing Constituency 003 noted that Parliament should make laws that will stand the test of time.
Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh representing Constituency 132 in his contribution stated that the bill is a laudable idea worth commending and continued that as Chairman of the Parliamentary committee on Environment he wants the Agency to serve as a Directorate under the Ministry of Environment.
This for him was to prevent a duplication of functions and wastage of state resources.
He urged authorities to look at the existing economic situation on the grounds before contemplating on the passing of such a bill
Many other MPs expressed similar sentiments on the proposed bill and resolved that the house has a further consultation on the passing of the bill.
The hearing was adjourned on 5th March 2020 for another reading.