By Ragan M. Conteh
Members of Parliament of the Committee on Transport and Aviation have chastised officials of the Sierra Leone Port Authority, which is headed by Dr. AbdulaiFofana, for failing to submit important documents that deal with the Committee’s findings.
In his submission, the Chairman of the Committee on Transport and Aviation, Hon. Dickson Rogers, stated that the Sierra Leone Port Authority staff failed to submit documents relating to the names of contractors, nature of contracts, NRA, NASSIT and list of workers in the port in which they failed to adhere to.
The major responsibilities of the SLPA include controlling all ports and marine activities within its jurisdiction in Sierra Leone. It also operates the port of Freetown, and oversees the operations of companies operating within the port.
He said the Authority also failed to submit a comprehensive list of all those doing business in the Port; no update on documents of the new tenancy agreement at the port and ferry Sea coach monetary reports. There is also the absence of a staff list, which could have looked at the status of all contracts in the port.
The MPs revealed that the documents presented to the Committee are not sufficient to allow the Committee to continue with the probing. They cited that the documents submitted do not bear the institution’s bank details on the operations of the Authority.
Hon. Rogers stated that the Committee also requested documents of the current port terminal expansion projects by Bollore and others. He referenced the total revenue accrued yearly by the Sierra Leone Port Authority.
He disclosed that the Committee is also set to meet all tenants housed at the Sierra Leone Port Authority, to ascertain whether they are paying their obligations to the port management and to see how the Committee works closely with Management to enforce compliance.
The SLPP Member of Parliament, Hon. BashiruSilikie, said the fact that the SLPA Authority do not have the complete documents, they should be allowed to go and bring complete documents to the Committee for onward probing.
The MPs also spoke on the Act of SLPA, which, he said, needs to be reviewed because the Port is currently operating as a landlord port.
Many MPs also expressed consternation because the MDAs did not take the Committee seriously.