Revelations at the ongoing budget hearings have shown that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has expended Le 25,681,094,000 on local and international travels for 2019.
The Ministry was allocated a budget of Le 41,477,807,058,77 for the 2018 fiscal year and their deliverables for the said year were completion of the rehabilitation works on the Chancery Building of Sierra Leone’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, and also the completion of the Ambassador’s residence and VIS suits in Addis Ababa.
The latter is complete while the former is 50% complete. Approval has been granted to continue the rehabilitation of the construction works of the Ambassador’s residence in Addis Ababa.
The Ministry has requested for over nine (9) billion Leones with five deliverables which include construction of Sierra Leone’s diplomatic Academy building in Freetown by 2021, this will eventually create jobs for Sierra Leonean youths.
Part of the deliverables for 2020 also included the reviewing of Sierra Leone’s Foreign Policy by March 2020; restructuring of the Ministry in line with the recommendations of the management and functional review conducted by the Public Sector Reform Unit and Human Resource Management Office; establishment of new Missions in Morocco and Turkey and the incorporation of the office of the diaspora into the main structure of the Ministry.
The Committee at the budget hearings while debating on the Ministry’s budget, questioned how comes that the Ministry will expend Le25 billion on local and foreign travels.
Many are wondering what President Bio and the Minister of Finance could have expended on travelling considering that they are the most travelled since they came to power in April, 2018.
The government some few months ago declared a ban on overseas travelling for government ministers except those travelling related to statutory meetings.
These travelling, a release from State House had disclosed, should also be sanctioned by the Presidency.