By Ragan Conteh
The Chairman of the Finance Committee in Parliament who also doubles as the Member of Parliament representing Constituency 020, Hon. Francis Amara Kai Samba has disclosed that very many Ministries Departments and Agencies have refused to attend summons made by the Finance Committee in Parliament.
According to Hon. Francis Amara Kai Samba the Parliament invited MDAs in regards to the expectation of MDAs adding that over the years Parliament heard concerns of late payment of allocations by Finance Ministry to MDAs.
He continued that the Parliament is aware of the strides of the new direction government informing that they expect the Ministry of Finance to prioritize the allocation of resources because they expect greater achievement, transparency and accountability in public sectors.
He informed MDAs that committees are created by Parliament and hence enjoy the powers, privileges and protection that Parliament has under the Constitution.
He said the rules of procedure contained in the Standing Orders 2006 (Revised) apply in equal measure to proceedings in plenary and the Committees, hence proceeding in a properly constituted Committee is recognized as proceeding in Parliament.
Mr. Samba informed that Parliament want to ensure services reach to the intended purposes informing that section 95 talked about contempt by MDAs failing to attend Parliament summons informing that this year all MDAs must attend to Parliamentary summons to ensure transparency and accountability strive of the President.
He pointed out that sub-section 2 of Section 93 provides for the establishment of Oversight Committees to parallel and oversee the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) established by the executive each Committee bears the name of the MDA it oversees, Finance, Health and Sanitation Committees.
He maintained that to investigate or inquire into the activities or administration of such Government Ministries or Departments as may be assigned to them and such investigation or inquiry may extend to proposals for legislation and that it is important for MDAs to attend summons.
He furthered that the 2020 allocation of this services will be a thing of the past for defiant MDAs to attend summons because Parliament has a greater opportunity to vet out performing MDAs so as to increase public trust in their operations as servants of the masses.
Mr. Samba said the aim of inviting MDAs in Parliament is to plans and make policy objectives and operations of the MDAs and to make the effectiveness of their implementation of programmes a reality.
He concluded that as all strive to achieve goals, he admonished them to work hard to meet to the expectations of the general populace for the betterment of Sierra Leone and its people.