By Musa Paul Feika
The Deputy Speaker in the Sixth Parliament who doubles the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh, has raised significant concerns regarding the outstanding debt of Le3 billion owed to machinery operators for their services under the Regional Rice Value Chain Project (RRVCP) and the Family Support and Recovery Programme (FSRP).
These initiatives involve a Chinese contractor, M.A. Ruming, whose actions have come under questioning.
According to the terms of the agreements related to the RRVCP and FSRP, it was stipulated that there would be deductions from the payments made to machinery operators to cover dues owed to the government of Sierra Leone.
During the last audit conducted, it became clear that the total debt to the government stood at a staggering Le19 billion.
Deputy Speaker has accused Chinese national M.A. Ruming of being less than forthright concerning the payment matters and the handling of these funds.
In a recent hearing held in the Administrative Conference Room, in the House of Parliament, the committee chairman made a critical decision to deduct 70% of the funds owed to the machinery operators. The deduction is aimed at recoupling the outstanding dues that are owed to the government.
It was revealed that Ruming employed two machinery operators and had previously submitted a payment schedule to the committee.
However, after monetary transfers were made to Ruming’s account for the services rendered, he allegedly failed to disburse the payments to the operators as planned.
Hon. Tawa has taken proactive steps in addressing this issue and at same time instructed the bank to refund the money that is due to the machinery operators.
He narrated a specific incident where he personally observed M.A. Ruming at the Rokel Commercial Bank (RCB) and during the visit, Hon. Tawa engaged with the Rokel Commercial bank Managing Director, urging them blocked the transfer of the disputed funds in question.
Despite Ruming’s apparent reluctance to comply with the committee’s directives, Hon. Tawa emphasized that the committee possesses the authority under Section 93 of Parliament to enforce compliance with its decisions.
Few days prior, Hon. Tawa had a meeting with Ruming at a restaurant to discuss the ongoing payment issues, but unfortunately, no agreement was reached to resolve the matter.
On the foregoing, he challenges, Hon. Tawa has indicated his intention to escalate the issue further.
Hon. Conteh has vowed to formally instruct the Managing Director of the bank of Rokel Commercial bank (RCB) to redirect the funds to a Consolidated Revenue account to ensure that the machinery operators receive the payments owed to them.
This situation not only highlights the struggles within the projects at hand, but also raises serious concerns about the mismanagement of government funds and the treatment of taxpayers’ money.
Hon. Tawa Conteh frown at the current practices as indicative of poor governance and a lack of accountability, urging for a more responsible approach to financial management.