All over the world responsible governments always gravitate towards changing the lives of their citizens. In so doing they would ensure that such expenditure, in transforming lives, is done rightfully in consonance with existing laws and principles. Transparency and honesty should be observed strictly in carrying out such important tasks.
So there is nothing wrong for the All People’s Congress (APC) government, led by the indefatigable President Ernest Bai Koroma, to spend money on flights for its ministers and other functionaries. There is nothing amiss for the APC government to spend money on building schools, hospitals, graveyards and football fields.
In fact, no one will fault this government for building massive roads across the country. It has even now come to be regarded as the APC’s all-conquering policy. Sierra Leoneans need them for travel safety, for transporting their goods and for trade. When you have a government that cares for its people, these are some of the things one expects it to do.
However whatever a government does should be guided by certain rules and regulations. For example, government should not overspend on what many would consider as trivialities. It should not overinflate prices in procurement. The rules governing any of these expenditures must be strictly followed and observed.
But it would interest patriotic Leoneans to again know that the APC Ernest Bai led government has all along been fooling the people – lying that they have firmly placed the people in their hearts.
As recently as December 2, 2016, the Sierra Leone government made a down payment of US$299,751.03 to a company, B.M. KODAMI, for the supply of twelve (12) vehicles to the Office of the Vice President, Victor Bockarie Foh, for Quarter 2, Financial Year 2016. The equivalent of the money, in leones, is two billion, three hundred and twenty six million, sixty seven thousand, nine hundred and ninety three leones (Le2,326,067,993).
The US$299,751.03 is just 30% payment of the total amount the government should pay for this intervention. The actual amount towards paying for the 12 vehicles, the nightwatch can confirm, is seven billion, seven hundred and fifty three million, six hundred and thirty seven five hundred and seventy six leones (Le7,753,637,576).
While we commend the APC government for this gesture, many Sierra Leoneans are alarmed and posit that the expenditure is frivolous and not commensurate to the living conditions of majority of Sierra Leoneans.
Readers will recall our past editions, where we exposed series of government expenditures which should not have been made in the first case. This latest development does not sound pleasing to the average Sierra Leonean.
See table below
