By Ragan M. Conteh
Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) Member of Parliament, Hon. Hafiju Maada Kanja of Constituency 018 in Kenema District, has lambasted the Ministry of Finance for drastically reducing the budget of the Ministry of Defense from Le96 billion in 2019 to Le70 billion in 2020.
The MP recounted that the amount allocated to the Ministry is very much insignificant to meet the emerging challenges of a modern and contemporary army which should be well- equipped and well-catered for.
The Sierra Leone Military, he says, is currently bloated with senior officers with very high ranks.
He appealed to government to increase the budget of the army and also pay attention to other welfare concerns of the army as they relate to housing, health care etc.
The MP had also called on government to engage the primary security players into farming in order to be able to feed themselves thereby reducing the burden on government.
The Leader and Chairman of the National Grand Coalition, Kandeh Yumkella representing Constituency 062 in Kambia District, also expressed his concern over the influx of politically sponsored thugs into his constituency ahead of the bye-elections on Saturday and told the House that he has received several calls from his constituency on the mayhem already inflicted by the thugs on his people.
Highlighting the 2020 budget, the NGC Leader submitted that he is very much jittery about the increase in external debts to over $300m and trillions of Leones in internal debts since the New Direction took over power.
Yumkella says he is also concerned about the increasing wage bill indicating that some institutions have exponentially increased their staff thereby blotting the wage bill.
He also called on the Ministry of Finance to involve Members of Parliament on the proposed Chiefdom Farms, adding that MPs should be directly involved as they are the first point of call.
Hon. Kusan Sesay of the APC criticized the Le13 billion budget allocation to the Office of the Chief Minister as very huge and unnecessary as compared to Le3.5 billion allocation to the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources that is generating revenue for the economy.