HON. SALIEU OSMAN SESAY
Member of Parliament for the All Peoples Congress, Honourable Salieu Osman Sesay of Constituency 038 on Wednesday 24th November 2021, during the debate on the Appropriation Act, 2022 referred to it as a “Suffer Posh Budget”.
The Appropriation Act, 2022 is an Act to authorize the expenditure from the Consolidated Fund for the services of Sierra Leone for the year 2022 and for other related matters.
Hon. Salieu O. Sesay stated that in his opinion, “the Covid-19 is a blessing in disguise for the economy and had it not been for the support of donor partners, it would have been something different.
He said that the country is experiencing a hyperinflation, that is why the Bank Governor is going to redenominate the currency.
He said that President Bio promised the people and the House of Parliament that they are not going to celebrate Independence Anniversary until the economy has a GDP of 20%.
The projection of 15.1% has not been achieved, he continued, adding the people will not celebrate independence anniversary until 2023 when the government is going to leave power.
According to Hon. Sesay, the Bank Governor is saying X and the Finance Minister is saying Y, adding they are not complementing each other.
The exchange rate, Hon. Sesay added, has exposed the government.
The only time that we experience a stable exchange rate was during the Covid-19 because the President Bio and other members of the government were not traveling, he maintained.
Hon. Sesay reiterated that the budget is a “Suffer Posh Budget”.
He explained why a suffer posh budget:
“Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members, let us come to the wage bill. The Financial Secretary was on radio making statement that are misleading in my view.”
Hon. Sesay affirmed “the 25% increase in the salary for teachers and the forces are not the reason for the increase of the wage bill. The main reason was as the results of the creation of more agencies.’’
He said over 9 new agencies were created, among which include, but not limited to, Peace and Reconciliation Commission, Disaster Management Response Agency amongst others.
He said that the creation of more agencies and commissions goes with cost and that has resulted in the increase on the wage bill, noting some heads of agencies are paid more than the Speaker of Parliament.
Also during the debate, Abdul Karim Kamara, Member of Parliament for Constituency 069 in Port Loko District said, “the economy growth rate and GDP has been a downward trend and that we need recovery.’’
He said on the budget, ‘‘you will have realized that in 2020 President Bio promised the nation to give red card to players on the executive arm of government, but what we see is a swap.’’ He said that is creating a serious burden on the budget.
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