Thursday – April 6, 2023
The All People’s Congress (APC) Members of Parliament (MPs) have kicked against the insensitive so- called Welfare Bill which was tabled last week by the governing SLPP MPs. The offending Bill proposed that ex- MPS who have completed two- terms should retain one official vehicle, be assigned three security guards, provided annual $2,500 furniture allowance and 80% of their salaries for life or an alternative one-off payment of $50,000.
Though they would have been beneficiaries of the proposed bill if it had been passed into law, APC MPs vehemently opposed the proposed legislation. Honourable Alpha Amadu Bah of Constituency 115 says ‘the bill is ill- timed, not in the public interest and that it should be withdrawn’.
While the position of APC MPs resonates with public sentiments, SLPP MPs have raised hell, threatening to pass the obnoxious Bill by all means. Sahr Nyumah, the Leader of Government Buisiness, and the Speaker of Parliament Dr Abass Bundu, were visibly angry at the opposition APC for standing with the people in rejecting a bill that seeks to deplete the shrinking national treasury. The APC MPs have, nonetheless, held their ground such that the wicked money grabbing bill has been withdrawn.
The proposed bill attracted ferocious disapproval from members of the public, calling it insensitive and a day light robbery.
This Bill’s come on the back of an economy where inflation has hit a record 43%. Even more insensitive, the SLPP MPs are making such outlandish demands on the national purse when salaries of public and civil servants remain stagnant and the minimum wage is stucked at NLe800 or $40.
Political analysts say that this attempt to pay off MPs follows a similar action taken by the executive which has reportedly paid off all Ex- gratia and severance benefits of Cabinet Ministers and other key government functionaries, even when they are still in post and have not relinquished their positions.
It would appear as if this SLPP government is sensing defeat in the June 24 elections and so they are in a rush to grab whatever is left of the national coffers.
Agnes Bendu, a very angry citizen who witnessed the debate from the Public Gallery in Parliament said that the behaviour of this SLPP government of paying themselves off with such unreasonably high pensions is ridiculous. She said making such demands without any effort to ease the economic hardship on the ordinary people shows that they care only for themselves and therefore do not deserve the mandate of Sierra Leones.
“This SLPP Government do not care about our suffering. We the people of Sierra Leone should vote this insensitive government out of power in the June 24 elections,” she said.
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