In preparedness for the 2023 Budget Appropriation hearings, Parliament of Sierra Leone has on Monday 17/10/2022 engaged some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) at the New Administrative Building of Parliament at Tower Hill in Freetown.
Giving the purpose of the engagement, the Director of Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), Ibrahim Jimisa said they invited participants to improve on collaboration in tandem with transparency, accountability and oversight on national budgetory process. He further told MDAs that the current Parliament would dissolve by April 2023 and the Parliamentary Administration considered that, it is relevant to have the engagement with various MDAs, in light of Parliament’s preparedness for the 6th Parliament of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone. The Director noted that, it was based on the experience gained
on the oversight reforms introduced in the last few years and success as well the country ranking on key governance indicators by different global bodies. He expressed hope that participants would use the engagement as a drive to enhance the budgeting process in light of good governance.
Speaking on behalf of the Clerk of Parliament, the Director General of Parliament, Madam Finda Frazer said the institution continued to collaborate with other partners to enhance transparency and accountability in budgeting process.
Madam Director informed that, Reforms introduced by the current Parliament include changes in the budget appropriation process and its corporate agenda. She went on to say, they would use the current ranking of the country including Parliament on key governance indicators. She expressed that Parliament has a critical role to play in sustaining and improving performance on policy indicators, despite its oversight and other mandates on activities of the MDAs.
She assured the participants that, they would use Parliament open door policy to enhance budget accountability and oversight with serious consideration on the views of participants in light of the forthcoming annual Budget.
According to her the event was being organized through the strong desire of the leadership of Parliament to enhance collaboration and transparency.
Presentations were delivered by Principal Clerk of Finance Committee, Mahmoud Barrie and the Director of PBO on topics including Technical and Administrative Reforms and the ranking of Sierra Leone at International Surveys and Impacts the state.
The event was moderated by the Director of Parliamentary and Public Relations Department, Sheku Lamin Turay.
Recommendations, issues, and concerns were raised and shared by participants.
