Finance Ministry summoned
October 28, 2015 By Patrick Jaiah Kamara
Majority Leader and head of government business in Parliament has ordered the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to appear before the Finance Committee for allegedly failing to monitor and regulate the activities of international non-governmental organisations (INGO), local non-governmental organisations (NGO), and community based organisations (CBOs) operating in the country.
Hon. Ibrahim Bundu was addressing colleague lawmakers and other dignitaries after the House adopted the findings and recommendations of a special Select Committee that looked into the activities of INGOs, NGOs and CBOs.
He said the activities of these organisations should be looked into by the Finance Ministry but that over the years they have not been checking on their operations, thus making them to believe that they are ungovernable.
“On that note, the oversight committee on Finance and Economic Development is encouraged to summon the ministry to explain why they have not been monitoring the activities of these organisations,” he said.
Chairman of the Finance Committee, who doubles as the Chief Whip, Hon. Claude D.M. Kamanda, stated that the special committee was charged with the responsibility to look into the activities, roles and accountability of these organisations and present their recommendations to Parliament.
He noted that there are 128 registered INGOs and NGOs in the country but only 87 appeared before the special committee, while 41 refused to show up. Three of the organisations, he said, have been liquidated.
Hon. Kamanda said they have decided to call on the Sierra Leone Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (SLANGO) and the Finance Ministry to explain to members whether the liquidated organisations had complied with the NGO Policy of 2009.
Making her contribution, Hon. Rosaline Jariatu Smith, a member of the committee, stated that NGOs have been receiving monies in the name of Sierra Leoneans but failed to spend it judiciously.
She made an allusion to a project abandoned by a certain organisation in her village.