By Melvin Tejan Mansaray
The Ministry of Finance, Republic of Sierra Leone has said that it did not give any Member of Parliament (MP) the sum of eighty million Leones to embark on coronavirus (COVID-19) sensitization but however, an atmosphere of mistrust abound between the Government and Opposition MPs over the sincerity of this statement.
“We can only talk for ourselves as the Opposition; that we did not receive any money,” Hon. Chernor Ramadan Maju Bah, Parliamentary Caucus Leader APC party said.
Another opposition MP who wishes not to be named said that the Government cannot be entirely trusted citing the response of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice with regards to when will the rules and measures of the State of Public Emergency (SoPE) be tabled in Parliament during the Wednesday 8th April 2020 State House Press conference.
The MP said that it is possible that the Government can secretly give supports to its own bench leaving out opposition MPs and at the end of the day tell the public that the state did not give MPs money.
Hon. Dr. Abass Chernor Bundu, Speaker Fifth Parliament of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone in an online interview said that the claim on social media (WhatsApp, Facebook, etc) against sitting MPs is false and malicious.
He acknowledged by commending the effort of this Writer ” for checking to ascertain the veracity of the allegation currently making the rounds on social media, to wit that all sitting MPs have each been given Le80 million for COVID-19 sensitization in their constituencies.”
“To the best of my knowledge and belief, no such monies nor any monies for that matter have been given by Government to any sitting MP for that purpose,” the Speaker of Parliament said.
He, however, advanced the notion that persons of ill motives against sitting MPs may be pelting this big fat lie, adding,
“I can only imagine that such unfounded claims might be coming from sources not unconnected with potential aspirants all too anxious to pitch a stake against their sitting incumbents even though Parliamentary elections aren’t until three years hence.”
A good number of sitting MPs have said that they have been exhausting their personal resources and other avenues (obtaining bank loans) to assist their constituents with Veronica buckets, chlorine, soap, thermometers, gloves, wet and dry ration and in other cases, physical cash to alleviate the struggles of their people during the coronavirus outbreak.
Other MPs have engaged the media with coronavirus sensitization messages, making short videos, producing songs and jingles to broaden the electorate’s understanding of the coronavirus disease outbreak.
So far Sierra Leone has recorded seven confirmed infection cases of the coronavirus, no death and hundreds of people in quarantine.
Unlike Burkina Faso where the Deputy Speaker succumbed to coronavirus, Kenya where sittings have been suspended due to one MP being tested positive for coronavirus and other places, the UK where Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in intensive care; no Parliamentarian in the Sierra Leone Parliament has so far being tested positive for coronavirus although some of their constituents have.
The Sierra Leone Parliament has thrown a lot of efforts into the coronavirus fight even before the disease was announced in the country some two weeks ago. Credits to the likes of Hon. Ibrahim Ben Kargbo, Hon. Kandeh K. Yumkella, Hon. CRM Bah, Hon. Dr. Abass C. Bundu, Hon. Dickson Rogers, all of whom distinctively moved the mind of the Whole House one way or the other to trigger meaningful actions on the coronavirus outbreak preparedness and response.
The House first expressed solidarity with the People of China where the outbreak began by issuing a certificate of solidarity,
it also summoned the Health and Internal Affairs Ministers for a briefing weeks before the disease struck and designated a two day Special COVID-19 Session to be fully briefed by relevant portfolio holders (Finance Minister, Internal Affairs, Health, Bank Governor) during which MPs asked questions and passionately debated the issue to almost a resolution.
The Parliament also approved a twelve month Presidential Proclamation of a State of Public Emergency (SOPE) although with some fears by the Opposition which were allayed by the then Leader of Government Business Hon. Mohamed Tunis on a mutual understanding that the SoPE will not be abused especially by security forces and a seven to fourteen days window for the presentation of its rules and measures by the Executive.
The legislative spirit of the approval of the SoPE at this moment is a matter of emerging contention with a bipartisan feeling that the response of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Priscilla Schwartz saying that there are already existing measures and regulations for three months while Parliament on the other hand resolved and was expecting that the SoPE’s rules and regulations be submitted to it within seven or fourteen days for approval.
The House was last adjourned for Tuesday, 7th April, 2020 but this coincided with the last of a three day (5th-7th April, 2020) national coronavirus lockdown.
Parliament in media release indicated that plenary sittings of Parliament have been put on hold until further notice due to the coronavirus outbreak voluntary sensitization campaign being done by MPs.
So far, the public opinion on the contribution of MPs in the COVID-19 response has not been too brash though not generic amidst high expectations from some constituents who expects that MPs must provide them with the proverbial bread and butter or at least butter their breads during a three day national coronavirus lockdown.
Parliamentary Observers have also been quick to draw nexus between the COVID-19 response and readjustment of the leadership of the Government bench with the unceremonious ousting of Hon. Mohamed Sidi Tunis as Leader of Government Business in Parliament.
Some people have expressed an uneasy calm over the latest rearrangement in the leadership of the governing SLPP in Parliament with wagging views that it is a necessary action to fill the ‘vacuum’ of a very busy Hon. Sidi Tunis who now serves as the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament. Other schools of thought argue that the parliamentary leadership transition was done in a rather politically unruly, untimely and unnecessary way, taking cognizance of the fact that the country is grappling with the coronavirus disease outbreak compounded with a fragile Membership composition (hung) of the current Parliament.
The Speaker of Parliament however weighed in on this issue, saying: “The shuffling of the Government Front Bench in Parliament is a matter exclusively for the National Executive of the Party in Governance.”
Hon. Dr. Abass Chernor Bundu is a member of the governing SLPP although he once served under the one-party APC administration.
He is regarded as an experienced and a liberal politician whose well of wisdom is never dry.
The main opposition and other political parties in Parliament have always said that they will support the President if he is on the right track and constructively checkmate him where it is considerable.
The talking point now is whether the Executive has or will support every Parliamentarian in taking the COVID-19 awareness to their constituents by direct or indirect support, an intervention that so many MPs and their constituents are craving.
The Parliamentary Caucus Leader, All People’s Congress (APC) Party, Hon. Chernor Ramadan Maju Bah in his take on the matter said that the Opposition bench received no assistance from the Government nor individuals from the Government.
“Basically, our position is that we did not receive any money or assistance from the Government. We did not get any assistance from the Government from whatever angle – be it Government as an entity or any individual in the Government. We have done our best as MPs,” Hon. Bah said.
Hon. Mathew Sarh Nyuma, newly appointed Leader of Government Business buttressed the message of MPs that they did not receive any direct state assistance for coronavirus sensitization at their constituencies but told Radio Democracy 98.1 Good Morning Salone programme that, ‘MPs from Kenema District received assistance from the Chief Minister, Prof. David John Francis.’
It is unclear whether the Chief Minister’s gesture was from his personal or the states’ coffers.
The Chief Minister is a descendant of Kenema District and also the prefect of all Ministers in the governing SLPP Cabinet.
The Cabinet through the Finance Ministry has also weighed in to clear the name of MPs and the government in entirety on the allegation of eighty million Leones being giving to MPs for COVID-19 sensitization. Sarh Jusu,
Financial Secretary, Ministry of Finance said: “No monies have been paid to MPs for sensitization in their constituencies. No political person has received any single cent for such. Only NaCSA received money to make food available and cash to the disabled persons across the country before the lockdown. This was done under the observation of accountability agencies. So the report that MPs have received Le80m from Government for sensitization is completely false.”
