MoFED Starts Budget Discussion At Portloko

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development has on Friday 13th September started the Bilateral budget discussions for FY 2014 2016, for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) at MJ Motel in provincial town of Port Loko. The program brought together vote controllers, programme Managers a, Staff of Project implementation Units, Members of the district Budget Oversight Committee {DBOCs] and Non- state Actors, Senior Officials of the Ministry of Finance including Financial Secretary Mr. Edmond Koroma, Deputy Financial Secretary Denis Vandy, Budget Director, Mathew Dingie, Director of Public Debt, Mr. Sahr Jusu, Director of EPRU, Mr. Alimamy Bangura and host of other dignitaries from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.

The Budget Discussion started with the Ministry of Social Welfare, youth and sport, National commission for social Action, Tertiary education and Pharmacy Board.

The program was officially launched by the Financial Secretary, Mr. Edmond Koroma,during which he informed all MDAs to follow the Budget Template that was issued out to them by Budget Bureau in-order to present an accurate budget proposal for discussion which include the strategic plan of each MDA which contains the recurrent and development budget. He was quick to warn MDAs who fail to adhere to the budget procedure will be penalized by standing them down and their budgets not approved.

According to the Director of Budget, Mr. Mathew Dingie, this year’s Budget Discussion is geared towards activity driven programs to be implemented by the various MDAs in line with the 8 pillars of the Agenda for Prosperity. He however informed his audience that this year’s budget is different from the previous year’s budget, noting that the previous year’s budget focused mainly on line items such as travelling, office and generals, fuel, advertisement and the likes but that this year’s budget will focus on activities that will be undertaken by the MDAs in complementing the 8 pillars of the Agenda for Prosperity.

He further noted that the rationale for the change of venue for the Budget Discussion is to give equal opportunity to others in the provincial towns to fully participate in this all important process, adding that other stakeholders such as Civil Society members, District Budget Oversight Committee members, Non State Actors, Parliamentarians and locals will make meaningful contributions towards the budget discussions. Mr. Dingie also informed journalist that this type of budgetary process is to cut down on the many wastages incurred by MDAs so as areas that are been affected such as development activities, salaries increments and many other tangible programs will be considered.

Since the inception of the budget discussions, many MDAs have been shown the exit for not complying with the budget procedures. Some of those MDAs that are affected are the Ministry of Youth and Sport, Education, Science and Technology the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Energy, Water Resources, and many others.

Dilating further, the budget Director re-echoed the voice of the Financial Secretary, saying that any Ministry Departments and Agencies that fail to properly outline its activity plans in their budget proposal will be thrown out and budget not approved and that such ministry will go without allocation for the 2014 fiscal year.

By Hawanatu Bockari, SLENA/ MoFED

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