AYV News, October 17, 2024
The Parliament of Sierra Leone has extensively debated and ratified with unanimity the Millennium Challenge Compact Between the Republic of Sierra Leone and the United States of America and the Programme Implementation Agreement Between the Republic of Sierra Leone and the United States of America.
The two agreements, championed by the Minister of Finance, Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura, were unanimously approved by the Members of Parliament, following an emergency sitting convened by the President of Sierra Leone, Dr. Julius Maada Bio. He assured them that these agreements hold immense potentials for the nation, particularly in the energy sector, sparking hopes and optimisms for Sierra Leone’s future.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh, also called on the MPs to applaud the Speaker for preventing politics in the ratification of the MCC Agreement. He said 70 of the EGTC Staff are on contract. He claimed that some of the contracted staff of EGTC are responsible for the vandalization of transformers or electricity theft when they become disgruntled. He expressed dismay that the entire agreement did not mention Bumbuna. He anticipated that the agreement would be focused on developing Bumbuna. He called on the Minister to address the concerns, including managing the huge liability of EDSA and EGTC.
Hon. Abdul Kargbo, the Opposition Leader, said the MCC is for Sierra Leone and is not tied to a specific political party. He added that the MCC also aimed at alleviating extreme poverty in the nation. The Opposition Leader noted that there are preconditions for the eligibility of the MCC, and he called on the government to uphold and take those conditions into serious consideration. He added that Sierra Leone is losing tremendously from the energy sector. He called for energy generation and the government to put forward a strategy for sustained energy generation. He said that despite the grant being granted, if the government did not implement it as recommended, the MCC would terminate or suspend the grant. He reiterated this by calling on the government to fully implement the MCC’s recommendations. He said despite one of the recommendations, which says that all persons arrested due to political violence should be released, he said up to now, the Government of Sierra Leone had not released any of those political prisoners. He said Resolution 4 of the Tripartite Recommendations had been delayed. The Opposition Leader called on the Speaker and the Government of Sierra Leone to work with the Opposition to meet the threshold recommendations contained in the Tripartite Report.
Acting Leader of Government Business Hon. Bashiru Silikie, commended the role of the Opposition Party in ensuring that they worked together for the award of the MCC. He acknowledged the role of the APC Government in meeting the MCC threshold in 2014. He said that because President Julius Maada Bio had been very adamant in the fight against corruption, the highest scorecard precipitated the 480 Million Dollars MCC Grant. He said the MCC is a very good agreement for the country. He said the agreement would encourage the parliamentary oversight committee on energy to provide adequate oversight in the implementation of the agreement. He called on all citizens to support the implementation of the MCC Grant.
In another development also ,The Parliament of Sierra Leone has commenced debate on the Bill entitled The Child Rights Act, 2024 .
The Bill however ,seeks to repeal and replace the Child Right Act,2007 (Act No.7 2007),to make provisions for the promotion Of the right and Responsibilities of children and the obligation of the State to provide for such rights as outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Right and Welfare of Children and to Provide for other related matters.
