The Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Planning and Economic Development chaired by Hon. Peter Yamba Koroma, on Thursday, 05/07/2024, concluded its oversight engagement of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and private entities in Freetown.
In his serial statement, the Chairman said the committee’s engagements are focused on an independent evaluation of government and private entities’ efforts in aligning and implementing the global development objectives (SDGs) as domesticated in the Sierra Leone Medium Term National Development Plans (MTNDP). The Chairman informed that Sierra Leone and President Bio’s aspiration is to ensure that the country achieves the SDGs through the MTNDP and the Big 5 Game Changers. According to the Chairman, a wide range of consultations were done to ensure participation in the putting together of the plan, which have been and is still being popularised.
“The committee’s interest therefore is to gauge the efforts of MDAs and other private entities in aligning their plans and activities with the MTNDP”, the Chairman asserted. The Chairman also informed the MDAs and private sector entities interacted with that Sierra Leone has been presenting and will also soon present her report card at a high level political forum in New York, on how far she has come in the implementation of the SDGs. He noted that information gathered from the oversight activity will therefore be shared with both Parliament and the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development to enhance the plan’s continuous development and implementation. “All of you are therefore expected to help us have the data that provides us indicators of progress and challenges” he said.
The Chairman reiterated that his Committee has an overarching mandate that affects all other sectors.
During an engagement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday, 02/07/2024, it was discovered that tremendous efforts have been made since 2019 to date including the review of the Agency’s Act to improve on Environmental Protection. It was discovered that several capacity building, alternative livelihoods, and renewable energy, amongst others, are being implemented to meet the MTNDP and Big 5 Game Changers. It was observed that several efforts are being made by the agency to forestall environmental pollution and other related activities. The agency was envisaging a conflicting situation. The Committee was satisfied with the EPA’s implementation of the MTNDP and the Big 5 Game Changers concurrent with the alignment with the SDGs.
On Wednesday, 03/07/2024 at the National Protected Area Authority (NPAA), the Committee observed that the authority is going through major reforms amidst progressing deliverables that are in line with global and national aspirations. The authority presented implementing indicators, enablers, and clusters ranging from 2019 to 2023 and 2024 with a broad focus on meeting the development requirements ahead. “We are Managing 500 hectares of land,” an official told the Committee in a PowerPoint presentation and added that they would add more hectares. The Committee observed that to achieve targets, the authorities, in collaboration with partners, are now involving host communities in project implementation to address alternative livelihoods. It was discovered that the authority had challenges including data, logistics, land-grabbing encroachment, and overlapping functions, amongst others. Overall, the committee was satisfied with their domesticated developmental implementation.
On Thursday, 04/07/2024, the National Revenue Authority (NRA) impressed the Committee with a lot of efforts associated with MTNDP. The Committee observed that NRA revenue mobilization, trade facilitation, Strategic Plan, Medium Term Revenue Mobilization Strategy, and working in consonance with policies and other requirements with SDGs Digitalization, infrastructure, public trust, and cross-cutting measures are part of NRA development achievement. The Committee observed that NRA’s challenges include tax exemption through duty waiver, security breaches and political instability, and compliance, amongst others.
At Leone Rock, the parent company for Kingho Mining and Kingho Rail and Ports on the same date, the Committee observed the company’s Corporate Social Responsibilities, Community Development Action Plan (CDAP), and tax obligations aligned with the MTNDP. The Committee observed that Leone Rock is implementing activities including support to education, tree planting, agriculture, security support, promoting sports, focusing on economic development, health, transportation, capacity building, provision of portable water, renewable energy and many others. Leone Rock’s challenges are economic shock, inflation of local currencies, operational costs including transportation, and others.
The Committee had earlier met the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT), Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA), and the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Authority.
Parliamentary and Public Relations Department