As Members of Parliament yesterday approved the 2016 Appropriation
Act, Chairmen of the five sub-appropriation committees have raised grave
concern over delay in disbursement of allocations to ministries, departments
and agencies (MDAs), thus causing holdups in filling parliamentary
questionnaires sent to them.
The chairmen raised the concern while presenting their reports,
which include recommendations and observations that arose during five- days
inquest into how funds were expended by MDAs in the 2014 and 2015 financial
years, and how the 2016 budget allocations would be utilised.
They noted that in the past years the same incidence of delays in
remitting funds to MDAs had occurred without any remedial action by the
Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to put corrective measures to
address the issue even though several recommendations have been made in the
past years.
Members stated that even Local Councils do not receive their
allocations on time, which according to them cause them to delay compiling
their status reports, while also affecting administrative and development
activities in various MDAs and councils. Also, the lawmakers noted that funds
received by MDAs and councils were less than the amount allocated by
Parliament, adding that such creates negative impact on their performance.
They also observed that allocations to most councils and MDAs were
inadequate, while a good number of officials in MDAs were unable to defend
their budget properly, adding that most of them received donations which they
failed to present to Parliament for ratification.
Responding, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr.
Kaifala Marah commended Parliament for their effort in the deliberations and
promised that their concerns would be addressed, with adequate measures taken
immediately.
Source: Concord Times
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