Editorial: Speaker Koffa’s stance on the recast budget is laudable, but

The House of Representatives, led by Speaker Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa has deferred a hearing on the draft recast national budget pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation into alleged budget alteration and the submission of a performance report by the executive branch of government.

The decision is rational, and we wholeheartedly welcome it. We strongly believe it buttresses the current fight against corruption and lack of transparency in public expenditures.

Years after years, from one administration to another, heads of public institutions under the executive branch request budgetary increments without presenting to the Legislature a performance report of previous allocations. This is bad and totally contrary to the government’s professed commitment to transparency and accountability.

The government’s expenditures over the years have been like putting water in a bottomless drum that makes no impact on citizens’ lives, but every fiscal period, a new budget is drafted with an increment of allotments for spending ministries and agencies.

However, while we welcome the current effort to checkmate the executive, it is time that the Legislature, which allots money to itself, submits to public scrutiny how it expends those allotments, which are increased annually.

Speaker Koffa, a member of the former ruling Congress for Democratic Change-led government, served as deputy speaker under his predecessor, Bhofal Chambers, of the same party. However, they never made performance reports and thorough scrutiny of the national budget a priority.

Instead, we witnessed 4G passage of the budget for the entire six years of former President George Manneh’s administration. In the minds of CDC lawmakers, that was okay under their standard bearer.

We believe it would be a plus for the Boakai administration if the 55th Legislature was allowed to exercise thorough due diligence on the national budget, including the current draft recast budget, for the sake of accountability and transparency, which was never heard in the past.

Lest we be misconstrued, the executive’s practice of not submitting performance reports from spending agencies has long existed, even before former President Weah came to power. It is an age-old practice that we should get rid of.

We hope that this time, the right thing will be done in the interest of our people, who suffer the effect of gross mismanagement of our national cake, the Budget.