Contributed
In my opinion, Dr. Samura Kamara (seen here in New York) was, or is not disciplined financial expert. He has been part of the country’s financial problems.
Two of the Key Government Owned Institutions, I know( Sierratel and NRA) where he was a Board Member (been the Financial Secretary and or BSL Governor) experienced mismanagement and financial indiscipline.
The present situation with Sierratel started during the reign of Kabbah. During the interegnum, Sierratel monies were allegedly paid out to Sierra Leone’s Foreign Missions. This was possible because, SLET had a security deposit amounting to over $1.2m in a bank in America, which was for the Earth Station Loan. The final instalment of that loan was paid in August,1997. Those alleged payments to Foreign Missions were to be written off against Sierratel’s Corporation Tax. What happened to that amount in US bank after that and what has been the Corporate Tax of Sierratel?
In addition to that, the most profitable section of Sierratel business,( the International Telephony) which was providing over 90% of its revenue, was given to a private company. As a result, the institution had difficulties in playing staff salaries.
The Government gave Sierratel the Gateway but instead of using its staff, who, in my opinion, were qualified to handle it, gave it to an individual businessman.
That again worsened Sierratel’s situation. By 1999, monies were being transferred from the Overseas Accounts in order to pay salaries.
During SLET’S time, none of its foreign accounts were used for local expenditures; but used only for the payments of equipments and other services from outside the country.
In the case of NRA, the FS withheld some of its Statutory Revenue ( Parliamentary Allocationd) in both the third and fourth quarters of 2007 giving cause to NRA not meeting it Budgetary Target in revenue collections. That also caused NRA not to pay out withholding tax, especially,PAYE to CRFA; and by December,2011, when Dr.Samura Kamara was Finance Minister, it owed the CRFA about Le 3.77b for PAYE alone. I wonder what has been the situation up to now.
At NRA, Transit Accounts were opened at SLCB for Non Tax Revenue collected. Those accounts existed at BSL as Treasury Accounts, and the Accountant General was in control of them. But the Transit Accounts were opened without the approval of the Accountant General.
The consequences of that action are clearly shown by the various Auditor General’s Reports.
One such is the transfer of funds from those accounts to accounts that were not CRFA. That means, the alleged transfers were not seen or verified in the CRFA. Where were they transferred and who used them?
The non reconciliation of those Transit Accounts.
The ICA( Internal Control and Audit) of NRA some time that 720 Receipt Books were not found or accounted for. No remedial action was taken. It is possible that those receipts got into the hands of unauthorized people and could have been misused.
Dr. Kamara was Finance Minister from 2009 to 2012 (Based on the Budget Speeches I have).
Between 2009 and 2011, the Financial Intelligence Unit, reported that imports and exports increased from $617.5m ( about Le2.091trillion) to $1,631m( aboutLe 7.094trillion) for imports and from$267.7m(about Le 906.4m) to $381.5m( Le 1,569m).Those increases, in terms of Leones, were 239.3% and 83.1% respectively.
Though the Domestic Revenues increased, by 94.9%, Customs Revenue decreased by 18.3%(from Le 420.5b to Le 343.7b) and the IMPORT DUTY decreased by about 10.7%( from Le 316.4b in 2009 to Le 282.4b).
Because of the increase in the domestic revenue, Dr. Samura Kamara, as finance Minister went into spending spree without authority in 2011.
Considering the number of years that he had been Financial Secretary to the time he was appointed Finance Minister, he was aware that when the amounts appropriated is not sufficient and or the need arises for the spending of unbudgeted expenditures, a Supplementary Budget(Appropriation Act) should be submitted to Parlaiment for approval( Section 112(3)&(4) of the Constitution of Sierra Leone,1991.
That he failed to do. That, in my opinion, is lack of financial discipline.
This is what he said in his 2012 Budget Speech ( paragraph 38, page 9).
“Thus, the higher Revenues provided an opportunity to accommodate UNBUDGETED but HIGHLY COMPELLING expenditures on the STRATEGIC PRIORITIES of the”Agenda for Change’, including in WAGES and SALARIES, FUEL SUBSIDY, INFRASTRUCTURE ( roads and energy), LUNGI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TERMINAL EXPANSION, additional grants to tertiary educational institutions, NaCSA stalled projects, Statistics Sierra Leone for the Integrated Household Survey, printing of National ID cards and ECOWAS Passports, and NEW DIPLOMATIC postings.”
Now tell me, how is he going to be disciplined financially as President?
Even now, he is before a Court in respect of the the rehabilitation of the chancery building in New York.
It is good to read the 2014 Auditor General’s Report on the SL Embassy- Washington DC, and SL Mission in New York (pages 216 – 226)
This is what the 2014 Auditor General’s Report says on page 224, paragraph 5.59.5:
“A sum of$533,704 out of a request for$1,000,000 was remitted to the mission in April 2010 for the rehabilitation of the chancery building. It was later deposited into a special account held at CITI bank. This amount was utilised as part payment of mortgage of the property occupied by the Permanent Representative on the approval of the Minister of Finance and Economic Development in the year 2012.
No correspondence was seen requesting the balance of the original amount requested.
“Sierra Leone was donated with the amount of $2,000,000 which was yet to be remitted to New York for the rehabilitation of the properties, especially the chancery building, that was in a state not befitting an international diplomatic centre.”
The 2018 Auditor General’s Report (pages 85 and 86; paragraph 2.5.8) states thus:
“A contract which amounted to$3,102,000 was awarded to Fairfield Construction Associate, LLC on 9th December,2016 for the renovation and reconstruction of the Chancery Building, revealed the following:
” There was no evidence that advertisement for International Competitive Bidding method was carried out.
“The Mission had paid over US$1.2 million ( i.e over 39% of the total project cost) to the contractor without any form of monitoring, no form of valuation of work done and evaluation of the progress made. We found it difficult to LINK the AMOUNT of MONEY that had been paid to the contractor to the work that had been done.
” There has been no MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT to ensure that the renovation and construction work has been executed in compliance with agreed drawings, bills of quantities and other technical requirements.
“The steel staircase and elevator paid by the Mission to the contractor costing US$223,250 on 10th April, 2017 were not delivered up to the end of the audit execution which was on the 12th August, 2018.”
Dr Kamara was minister of finance in 2012 and Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation minister in 2016.
Tell me could he be a President to rule this nation, after considering the part he played, as Financial Secretary, Governor of Bank of Sierra Leone, Ministers of Finance and Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and all the mess he allegedly participated in, in this country ?
