Budget C’ttee Accuses Finance Ministry

By Alex Yomah
Members of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee have already begun recognizing some financial indiscipline carried out in the draft 2019/2020 fiscal budget.
The budget hearing being conducted by the Legislative Committee which has now entered its expenditure component debate and clarity yesterday began with the Ministry of Finance, Development Planning in the Joint Chambers of the Legislature.
The Joint Committee accused the Ministry of Finance of violating Article 34 (d) of the Liberian Constitution by taking onto itself the power of appropriating budgetary allotments to ministries and agencies.
Yesterday’s hearing was charged with emotions when the Ministry of Finance presented a fiscal budget which according to it, was formulated to mitigate some of the challenges faced by Liberians across the country yet, it disgustingly appropriated to itself an increment of US$11 million in the new budget without the Legislature’s approval.
Another concern raised by the River Gee County Senator, Francis Dopoh, stated that in the 2018/2019 fiscal budget, the Ministry’s budget was US$49 million and in the 2019/2020 draft fiscal budget, it swelled to US$60 million.
Members of the Budget Committee demanded answers as to why the fiscal managers of the country could be abreast with the Public Finance Management Law as well as the Constitution specifically Article 34 (d), yet choose to deliberately and flagrantly usurp the Legislature’s function.
Article 34 (d) states: to levy taxes, duties, imports, exercise and other revenues, to borrow money, issue currency,mint coins, and to make appropriations for the fiscal governance of the Republic, subject to the following qualifications:(i)all revenue bills, whether subsidies, charges, imports, duties or taxes, and other financial bills, shall originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other bills. No other financial charge shall be established, fixed, laid or levied on any individual, community or locality under any pretext whatsoever except by the expressed consent of the individual, community or locality. In all such cases, a true and correct account of funds collected shall be made to the community or locality;(ii) no monies shall be drawn from the treasure except in consequence of appropriations made by legislative enactment and upon warrant of the President; and no coin shall be minted or national currency issued except by the expressed authority of the Legislature. An annual statement and account of the expenditure of all public monies shall be submitted by the office of the President to the Legislature and published once a year;
At the hearing representing the Ministry of Finance Development and Planning (MFDP), the Deputy Minister for Fiscal Affairs, Samora Wolokollie entered into counter attacks with the committee members thereby justifying his entity’s role in developing the budget.
Deputy Minister Wolokollie’s reliance was Section 26 of the Public Financial Management Law in which he indicated; “The law speaks about reallocation about national budget and it is this backdrop the transfer was made.”
The PFM Law states that reallocation shall be numbered and arranged before the Legislature prior to the submission of the next fiscal budget and Rep. Dopoh argued that this reallocation of Finance’s budget was not done by the Legislature and clarified that reallocation can only happen when the funds previously appropriated were insufficient.
The Ministry of Finance had earlier informed the Legislature that the draft fiscal budget was formulated to help mitigate some of the challenges affecting the wellbeing of the citizenry and alerted the Legislature that there would be sacrifices made by institutions of government to ensure increased investments.
These hearings into the expenditure component of the draft budget is expected to take place for 10 days and spending ministries and agencies scrutinized yesterday were the Ministry of Finance, Liberia Revenue Authority, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Civil Servant Agency, General Service Agency and the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism.