NACSA BOYCOTT 2023 BUDGET HEARING PRESENTATION

By Boss Ezekiel

The Commissioner of the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA), Dr Isata Max-Kye and the team have refused to present their budget to the Ministry of Finance for the year 2023. It could be recalled that the budget is the second highest document after the constitution of any country, which has four stages such as budget formulation, budget enactment, budget implementation and budget auditing and monitoring.

The budget presentation shows transparency and accountability to citizens, and participation in the process is a key which usually happens during the formulation stage, wherein the citizens are allowed to scrutinise MDAs’ budgets together with the technical team from the Ministry of Finance, which is a statutory requirement for every MDAs including the State Own Enterprises.

The National Commission for Social Action NaCSArefused to submit their budget for the FY 2023 bilateral budget discussion which is critical to revenue generation, project implementation, accurate statistical data and several other government institutions that are important. The National Commission for Social Action NaCSA is one of the critical state own institutions that has been receiving money from the government and different foreign donors for other activities such as social safety net, agricultural activities and many more.

During COVID-19 the government of Sierra Leone through the Ministry of Finance gave billions of Leones to NaCSA to implement the Social safety net, cash transfer and social assistance. Over 90 percent of programs that have been implemented by the National Commission for Social Action are been founded by donors and the people of Sierra Leone need to know how these funds are been used by NaCSA. Therefore, therefore, a must that NaCSA should have presented its budget for a proper review, and transparency and accountability as one of the critical principles of the government of President Bio. If they had partaken in the process, Sierra Leoneans would have been allowed to ask critical questions through the civil society, NSA, DBOCs and the media about the challenges and successes of the current strategic plan and revenue forecast for next year but this right was blatantly boycotted by NaCSA.