By Thomas Dixon
232news
Members of Parliament last Thursday October 27approved US$ 5M agreement for 523 schools. Presenting the agreement to members of Parliament, the Deputy Minister of Finance 1 Sheku Fatta Mahdi Bangura said that the loan agreement between the Republic of Sierra Leone and Islamic Development Bank for digital connectivity in schools to accelerate Covid 19 Education Response and Recovery Project, Sierra Leone.
Bangura pointed out that the aim and objectives of this agreement is to restore education in digital economy and that the Islamic Development Bank will co-finance 403 schools while UNICEF will covered about 120 schools, for sustainable model for science innovation.
The Chairman of Finance Committee in Parliament Hon Francis Kaisamba in his contribution said this government is important in the educational sector, noting that to connect schools for internet is good because during the Ebola and Corona outbreak schools were closed.
He explained that with this agreement if there is any outbreak, schools will be connected.
He highlighted that the loan agreement is not controversial and called on his colleagues members of parliament to approve the agreement.
Hon Abdul Kargbo said with this, it will expose pupils to internet connectivity, mentioning an old agreement that was approved by parliament for connecting schools which was financed by China Exim Bank and that AFcom was supposed to connect 500 schools.
He noted that he is seeing this and other agreement to connect schools so he asked Parliament to summon Afcom because they are operating illegally in the country.
The Speaker of Parliament asked the Deputy Chairman of the Basic Education Committee to give details about the project because the Chairman was not in parliament.
Hon Joseph William Lamin, Deputy Chairman responded that there was no loan agreement that was passed for Afcom to connect schools but it was an internal agreement between Salcab and Afcom.
Hon Lamin said the agreement is a good one and that the agreement is for twenty five years as it is a soft loan.
Hon Dr. Mack Mahmoud Kalokoh said during their oversight visit to AFCOM they asked the manager of Afcom about the project and that he explained that they are ready to connect schools but they are constrained with contact.
Hon Kalokoh stated that parliament has approved several loan agreements but they as opposition they need to address the grey areas for which he referenced page 14 of the agreement which revealed they have paid the service provider or contractor since December 31st 2021 which is US$ 4M, questioning what service they have paid for even before the agreement comes to Parliament.
Hon Lahai Marah said digital connectivity is good but that the grace period for the loan is seven years, noting that a loan is a loan.
He said that recently civil society was asking for the cancellation of loan from the Ministry of Finance, so he wants the minister to explain to members of parliament about this loan agreement.
He said that while the speaker is defending the government, the health system is very poor, there is no good road and that they have the corona audit to look into.
The Acting Leader of Opposition Hon Hassan Sesay said that looking at the volume in 2019, they approved a loan agreement from China Exim Bank to connect 500 schools which was US$ 34M but that they don’t know what is happening with that project.
He appealed to the Ministry of Basic Education to set up more robust monitoring for the connectivity of the schools.
Dr. Abass Bundu asked the minister to respond on the issue raised by Hon Dr. Kalokoh about the payment made in December 31st 2021. Bangura said article 4 which deals with payment and services fee is after the bill has been ratified and that what the Member of Parliament saw is the implementation.
