By Africa 24 newsman

The Deputy opposition Leader 2, who doubles as a member of the Public Account Committee (PAC) Hon. Aaron Aruna Koroma, has  given a month ultimatum to the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources for them to work with the Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) by urging all fishing companies to pay monies owed to the government of Sierra Leone in three weeks period.

Hon. Koroma made the ruling on Wednesday 14th August, 2024, at the New Administrative Building in the House of Parliament when the said committee was looking into the activities of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.

He assured that the action of the ministry has caused a huge loss of revenue for the government.

He further instructed the ministry to write letters to the various fishing companies informing them to pay or else the committee will have no option but rather to ask the ministry to revoke their licences.

He assured that if the various companies do not pay the monies within the stipulated time, their licences would be revoked.

It was a unanimous decision made by the MPs as they urged the companies to pay the monies to the government of Sierra Leone.

Hon. Koroma admonished the ministry to work with the ASSL and ensure that companies do pay   the government of Sierra Leone.

According to the Permanent Secretary from the ministry, Hawa Ellie, told the committee that the ministry is working tirelessly to ensure that fishermen are trained.

They said they are working closely with the  Institute of Marine Biology to making sure that fishermen are given the right training.

It has been a challenge to source finance for the training program, she said.

One of the members of the committee said the   monies that have been collected by the ministry are far below than what should have be collected.

Responding to comments, PS Hawa Ellie, confirmed that prior to her transfer to the ministry, the monies were not paid with the presentation of  payment slips, until when they had the last audit which they were advised that they imbed with a payment slip prepared by the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Resources for all revenue strain to  be reflected.

Since they started the reflected revenue strains, she said payment is being done to the ministry through the Bank of Sierra Leone (BSL).

She affirmed that the receipts of the payment were sent to the National Revenue Authority (NRA) and a copy was issued to them.

However, Madam Ellies pleaded with the committee to give them time to furnish them with the necessary documents.

Responding on this, Hon. Koroma said the issue with COVID-19 is not at play regarding the issue of charges as the regulation has been in existence since 2019.

“For a regulation that was passed in 2019, for only to be referred as new, it shows that the ministry had not been effective in popularizing or implementing this particular regulation which was passed in parliament to enhance workers’ ability to collect more revenues for government,” he noted.