By Ragan M. Conteh

The Speaker of Parliament, Hon Segepoh Solomon Thomas has given a stern warning to the Ministry of Finance not to even venture bringing a supplementary budget to Parliament if the concerns of the House are not met.

“The Ministry of Finance have treated Parliament with levity. How can the Ministry purchase vehicles for other MDAs leaving the leadership of Parliament vulnerable. We are not going to look at any document from the Ministry of Finance,” the Speaker angrily stated.

Speaker Thomas also expressed frustration over the continued allocation of meager budget to Parliament, adding that the Ministry of Finance is not serious about parliamentary affairs.

He also informed that Parliament is gravely indebted and this is because Finance Ministry is not sending the due allocation to parliament.

“Our service providers to Parliament keep chasing us as leaders and when you check in our account there is nothing there. So we keep taking loans and Finance sends allocations and those monies will go to service our debts,” speaker confessed.

The Speaker also spoke on how Parliamentary leaders are currently constraint on mobility due to Finance Ministry’s negligence on providing vehicles for them.

He said that is the reason parliament has not been working effectively due to lack of funds to execute their duties, stating that parliament in several occasions have approached Finance to address their problems but to no avail.

In his submissions, the Chief Whip of the government bench, Hon Dickson Rogers has shifted the blame to the speaker for his failure to pressurise Finance to do the needful.

He said the reason why MDAs are not taking Parliament seriously is because of compromising stance by leaders, insisting that parliament should begin to act tough on them.

In his submissions, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon Ibrahim Tawa Conteh also expressed concern over the failure of Finance Ministry to provide them with vehicles.

He promised to raise a motion to reject any supplementary budget if parliament issues are not resolved and amicably addressed.

This statement was supported by all MPs from both sides of the aisle, urging the Speaker to act tough regarding their well-being.