By Nasratu Kargbo
Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Parliament Segepoh Solomon Thomas has ruled that monies donated to the Freetown Golf Club totalling forty-eight thousand four hundred and fifty Leones (48,450) by Electricity Distribution Supply Authority (EDSA) on the basis of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), should instead be directed to the Consolidated Fund.
During the first Public hearing held in Parliament on the 2022 Auditor General’s Report, on Monday, the Chairman said: “This money should be refunded not later than fourteen days from today. DG (Director –General), and CFO (Chief Finance Officer), if that money is not paid within fourteen days, we will arrest you and lock you up”, he warned.
He said in all the CSR they have outlined, he did not see any assistance given to poor people, despite the many charitable homes and orphanages they could have helped, but they chose to donate the money to a place of wealthy people.
Twenty-nine thousand, one hundred Leones was donated by EDSA to Golf Club as corporates social responsibility and nineteen thousand three hundred and fifty Leones as quarterly membership fees for the board members and top management of the electricity distributor who are part of the club.
EDSA’s Chief Finance Officer Mustapha Sannoh before the ruling had explained that as an entity they have Corporate Social Responsibility and that the Golf Club is a non-profit making organization.
He said there are some charitable organizations that approach them for insignificant assistance and they sometimes help.
The Chief Whip from the government bench Dickson Rogers refuted what Sannoh said about the club as a not for profit entity, him being a member of the club, and went on to say that they pay one thousand five hundred Leones as membership fee, besides the club’s other sources of income.
“Golf club is creating a lot of sponsorship; you cannot use government money to dash them. I suggest that whoever authorized that payment to refund that money to the government, because it is not worth it” he said.
Deputy Leader 2 of the Opposition, Aaron Aruna Koroma explained that EDSA’s liquidity ratio is around 2.4 to 1%, which means the institution cannot pay their debts, but instead went ahead to pay membership fees for their board members.
Koroma said there is no policy that mandates government agencies to render corporate social responsibility, especially when EDSA expected to be a profit-making institution has not been making profit since its inception. He insisted that the money be refunded.
Members of Parliament were angry at the use of state resources in such a manner.
The issue was raised during discussions over payments to various organizations as CSR without justification. EDSA spent a total of three hundred and sixteen thousand, four hundred and fifty Leones as CSR to different institutions without justification, according to the Auditor General’s report.
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