By Crispina Lois Cummings
Dozens of students from the Department of Economics and Commerce of Fourah Bay College yesterday went on a study visit to parliament to enlighten themselves on the Sierra Leone budget.
Welcoming the students and their lecturer, Clerk of Parliament, Ibrahim Sesay introduced them to the 1991 Constitution. He also explained to them the different types of budget and looked at the budgets of different countries and the functions of the standing committees in parliament.
He told the students that normally, MPs were given five days to scrutinize and debate the budget, adding that those budgets were debated depending on where the MPs stand in the political divide.
The chairman and deputy chairman of the finance committee, Hassan Sheriff and Dr. Foday Suma respectively, also addressed the students. Sheriff said that in real life they had to face challenges and so they had to brace themselves and work according to the principles of their profession. He added that since many of them would eventually find themselves in the civil service, they should let the outside world know that Sierra Leone had credible people that could be placed in positions of responsibility.
Dr. Suma told the students that if they as a committee were to follow the law, they would send top civil servants to jail on a daily basis.
Lecturer Dr. Denis Sandy, who led the students, said that the move was to take the students out of the classroom to enable them broaden their horizon. He noted that the students would graduate this year and most of them would help to move the civil service forward.
(C) Politico 13/08/13
