source: New Democrat
Joe K. Roberts
Budget hearing before the Legislature Tuesday broke into uproar and suspended when the Minister of State for Economic and Financial Affairs and Legal Advisor to the President, Mr. Morris Saytumah, angrily pushed Auditor General in an attempt to provoke.
“He has constantly being trying to provoke me since we started this proceeding today”, Mr. Morlu told this paper even whilst the uproar continued in the chambers of The House where Minister Saytumah, according to seating arrangement, sat behind the Auditor General, thus having easy access to him.
The audience, including Legislators, broke into confusion as the scene turned intensely unruly. UNMIL Police and the Liberian National police were called in to get things under control.
It appeared that Mr. Saytumah, a close aide to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and a long-time ally, became irritated over Mr. Morlu’s statements on the budget, especially after Mr. Morlu again emphasized that Mr. Saytumah office presented two budgets for the same set of activities now before the Legislature, sparking him to turn violent.
He later denied to reporters that he neither provoked nor pushed Mr. Morlu.
Herds of people followed Mr. Morlu as he was whisked from the Unity Conference Center by police and UNMIL security forces, while others were hauling and pulling at his coat, chanting “. Our hero! Our hero!
The hearing, postponed until next Thursday as a result of the violence, was one of the most attended in recent times, with the halls filled with people in an indication of interest in the budget.
As he, too, was being whisked, mobs gathered around Minister Saytumah, with some booing him, as Montserrado County Representative Dusty Wolokolie walked him to a waiting car.
The Auditor General had earlier entered the halls of Legislature, now sitting at the Unity Conference Center in Virginia, where he received a thunderous star-like applause, as he continued his controversial dissection of the current draft Budget, arguing it contains many flaws, including the absence of an opening balance.
Amidst continued applause, Mr. Morlu repeated his excruciating analysis of the fiscal 2007.2008 draft budget, contending that it lacks complete disclosure of revenues.
In some parts of his analysis, Mr. Morlu said he discovered that Minister Saytumah had submitted two budgets for the same set of activities, totaling over US600, 000. Deputy Minister of Finance for Administration, Mrs. Afreda Stewart Tamba, told this paper this week that a review of the double submission was underway.
The submission includes the following: A review of the fiscal 2007/08 Draft National Budget by the General Auditing Commission (GAC) revealed that the Ministry of State is seeking separate allocations for the same function.
Under what is purported to be separate programs with the same title: Financial Management but with different codes but same descriptions, word for word, the Ministry requested an allotment of US300,557 and US318,008 for the implementation of the same program during the fiscal year 2007/08.
The GAC, which is recommending a revision of the Draft National Budget, has questioned whether there is a duplication of functions within the Ministry of State.
In their report, the GAC also stated that the way institutions are presented in the Draft National Budget is arguably confusing. The Ministry of State:Financial Management Code: 5-1-02-02Program DescriptionsThe Financial Management Department provides financial services to the offices of the president, the Ministry of State and serves as a liaison between the Executive mansion on one hand and the Ministry of fiancé, the Bureau of the Budget, and the Central bank on the other.
Measurable Programs objectivesThe department wishes to automate the financial records, print two hundred and fifty booklets of the various financial forms and properly execute the millions of dollars budgeted for the ten (10) programs of the Ministry of State.
List of important activities.Formulation and execution of the ministry budgetPreparation of payrolls and payment of salariesPreparation of financial documents and reportsClassifying, analyzing & recording of financial transactionsCustodians of financial documents and informationLinked to Major Strategy Plans (IPRSP) etc.2. Finance, Econ, & Legal Affairs Code: 5-1-02-09Program DescriptionThe Financial Management Department provides financial services to the offices of the president, the Ministry of State and serves as a liaison between the Executive mansion on one hand and the Ministry of fiancé, the Bureau of the Budget, and the Central bank on the other.
Measurable Programs objectivesThe department wishes to automate the financial records, print two hundred and fifty booklets of the various financial forms and properly execute the millions of dollars budgeted for the ten (10) programs of the Ministry of State.List of important activities.Formulation and execution of the ministry budget Preparation of payrolls and payment of salariesPreparation of financial documents and reports Classifying, analyzing & recording of financial transactionsCustodians of financial documents and informationLinked to Major Strategy Plans (IPRSP) etc.
“He has constantly being trying to provoke me since we started this proceeding today”, Mr. Morlu told this paper even whilst the uproar continued in the chambers of The House where Minister Saytumah, according to seating arrangement, sat behind the Auditor General, thus having easy access to him.
The audience, including Legislators, broke into confusion as the scene turned intensely unruly. UNMIL Police and the Liberian National police were called in to get things under control.
It appeared that Mr. Saytumah, a close aide to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and a long-time ally, became irritated over Mr. Morlu’s statements on the budget, especially after Mr. Morlu again emphasized that Mr. Saytumah office presented two budgets for the same set of activities now before the Legislature, sparking him to turn violent.
He later denied to reporters that he neither provoked nor pushed Mr. Morlu.
Herds of people followed Mr. Morlu as he was whisked from the Unity Conference Center by police and UNMIL security forces, while others were hauling and pulling at his coat, chanting “. Our hero! Our hero!
The hearing, postponed until next Thursday as a result of the violence, was one of the most attended in recent times, with the halls filled with people in an indication of interest in the budget.
As he, too, was being whisked, mobs gathered around Minister Saytumah, with some booing him, as Montserrado County Representative Dusty Wolokolie walked him to a waiting car.
The Auditor General had earlier entered the halls of Legislature, now sitting at the Unity Conference Center in Virginia, where he received a thunderous star-like applause, as he continued his controversial dissection of the current draft Budget, arguing it contains many flaws, including the absence of an opening balance.
Amidst continued applause, Mr. Morlu repeated his excruciating analysis of the fiscal 2007.2008 draft budget, contending that it lacks complete disclosure of revenues.
In some parts of his analysis, Mr. Morlu said he discovered that Minister Saytumah had submitted two budgets for the same set of activities, totaling over US600, 000. Deputy Minister of Finance for Administration, Mrs. Afreda Stewart Tamba, told this paper this week that a review of the double submission was underway.
The submission includes the following: A review of the fiscal 2007/08 Draft National Budget by the General Auditing Commission (GAC) revealed that the Ministry of State is seeking separate allocations for the same function.
Under what is purported to be separate programs with the same title: Financial Management but with different codes but same descriptions, word for word, the Ministry requested an allotment of US300,557 and US318,008 for the implementation of the same program during the fiscal year 2007/08.
The GAC, which is recommending a revision of the Draft National Budget, has questioned whether there is a duplication of functions within the Ministry of State.
In their report, the GAC also stated that the way institutions are presented in the Draft National Budget is arguably confusing. The Ministry of State:Financial Management Code: 5-1-02-02Program DescriptionsThe Financial Management Department provides financial services to the offices of the president, the Ministry of State and serves as a liaison between the Executive mansion on one hand and the Ministry of fiancé, the Bureau of the Budget, and the Central bank on the other.
Measurable Programs objectivesThe department wishes to automate the financial records, print two hundred and fifty booklets of the various financial forms and properly execute the millions of dollars budgeted for the ten (10) programs of the Ministry of State.
List of important activities.Formulation and execution of the ministry budgetPreparation of payrolls and payment of salariesPreparation of financial documents and reportsClassifying, analyzing & recording of financial transactionsCustodians of financial documents and informationLinked to Major Strategy Plans (IPRSP) etc.2. Finance, Econ, & Legal Affairs Code: 5-1-02-09Program DescriptionThe Financial Management Department provides financial services to the offices of the president, the Ministry of State and serves as a liaison between the Executive mansion on one hand and the Ministry of fiancé, the Bureau of the Budget, and the Central bank on the other.
Measurable Programs objectivesThe department wishes to automate the financial records, print two hundred and fifty booklets of the various financial forms and properly execute the millions of dollars budgeted for the ten (10) programs of the Ministry of State.List of important activities.Formulation and execution of the ministry budget Preparation of payrolls and payment of salariesPreparation of financial documents and reports Classifying, analyzing & recording of financial transactionsCustodians of financial documents and informationLinked to Major Strategy Plans (IPRSP) etc.
1 comment:
hi there sam u just left a note on my yahoo blog but no email address to contact you, i too have two blogs about liberia that keeps me really busy, i have the link on the liberian forium web site like you. one is call liberianandfriends.blogspot.com check me there and leave a note, as regards the videos i have a lot of them on my youtube page that i made, just come to the my blog address and you will find a link to my videos. by the way nice blog, and i do contribute articles to the forium too.
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