September 30, 2021
BY MOHAMED M. SESAY
With a budget ceiling/recurrent expenditure around one billion Leones, the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Lahai Laurence Leema and team, have yesterday the 29th of September 2021, tendered Le 12.8 billion to the Ministry of Finance as their 2022 fiscal year budget. This in effect exceeds their threshold in excess of Le 11.7 billion.
In justification of their estimated 12.8 billion Leones annual budget, the Deputy Minister Lahai Laurence Leema intimated the budget hearing committee that the budget will cover programs that were not funded in 2020 and 2021. He added that they will also align the 2022 budget in tandem with the National Development Plan of 2019-2023 which requires more funding.
According to the Deputy Minister, their 2022 fiscal year budget will also help them conduct an effective and efficient monitoring and evaluation of the ministry’s agencies, establishment of a new directorate with policy and strategic planning, establish and roll out the Medical Examiner’s office and payment of their outstanding debts.
As part of their key deliverables for the fiscal year 2022, Lahai Laurence Leema also disclosed that they will align their strategic plan with the National Development Plan 2019-2023, operationalize their new directorate structure of the ministry as recommended by the management and functional review (MFR) Report of 2021, conduct effective monitoring of agencies and assessment of funding gap for donor support, roll out implementation of National Action Plan on statelessness, collaborate with private sector partners (PPP) in order to develop a safe city project for Internal Security sector project and finally, relocating the Main Sierra Leone Correctional Center from Freetown to Songo.
“In terms of our activities especially the safe city project because looking at the emergence and dynamics of our security structure, justifies the need to mount a smart monitoring or surveillance of our activities so that we can prevent crime before they occur. So the smart city is very critical for a peaceful and successful elections come 2023”, he concluded.
