At the ongoing FY 2027 Budget Hearings for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) at the Miatta Civic Centre Hall in Freetown, one of Sierra Leone’s leading Civil Society Organizations monitoring the budget process took a strong stance against the Guma Valley Water Company (GVWC).
The Citizen Rights Network Sierra Leone (CRN-SL) moved a motion for the Guma Valley Water Company to be stood down.
Speaking to journalists, the Executive Director of CRN-SL, Mr. Ibrahim Bai Koroma, stated that the Guma Valley Water Company and some other institutions are not taking the budget hearing process seriously.
He explained that the Guma Valley Water Company failed to report on time as required by the Ministry of Finance and its technical team. The Company also failed to bring along the required number of budget document copies requested by the Ministry.
According to Mr. Koroma, when the Company’s management was asked to justify their late coming, they instead turned the hall into a comedy stage, showing lack of seriousness and respect for the process.
The Executive Director of CRN-SL expressed grave concern over the manner in which such institutions waste government resources, which will now require them to be rescheduled for another date at extra cost to the state.
He urged the Ministry of Finance to take punitive measures against MDAs that treat the national budget process with levity.
“This is a national exercise that determines service delivery to our people. No institution should be allowed to waste taxpayers’ money and time,” Bai Koroma stated.
