By Yunus Hydara
I refer to a publication on Foroyaa newspaper written by Hon Halifa Sallah responding to an article I published on my Facebook page while ago. In this article, I expressed my dissatisfaction on two National Assembly Committees whose members I referred to as being lethargic, selfish and incompetent in the execution of their functions and are thus the biggest enablers of corruption in the country. This did not sit well with Hallifa as he is chairman of one of the committees and Siadia Jatta is vice-chairman of the other. These two Parliamentary committees are: Finance and Public accounts committee (FPAC) that is chaired by the speaker of the house Ms. Denton with Sedia Jatta as vice-chairman and mandated of providing an oversight function on government and all financial aspect of public institutions. This committee, which is the one am most interested in, and the one Halifa did not talk about, are dragging their feet in examining and fine-tuning (if required) the anti-corruption watchdog bill despite the fact that the 16 weeks period given for this task has elapsed long time ago.
The second committee is the Public Enterprise Committee (PEC) chaired by Hilafa Sallah and mandated to scrutinise the operations of all public enterprises to ensure efficiency, transparency and probity in all their undertakings. I registered my dissatisfaction that despite many reports of adverse findings by both the auditor general and an external British audit firm on seven State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), this committee has never, not even once, ever laid any report before the plenary since assuming office, thus failing the entire membership of the National Assembly in their delivery of justice and accountability.
Hon. Halifa, in his response characterised my article as utter fabrication and politically motivated for which he cautioned such fabrication will surge as our leaders become more desperate. He promised he will not use derogatory remarks on me because my surname, Hydara, is associated with “decency and moral integrity”. Also that he respects my parents and the fact that he is an aspiring president and using derogatory remarks on a citizen by a potential president will be inappropriate. I cannot help but wonder if Halifa will disparage me if my surname was someone else’s like the Jengs, the Chams, the Manjangs, the Jarjus, the Bahs and Jallows just to name a few as my surname should make me any different from anybody and as an aspiring leader of my country I’ll expect Halifa to treat all our citizens with equal spirit of dignity and respect. And no, my assertion isn’t pollical but born out of the frustration of the lack of accountability I see in that country. If it was politically motivated I will not have given a list of all members of these committees and their associated parties which showed members of my own party.
More to the point however, Halifa failed to defend his colleague Hon Sidia, and left him to fend for himself and concentrated in clearing his own name. His main contention was the committee he chairs is not responsible in discharging justice and accountability and aimed at side stepping responsibility and casting blame on the auditor general whom he claimed has the “bread and knife” derived from the constitution in executing accountability and the obstruction of justice and accountability may be attributable to executive influence depending on the type of government we have. I know the auditor general is appointed by the president and I’d agree they will be prone to manipulation by the executive but what troubled me the most is Hon. Halifa, for a man of his standing do not seem to understand his role as an MP, the concepts of separation of powers, and the enormity of the powers vested on the committee he chairs by the constitution. Either that or the alternative to these is simply blatant disregard to his duties in holding the executive in check. The National Assembly, in which Halifa is part of, do not only have the same powers in directly scrutinising public spending as the auditor general, they also have the powers in scrutinising and to some extend punishing those responsible in scrutinising government spending including the auditor general.
Section 102(c) states:
In addition to the other powers conferred on the Assembly by this Constitution or any other law, the National National assembly may-
– examine the accounts and expenditure of the Government and other public bodies funded by public moneys and the reports of the Auditor General.
Also Section 109(3) states:
For the purpose of effectively performing its functions, each of the committees shall have all of the powers, rights and privileges as are vested in the High Court at a trial in respect of –
(a) enforcing the attendance of witnesses and examining them on oath, affirmation or otherwise;
(b) compelling the production of documents; and
(c) the issue of a commission or request to examine witnesses abroad.
So the law did not only give Halifa bread and Knife as the auditor general in dispensing justice and accountability, it also gives him a bigger cutlass to punish the likes of solicitor general for obstructing justice and accountability by conferring on him the same powers as the high courts. What is clear however is the lack of accountability that stands in glaring contrast with the blatant corruption and mismanagement of public funds that’s prevalent in the country. Halifa has given Barrow an enormous space for him to toil with the lives of our people by keeping quite while his supporters rejoice the misfortunes our country is going through as they deem them a UDP misfortune. This continued from the inception of Barrow govt despite the all prevailing issues from high crime rates including importation of cocaine, corruption, embezzlement of the COVID relief funds; environmental degradation and pillage of our marine resources to name a few. So Hon. Halifa really validated my point that he is not measuring up to expectations despite being equipped by the constitution to defend the truth which he claimed is in-line with the principles his party espouses – advocating for good governance and accountability.
