Sierra Leone Telegraph: 29 May 2018:
A memo issued last week to government ministries and agencies by the Secretary to President Bio – Dennis Vandi, ordering them to set aside Acts of parliament passed by parliamentarians, has caused a political row prompting calls for his sacking.
Some opposition APC top brass have even gone as far as referring to his gaff as treasonable offence. In his misleading memo, the Secretary to President Bio – Dennis Vandi said: “His Excellency the President has directed that you put on hold the implementation of Finance Acts 2016, 2017 and 2018 until further notice.”
But yesterday, Denis Vandi put out a statement apologising for the gaff and for erroneously ascribing his memo to the president. This is what he said:
“The Office of the President wishes to remind the general public that Finance Acts 2016, 2017 and 2018 were enacted by Parliament which has the sole authority to amend or alter any part therein on the request of the Minister of Finance.
“In a Memorandum dated 24th May 2018 to the Financial Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Ref: OP/BF 266355/01, titled “IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FINANCE ACTS 2016, 2017 AND 2018”, I stated: “Following a meeting held yesterday 23rd May 2018 with a cross section of the Sierra Leone Business Community, His Excellency the President has directed that you put on hold the implementation of Finance Acts 2016, 2017 and 2018 until further notice.”
“I erred in that Memorandum by ascribing to His Excellency the President that he made such a direction. The President DID NOT give such a direction knowing that section 110 (1) of Act No. 6 of 1991 clearly states: “No taxation shall be imposed or altered otherwise than by or under the authority of an Act of Parliament.”
“During the meeting, His Excellency the President expressed serious concern about the impact of any taxation on ordinary people and therefore ONLY suspended discussions on the matter pending further consultation with the Ministry of Finance and Development Partners.
“Accordingly, the Office of the President wishes to inform the business community and the general public that all relevant laws relating to revenue collection remain valid until so amended by an Act of Parliament. I also wish to apologise to the business community and the general public for any inconvenience this miscommunication might have caused.”
Hoping that the opposition APC would have claimed its first SLPP government scalp, the APC National Publicity Secretary (APC) and Former Deputy Minister of Information and Communications – Cornelius Deveaux, published this statement:
“Just fifty days into the five-year term of the SLPP government of Julius Maada Bio, adding to the cacophony of human rights violations and administrative, constitutional and diplomatic blunders, the government has issued a directive which will not just throw the financial market into turbulence and engender economic recession but could be considered treasonable.
“A memo dated 24 May, 2018, from the Secretary to the President to the Financial Secretary, stating that following a meeting between the President and a cross section of the business community the President has directed that the Financial Secretary put on hold the implementation of the Financial Acts of 2015, 2016 and 2017 until further notice, is not just unreasonable but could also be considered treasonable as it is in blatant violation of critical sections of the 1991 Constitution.
“This memo, for all its intent and purposes, changes the dynamics of the financial market overnight, including taxation. It is not just in contravention of Section 110 of the 1991 Constitution which states “no taxation shall be imposed or altered otherwise than by or under the authority of an Act of Parliament”, but also clearly suspends this provision, which is an entrenched clause, by indicating that a technical committee has been constituted to review these Acts thus, again, taking away the principal responsibility of Parliament to make and amend laws.
“The suspension of the implementation of the 2015, 2016 and 2017 Finance Acts by a memo from the Secretary to the President to the Financial Secretary is therefore, without any equivocation, illegal as much as it is unconstitutional and treasonable.
“Section 108, subsection (8) of the 1991 Constitution is unambiguous in declaring that ” any suspension, alteration or repeal of this Constitution other than on the authority of Parliament shall be deemed to be an act of treason “.
“However, it is only Parliament that can hold the government accountable for this very serious constitutional breach. This, notwithstanding, institutions of good governance also have a responsibility to speak out against the incessant rape of 1991 Constitution since the SLPP was declared winner of the March 31, 2018, presidential run off election in questionable circumstances. Surprisingly, they’ve all gone mute.
“It is further important to understand the wide ranging ramifications of the treasonous directive to suspend the implementation of the Financial Acts of 2015, 2016 and 2017. The directive, in its self, is a clear indication of naivety and shows that the SLPP government is at a total loss of a proper direction in dealing with the economy.
“This treasonous suspension will engender a financial turbulence resulting to serious loss of revenue and a recession. It will also undermine the local content policy while removing all of the protections enjoyed by local industries.
“It is only those in the business community who are engaged in the importation of essential commodities such as alcohol and beverages, rice, flour etc who will benefit at the expense of the local content policy and the development of local industries.
“And, of course, suspending the implementation of these Acts correspondingly means suspending the ASYCUDA system. The Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) is a computerized system designed by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to administer a country’s customs.
“UNCTAD’s aim was to build a computer system to assist customs authorities (or their local equivalents) all over the world to automate and control their core processes and obtain timely, accurate and valuable information to support government projections and planning.
“This will have serious implications on government projection and planning and also accountability and transparency in custom revenue generation. Consequently, there is going to be a significant drop in customs and excise revenue.
“It is also important to note that all of these Acts came into being after extensive consultations with the World Bank, IMF and other development partners who provided technical expertise to the Finance Committee in Parliament at all stages of drafting and passing the bills into laws.
“If Parliament and other relevant stakeholders, including our development partners, do not stand up against this outright bastardization of the 1991 Constitution, it could be a nod to opening the floodgates of an economic recession unprecedented in the history of Sierra Leone and with dire consequences on the economy and the socio economic wellbeing of the people and local industries.”
This is the leaked memo erroneously sent out by president Bio’s secretary, ordering Acts of Parliament to be halted:
These Finance Acts are anti poor people and were designed to sabotage the new Administration. Prices of essential commodities like bread flour, margarine, butter, juices, Beer, etc, going up in the month of Ramadan?? The last day of Ramadan – just two weeks away is always celebrated (by non-Muslims) with beer and wines, and people will be forced to celebrate it with scarce substandard beer only. Wine and imported beer have become a drink for multimillionaires.
All these Finance Acts dated 2016, 2017 and 2018 were never put into effect when passed by Parliament and they were enforced just before President Bio took over, to cause civil unrest because of high prices of essential commodities.
This situation shows that nobody is perfect. He has apologised, please accept his apology and let business continue. I am really sorry for the problem posed between the SLPP AND THE OTHER PARTIES ESPECIALLY THE APC. Nobody accepted errors during the APC regime. They should not argue.
May I see the CV of our current Secretary to The President. If all that we have read here is the whole truth and nothing but the whole truth, then this Secretary appears to need retraining in proper administration and management to prevent recurrence.