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Internal Minister admits errors at Budget Hearing |
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Written by Julius Kanubah
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Friday, 04 July 2008 |
The Internal Affairs Ministry has admitted to several errors in its expenditure report of the 2007/2008 Budget.
The errors were discovered in the report during a hearing into the Ministry’s Draft Budget for 2008/2009.
The Internal Affairs Ministry reported that it took a renovation work on the administrative and palace buildings in Nimba County.
But Senator Adolphus Dolo challenged the report, prompting Minister Ambullai Johnson to describe the situation as cut and paste.
The cut and paste remarks by Minister Johnson prompted laughter from the lawmakers and the public, a situation that angered the Internal Affairs Minister.
Minister Johnson also failed to justify why the Legislature should approved funding for training of teachers and health officials, which is not the duty of the ministry.
Meanwhile, the Justice Ministry has called for additional budgetary support to fight crimes in the country.
The ministry said the allocation made in the draft budget is inadequate.
According to Justice Minister Phillip Banks the budget bureau reduced the Ministry’s budget from nearly thirty million to 14 million US dollars.
Cllr. Banks said the allotment made by the Budget Bureau is inadequate.
The Attorney General told a joint legislative budget hearing that an additional one million U.S dollars is needed in the draft budget to fight crimes in the country.
Cllr. Banks said funds must be provided to equip the Police and strengthen the force from 3,500 to 5,000.
The Security of the State was a key issue for the budget working group of the Legislature which expressed concerns on the crime rate in Liberia.
Also at the Budget hearing, National Elections Commission has asked the Legislature to shift the US$500,000 placed in the contingency budget of the Commission.
NEC Commissioner Jonathan Weedor said the funds must be placed in the Commission’s expenditure budget instead of contingency.
Commissioner Weedor said the budget bureau reduced the Commission’s budget from 7.4 to 2.6 million U.S. dollars, something he said is unfortunate.
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