By Ismaila Sonko
July 7, 2021
Halifa Sallah has urged fellow lawmakers to maintain the dignity of the National Assembly during sittings and by their activities outside the chamber.
The Serekunda lawmaker made the remarks on Monday while reading the report of the Public Enterprises Committee (PEC) at the National Assembly.
He told his colleagues to regard themselves as servants of the people, desist from any conduct by which they seek improperly to enrich themselves or alienate themselves from the people. He further advised them to discharge their duties and functions in the interest of the nation as a whole, and in doing so, be influenced by the dictates of conscience and the national interest.
He averred that the dictates of conscience and the national interest compelled him as Chairperson of the Public Enterprises Committee to give an explanatory memorandum followed by a statement on the operations of the Committee.
“For your information, the Committee is charged with the responsibility of gathering facts and making findings with the view to proffer recommendations on all matters relating to public enterprises. This is the basis of its mandate to scrutinise, consider and advise on all matters dealing with public enterprises as provided for by Standing Order 122,” he said.
Halifa Sallah emphasised that the facts finding and recommendations required must be relevant and responsive to the needs of the country. He told the house that this is why the Committee has resolved since February 2021, to alert all public enterprises to put an end to the backlog in the submission of their financial statements by March 31st March 2021 while working on a comprehensive report on the state of affairs of public enterprises entitled: “Consolidated Report of the Public Enterprises Committee for the Financial Years Ended 31st December 2015-31st December 2019.”
He added: “It is part and parcel of our work plan to facilitate the submission of financial statements, up to the year ended 31st December 2019 for inclusion in the Consolidated Report, covering 2015-2019; we are poised to achieve the fundamental objective of putting an end to the backlog in submission of activities report and financial statements by ensuring the presentation, consideration of the activity reports and financial statements of public enterprises for the year ended 2020 in order to integrate the financial reports of the public enterprises into the public financial structure of the state as required in Section 160 of the Constitution and Section 21 of the Public Finance Act 2014.”
