Rep. Frank Saah Foko
By Lewis S Teh
Montserrado County Electoral District#9 Representative, Frank Saah Foko describes Senate President Pro-temp Albert Chie’s decision to have disbursed US$30,000 to each lawmaker for district development purposes as ill-advised.
“For us, we are consistently being reminded that your decision to have disbursed a whopping US$30,000 to individual lawmaker, while other basic needs of our sectors had not been addressed was ill-advised”, he notes.
Senate Pro-Tempore Chie has announced that the amount will not be placed in the budget again.
Addressing a news conference in his office at the Capitol over the weekend, Rep. Foko said it was unfortunate on the part of Pro-Temp Chie to have disbursed such a huge amount among lawmakers, forgetting pressing national issues such as education and health that need attention.
“Mr. Pro-Temp our people are concerned about the negative impact the US$30,000 is making in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic, our people who stood in long queues to elect us can’t be suffering and decisions are taken to enrich individual lawmakers, this act isn’t in the interest of vast majority of our people”, he continues.
According to him, instead of lawmakers enriching their homes, such money should be diverted towards supporting tuition-free bills to help struggling students at various public universities and colleges.
He says such bill, when passed into law, will enable less fortunate students will secure them a future to pursue their academic sojourn.
Rep. Foko believes education is the best investment for Liberia to empower its citizens.
“We are aware that this steadfast decision taking by you doesn’t favor few of our colleagues at the national legislature, including Montserrado County Senator Abraham Darius Dillon, who was heard on Spoon Talk suggesting that the same money be diverted to address other pressing issues”, he says.
Meanwhile, he calls on Senate Pro-Temp Albert Chie and members of the Senate to concur with the House of Representatives in passing the tuition-free bill that is currently before the Senate.https://thenewdawnliberia.com/gongloe-welcomes-senate-decision-to-scrap-slush-fund/ Editing by Jonathan Browne
