Foreign Affairs Ministry Asks For Le324 Billions

The Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dr Victoria Sulimani has asked for Financial autonomy and more professional staff for the smooth running of the ministry.
The DG made the demands from the Finance Ministry and the Human Resource Management Thursday, when she presented her 2025 Strategic Plan and budget estimates at the Finance Ministry budget hearing. She asked that the law forbidding especially the Foreign Affairs ministry from owning a separate account must be reconsidered.
“Any law that punishes good people is a bad law; so, expunge that part of the law,” she said, implicitly referring to the Government’s Single Treasury Account policy. “Foreign Affairs is a good ministry. Do not enact a legislation that punishes us”, she emphasized pointing out that Financial Autonomy for the Foreign Ministry will help the Government save money.
The ministry is proposing a budget expenditure of NLe324,132,302 for the 2025 financial year. The proposed budget includes among others Administrative and Support Services; overseas travel expenses; postings and recalls of Foreign Service Officers, ambassadors and attaches; Staff capacity building; Presidential visits to overseas missions; vehicles for Foreign Missions; rents for foreign missions; Administrative Support to Foreign Service Academy; support to Directorates and International Treaty Reporting.
The Director General supported by the Foreign Ministry’s Director of Administration Aiah Edwin Mbawah together with the Chief Accountant, Ansu Fayia Tucker in a PowerPoint presentation emphasized the need for the Foreign ministry to strengthen bilateral and multilateral relations through effective diplomatic engagements.
Key among the 2024 challenges the ministry cited were Paucity and Untimely Provision of Funds; Wrong Perception about the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by other MDAs; Cumbersome Legal Process in Passage of Bills and Unrealistic Budget Ceilings. These, they said, had either slowed the ministry’s performance or led to unnecessary high expenditure, especially regarding late travel engagements which amounted to buying expensive tickets when they could have bought less expensive ones.
Hence, they said there was need to empower the ministry with adequate and timely financial and human resources since Sierra Leone’s diplomatic engagements particularly in 2024 and 2025 is at the level of the United Nations Security Council where professionalism and timely financial support are a must in order to achieve Sierra Leone’s national interest on the global stage.
The DG emphasized that there is always a need for budgetary support for subtle diplomacy recalling the period when three heads of West African states left ECOWAS. There was a need for travel and engagements especially when the Foreign ministry together with President Bio were assigned the responsibility to engage the leaders diplomatically.
Asked whether the Foreign Affairs Ministry can generate funds for the state, the Director General replied that the ministry does not only generate funding for Government, they as well secure other resources including partnerships and agreements that promote trade and industry in addition to participating in bilateral and multi-lateral engagements that promote world peace and security, citing the president’s recent travel to South Korea where he secured support for the Government’s Feed Salone Project which aims to provide food security for the country.
“Bilaterally, we have done a lot of engagements that have brought results to this country. We are also working hard behind the scenes to support the president in his international engagements that have brought results to Sierra Leone,” she said, recalling His Excellency’s visits to China, Korea and Burkina Fasso as examples and also referenced the Foreign Minister’s visit to Hungary and Russia, as visits that led to the signing of agreements that would yield positive dividends for Sierra Leone.
“We have signed fourteen agreements, eleven of which have been ratified by parliament,” she said.
The DG also took the time to clarify that it is only the Foreign Ministry apart from the presidency that signs agreements on behalf of the country; no other ministry has such authority.
She said the Foreign Ministry now has a Foreign Service Academy which is a brilliant example of foreign diplomatic engagements. The Academy, she said, recently did a three-day orientation for ambassadors and High Commissioners that were appointed by President Bio. Before that, they trained military attaches. Over 200 personnel of the Foreign Affairs ministry have been trained in Basic diplomacy, the DG said.
A Civil society representative, Amara Sesay who supported the DG’s request said financial autonomy would give the ministry more responsibility to account for funds they receive. Joseph Kaindoh, a former MP who also supported the DG’s request for financial autonomy and professional staff, said Sierra Leone’s recent diplomatic successes are commendable and asked that the ministry must be supported with all the resources needed.