Parliament Debates On Bill To Rescue State-Owned Enterprises

By Desmond Isaac Macauley
The Parliament of Sierra Leone has on Tuesday 25th March 2025, intensely debated the Bill entitled State-

Owned Enterprises and Governance Act 2025 for the progress and development of Sierra Leone.
The bill seeks to establish the State-Owned Enterprises and Governance Act which provides a framework for effective ownership and governance of State-Owned Enterprises. It also provides clear guidelines and standards to ensure transparency, accountability, and good governance in the operations of State-Owned Enterprises.
Presenting the bill, the Deputy Minister of Finance Bockarie Kalokoh said the Government of Sierra Leone owns about 24 state-owned enterprises and that despite all efforts by the government, state-owned enterprises face a lot of challenges that affect the operations of the government. He said the government has created the bill to reform state-owned enterprises’ operations. “The policy is to enhance transparency and accountability,” he said. He continued that the bill seeks to ensure efficient service delivery in Sierra Leone.
In his contribution, the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Honourable France Amara Kaisamba, said that state-owned enterprises are either owned or partly owned by the government. He said state-owned enterprises have been doing well in the past, but later started depreciating, which gave the government the need to privatize some entities. “To reform state-owned enterprises is a laudable venture,” he said.
Hon. Catherine Zainab Tarawallie from Bombali District said that State-Owned Enterprises are not taking parliament and the people of Sierra Leone with utmost seriousness. She continued that Sierratel alone can solve most of the problems we are facing as a nation if only proper management and attention are given to it.
“We cannot sit here and allow such repeal without perusing the bill,” she added that the Ministry of Finance should be able to tell parliament the model used to sell entities owned by the Government to private individuals.
Hon. Engineer Fallah Tengbeh from Kailahun District stated that any functioning government would want SOEs to contribute to economic growth. He expressed dissatisfaction over the operations of State-Owned Enterprises over the years. “Our State-Owned Enterprises have not been performing,” he said. Hon. Tengbeh maintained that the inefficiency of SOEs led to the establishment of the National Commission for Privatization.
Rounding up the debate on the part of the main opposition, the Deputy Leader of the opposition, Hon. Daniel Brima Koroma, said that the issue of SOEs, which the bill seeks to address, is a matter of public interest. He asked Parliament to invite SOEs to give explanations of their ineffectiveness in the sector. He added that, regardless of countless challenges in the State-Owned Enterprises sector, there are still some success stories, referencing Sierra Leone Commercial Bank, National Petroleum, and Rokel Commercial Bank, and that parliament should invite some of these institutions to explain their success stories for others to emulate. He ended by stating that the bill should be sent to the Legislative Committee stage for further probing.
Concluding the debate, the Deputy Leader of Government Business, Hon. Saa Emerson Lamina, said that the bill is now the property of parliament and that parliament has the liberty to properly scrutinize the bill for the people of Sierra Leone. He said there is high financial instability in the bill, which needs to be addressed by the House. Referencing Clause 23 of the bill, he said the proposed legislation makes provisions for performance contracts to be made in the sector. He continued by calling on the legislative committee to properly examine the bill so that it could benefit the people of Sierra Leone.