The Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) minority leader in parliament, Hon Momoh Pujeh, has said it was early to criticize the president’s speech as he said it was his dream to rule the country.
Ending the last allotted day on the debate of the motion of thanks to the President on the state opening of parliament, the minority leader said “we in the minority are not in parliament to bury the dreams of the president but to praise what is expected of us and as patriotic citizens to support the president to achieve his dreams.”
Hon. Pujeh continued: “it is funny to criticize the man on his dreams; the President said he had a dream, and how can you criticize him on that.”
He referred to the President as a lucky man who wanted to build a house only to be told by some body not to be worried as the foundations were laid to wall height for him. “After he would have roofed the house, we (SLPP) will come to fix the windows,” he said.
He explained that the President spoke of building on certain structures the SLPP government built on which he would build on, enforce and improve.
The majority leader of the governing All People’s Congress (APC), Hon Edward Turay, commented on the areas of the civil service, corruption and the justice system.
He said there were good and bad civil servants but the bad ones being artists of corruption, adding that when the National Revenue Authority collected taxes, the finance ministry disbursed it and the justice system covered them up.
The minority leader for the People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC), Hon Thomas Mansaray, urged his colleagues to stop projecting anti-developmental pronouncements but to preach positive and nationalistic tendencies that would help in the development of the country.
The proposer of the motion, Hon Ibrahim Sorie of the APC, thanked MPs for their rigorous and vigorous examinations of the president’s address as he said the function of them was to ensure that the executive performed to their commitments.