By Ticha Lemp Lemp

Embattled Hon. Member of Parliament, Hon. Hindolo Moiwo Ngevao, has said that he has no regrets for telling the whole world that the Sierra Leone Parliament is corrupt.

This comes after a motion yesterday in the well of Parliament was moved for the Honourable MP and three of his colleagues to be referred to the Parliamentary Committee on Ethics and Privileges. Hon. Ngevao was suspended from all Parliamentary committees.

“The charged levied against me is that I expressed my opinion on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that Parliament is corrupt. To that, I have no regrets. To that, I have no remorse. I did say so and I stand by my statement. That it is my view and perception, or opinion that there is corruption in Parliament. I will not change this statement for anyone. Because of that, in the motion, the House agreed that one of my functions as an MP be stripped of me,” Hon. Ngevao told Ticha Lemp Lemp in an exclusive interview shortly after the episode in Parliament.

As an MP, Hon. Ngevao said one of his functions is to provide oversight over Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

“If I am not a committee member there is no way I can perform oversight functions. So even though it was not the Speaker, even though it was not my colleague MPs who elected me, it was the people of Sierra Leone who elected me, they have taken upon themselves without going to the courts, to strip me of one of the constitutional functions that I performed in Parliament. The effect of that is the people of my constituency (Constituency 003 Kailahun District) now stand to lose of having their representative from performing one of the three functions for which they voted me into the House,” said Hon. Ngevao.

Before he aired his views on the BBC, Hon. Ngevao was Chairman of the Human Rights Committee. He was also the Chairman of the Legislative Committee who presided over the landmark repeal of the obnoxious Criminal and Seditious Libel law contained in Part 5 of the Public Order Act of 1965. He has been removed from both committees.

Nonetheless, Hon. Ngevao said he was more shocked when the Speaker of the House, Hon. Dr. Abass Chernor Bundu, disrobed two of his colleagues, taking away their title of being called Honourable. Those two MPs were also referred to the Committee on Ethics and Privileges.

“That really shocked me. I don’t know whether that is a constitutional power bestowed upon the Speaker. But I also saw that one today,” exclaimed Hon. Ngevao.

Meanwhile, for all that happened in Parliament yesterday, Hon. Ngeavo said he relies upon God to fight his battle.

“If speaking the truth that there’s corruption in Parliament this nation will sit by and see people punish me, I sit and await God to fight for me. I know for sure that 20 percent of the elitist population in this country has suffered in the hands of Parliament with regards graft. But out of fear nobody is ready to talk; nobody is ready to stand up for my defence. I don’t rely on man, but God. The God that created me, the God who said one should not lie, a God who made me take that oath in Parliament and for which I decided to be honest, that God will definitely fight this battle for me,” he said.

For all of those who he claimed conspired to make him sad on the occasion for speaking the truth, he said the God he is serving will punish them and their generations.

“If this nation called Sierra Leone fails to come to my defence; this nation will go through agony. I am not a Bishop. I am not a reverend. I am not a Pastor. But mark my words. If this nation called Sierra Leone; the nation that is seeing everything that is happening in Parliament that I spoke of fail to come to my aid and stand in my defense and allow me to be punished for speaking the truth, agony shall befall the nation I call Sierra Leone,” said Hon. Ngevao.

Hon. Ngevao considers the action of the Speaker as ultra vires and he is expected to write officially to the leadership of Parliament requesting them to rescind their decision.

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Hon. Tawa: ‘I am calm and ready to face the Ethics Committee’

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The former chairman of the Committee on Transparency and Accountability (TAC), Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh, who resigned his position on the 10th of September 2020 during a joint parliamentary probe by the TAC and the Committee on Information and Communications, has been listed to face the Committee on Privileges and Ethics for stating that his resignation was due to being arm-twisted by the leadership of the Sierra Leone Parliament.

It is clear that the sitting on that faithful day was disrupted on multiple occasions either on the request of the Speaker of Parliament for the MP to see him immediately in his office or by the Leader of Government Business, Hon. Mathew Nyuma. The latter came in-person to stop the committee session and ordered the erstwhile chairman and the Co-chairman for the Committee on Information and Communications to see him in his office. On both occasions, the erstwhile chairman was asked not to let the Managing Director (MD) of SALCAB (Sierra Leone Cable Limited) or any member of the institution to make a statement even though that contravenes section (15) of the Public Financial Management Act 2016 that puts the responsibility on managing the entity on the shoulders of the vote controller, and for public enterprises, the vote controller is the MD. 

Additionally, the erstwhile chairman was forced to adjourn after meeting with Hon. Nyuma. The consistent interruption which, according to Hon. Tawa, was all geared towards protecting the Minister of Information from answering questions and an attempt to pressurising the chairman into doing what the leadership wanted, led to his resignation.

“I was suspended from committee activities and not parliamentary sittings. However, it shows Parliament who is the law-making body can institute an action before investigating and doesn’t believe in people that have the ability to challenge the status quo and are ready to do things right,” said Hon. Tawa.

He continued: “I am calm and ready to face the committee to help understand what the definition of arm-twisting is and cite provisions in our Standing Orders that show that they were in contravention of Section 97 paragraph (a).”

Section 97 paragraph (a) says that members of Parliament should maintain the dignity and prestige of the legislative house within and outside its precincts.

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Credit: Ticha Lemp Lemp | Wednesday, 21st October, 2020 | Exclusive News | Page 3