National Assembly veering toward bankruptcy!.

The deleterious financial situation of the National Assembly is reported to be of enormous magnitude that the second realm of state could tumble into bankruptcy.  The cat has been let out of the bag by Hon Abba Kabbir Kamsouloum, who raised an alarm in a confidential letter to the House Speaker, Hon Cavayé Yeguié Djibril, on July 17.

Jeune Afrique, reporting last week on the development, said it stumbled on a leaked document pointing out that the National Assembly is indebted to the tune of 22 billion FCFA. 

Apart from the whopping debt, the Magazine noted that three quarters of its 29.6 billion FCFA budget allocated for this financial year has been spent in just six months.

Hon Kamsouloum, who is one of the Questors with responsibilities that include scrutinising the financial management of the National Assembly, said he had discovered the House was accumulating considerable debts for the years 2021, 2022 and 2023, amounting to nearly 22 billion FCFA. 

In addition, he added, the financial records of the institution is said to show a deficit of nearly 3 billion FCFA for the 2022 and 2023 financial years.

The Questor from Logone and Chari Division of the Far North Region, in blowing the whistle, attributed the deplorable financial situation to several "illegal" factors. He cited such spurious practice as the usurpation of powers, forgery and use of forgery, as well as excesses and abuses in the award of National Assembly contracts.

Other mismanagement aspects as reported by Jeune Afrique, are stated to be "involvement of some collaborators close to the Speaker of the National Assembly. As such, only the Comptroller General, Abba Mana, was dismissed from his position and replaced".

Among other reasons for the disastrous financial situation are "the massive and fraudulent recruitment of nearly 500 people, most of whom forged the signature of the Speaker of the National Assembly”. 

“In addition, a fraudulent increase of 50% in the salaries of senior executives of the parliamentary administration was carried out without the opinion of the Bureau of the chamber," the reliable media organ reported.

The senior executives reportedly with their godfather at the helm of parliament, are said to receive salaries much higher than those of parliamentarians, who are nevertheless supposed to be their hierarchical superiors.

The letter is said to have divulged that the colossal and unjustified financial trappings, over-invoiced contracts, "the misappropriation of revenue from the Hôtel des Députés and even double payments made from the budget of the National Assembly" could ridicule the Honourable House into the dishonour of bankruptcy.

The dire situation is said to be so worrying that even the bills for the costs of the June session have not been fully paid and things could jump from the frying pan into the fire if there is no money for the November session.

When Hon Cavaye got the complaint from the Questor, it is reported in some other media that he set up an ad hoc committee to open investigation. 

But there are doubts among some commentators if the committee will demonstrate transparency and impartiality in its finding and appropriate rigid disciplinary measures against those responsible for what is an ominous crisis in the House.

There is, however, suspicion that the committee will not carry out a credible investigation, especially given that some of the shakers and movers at the National Assembly could be implicated. Some parliamentarians have qualified it as an irony where "the arsonist pretends to be the firefighter”.

Parliament, being an institution that oversees the executive and ensures it respects the laws voted, is traditionally an institution of honour. It implies that its members act with decorum and should not be used as a dark cloak to hide behind and embezzle, inflate invoices, unjustifiably increase salaries and allowance to drain its budget.

It is not clear if some of those involved are parliamentarians who may have contracts at the National Assembly. The Guardian Post has no reason to doubt the integrity of the members of the ad hoc committee, but the fact that the media is quoting some anonymous Members of Parliament as saying: “You can't set a house ablaze and be the fire-fighter”, should point to a smoking gun.

For the benefit of doubt and fair play, The Guardian Post urges the Honourable Speaker, Cavaye Yeguie Djibril, to present the ad hoc committee report to the whole House when they meet during the November session.

Before then, he should not hesitate to hand those implicated to the legal department for investigation and if parliamentarians are involved, their immunity should be stripped off for them to face the piercing sword of justice.

For the suspects to put the National Assembly in dire financial strait is another "form of terrorism", if the Speaker allows us borrow his phrase, which should be punished under the carpet; irrespective of whose ox is gored.