Section 1, The Public Financial Management Act, 2016

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires– “accountable” means, the requirement to record, report, explain and justify actions, as the case may be, to a superior officer, to Parliament or to the public; “appropriation” means an authority under this Act or any other law to make payments of public money; “available allotment” means an amount of a provision under the Estimates which has been allotted for a specific period of time under an approved appropriation allotment and has not been committed; “available provision” means an amount of a provision under the Estimates which has not yet been committed or spent; “Bank of Sierra Leone” means the Bank of Sierra Leone established under section 4 of the Bank of Sierra Leone Act, 2011; “budgetary agency” includes– (a) departments; (b) statutory bodies; and (c) other entities which are established within, or as part of, a department or statutory body and do not have a separate legal personality; “central government” includes any entity which satisfies the following conditions: (a) most of the entity’s output is provided free or at not economically significant prices; (b) the entity’s output is intended for individual and collective consumption; (c) the entity is mainly financed by taxes or other compulsory transfers or payments or controlled and mainly financed by another entity included in the central government; (d) the entity is not a social security fund or included in the local government; “commitment” means an explicit or implicit but legally enforceable contract or agreement to make payments to another party in exchange for that party supplying goods or service or fulfilling other obligation, and includes, but is not limited to, – (a) agreements to make payments in exchange for supply of specific goods or service; and (b) agreements of a continuing nature, which require a series of payments over an indeterminate period of time; “Constitution” means the Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991; “Consolidated Fund” means the Consolidated Fund established under subsection (1) of section 111 of the Constitution; “company” has the meaning assigned to it under the Companies Act, 2009; “entity” includes any fund, office, body, organization, institution, group of persons, pool of assets, and person, regardless of whether it has legal personality or not; 2 3 Interpretation. “entity’s Act” means, in relation to a sub-vented agency, other entity in the central government, or social security fund, an Act of Parliament by or under which the agency, entity, or fund is established and any other enactment which provides for the functions or powers of the agency, entity, or fund; “Estimates” has the meaning assigned to it in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 27 and includes the main Estimates to be laid before Parliament each year under subsection (1) of section 112 of the Constitution and the Supplementary Estimates to be laid before Parliament under subsection (3) of section 112 of the Constitution; “expenditure arrears” means payables which have remained unpaid – (a) for 30 days or more after the due date specified under the relevant contract or agreement; or (b) if there is no specific due date, for 90 days or more after the date of the relevant invoice or of satisfaction of the terms of the relevant contract; “extractive industries revenues” includes – (a) royalties, mineral resource rent tax, income tax, annual charges, and other amounts payable mentioned in paragraphs (a), (b), and (c) of section 148 of the Mines and Minerals Act, 2009; (b) profits arising from a carried interest of the Government in a large-scale mining license defined in subsection (3) of section 162 of the Mines and Minerals Act, 2009; (c) profits arising from a carried interest of the Government in a petroleum license defined in subsection (2) of section 85 of the Petroleum (Exploitation and Production) Act, 2011; and (d) royalties, petroleum resource rent tax, income tax, area fees, and other amounts payable mentioned in paragraphs (a), (b), and (c) of section 104 of the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, 2011; “financial institution” has the meaning assigned thereto in section 3 of the Bank of Sierra Leone Act, 2011; “financial year” means a period of twelve months starting on 1st January in one year and ending on 31st December of the same year; “general government” includes all entities included in the central government, local government, and social security funds; “Government” means the Government of Sierra Leone; “head of a budgetary agency” means – (a) a Minister heading the budgetary agency; or (b) a person heading the budgetary agency, if no Minister is heading the budgetary agency; “local government” includes – (a) local councils; (b) Chiefdom Administrations; and (c) other non-profit entities – 4 5 (i) which are controlled and mainly financed by local councils or Chiefdom Councils; and (ii) the competence of which is restricted to a district, town, or city; “Minister” means the Minister responsible for finance, “Ministry” shall be construed accordingly; “money” means any coin, note or negotiable instrument; “non-EIR” means the amount which is calculated by deducting from the total revenues of the Consolidated Fund for a financial year – (a) the extractive industries revenues for the financial year; and (b) the revenues from domestic and external borrowing for the financial year; “other entity in the central government” includes any entity which is included in the central government but is not a budgetary agency or sub-vented agency; “other entities in the local government” means an entity which is included in the local government but is not a local council or Chiefdom Administration; “PPP Project” has the meaning assigned thereto in section 1 of the Public-Private Partnership Act; “public enterprise” includes an entity which satisfies the following conditions: (a) the entity’s transactions are distinct from those of its owner; (b) more than 50 percent of the entity’s production costs are covered by sales in the market; and (c) the entity is controlled by any entity included in the general government: Provided that the Bank of Sierra Leone is not a public enterprise; “public money” means all money in the custody or under the control of the State or of a person acting on behalf of the State and includes– (a) money received by or on behalf of the State as State revenues specified in subsection (1) of section 28; and (b) money held in trust for a person other than the State; “public office” has the meaning assigned thereto in subsection (1) of 171of the Constitution; “public officer” has the meaning assigned thereto in subsection (1) of 171 of the Constitution; “responsible authority” means, – (a) in respect of a sub-vented agency, other entity in the central government, or social security fund, – (i) a Minister who has the responsibilities under the entity’s Act in relation to the operations of the agency, entity, or fund; 6 7 (ii) if subparagraph (i) does not apply, a Minister who is responsible for the administration of the entity’s Act; and (b) in respect of a public enterprise, – (i) the National Commission for Privatisation, if the public enterprise is mentioned in First Schedule of the National Commission for Privatisation Act, 2002; or (ii) a Minister who has the responsibilities in relation to the operations of the public enterprise, if otherwise; “social security fund” means any entity which satisfies the following conditions: (a) the principal activity of the entity is to provide social benefits; and (b) either of the following criteria is fulfilled by the entity– (i) an enactment obligates a certain group of persons to participate in a scheme or to pay contributions; or (ii) some other entity included in the general government is responsible for the management of the entity in respect of the settlement or approval of the contributions and benefits independently from its role as a supervisory body or employer; “subsector” means the central government, local government, or social security funds; “sub-vented agency” means any entity which is included in the central government and wholly or partly financed by the Consolidated Fund but is not a budgetary agency; “State” means the Sovereign Republic of Sierra Leone and includes all budgetary agencies, sub-vented agencies, and other entities in the central government; “State budget” has the meaning assigned to it under subsection (1) of section 27; “State budget documents” mean the State budget and its information annexes mentioned in section 34; “transformational development projects” includes any capital projects or other projects for achieving objectives related to inequality, infrastructure, education, health care, or such other areas as may be specified by the Government from time to time; “Treasury Single Account” means an integrated system of bank accounts which enables public money to be managed in a consolidated manner. (2) For the purpose of this Act, “local council”, “Chiefdom Administration”, “district”, “town”, “city”, and “locality” have the same meanings as defined in the Local Government Act, 2004. (3) For the purpose of this Act, an entity is controlled by a person, if – (a) the person owns directly or indirectly more than half the voting shares in, or controls more than half the shareholders’ voting power over, the entity; or (b) the person is empowered by an enactment to appoint the members of the entity’s board or governing body. 8 9