By: Aleke David
The purpose of the Kenneth Mellanby Hall Legislative Council’s sitting which held on Friday, 26th October was for the proper scrutinization of the items contained in the budgets for the Hall elections for the 2017/2018 session and the 2018 Hall week budget before any the budget is approved.
The first budget presented in the course of the meeting was by the Kenneth Mellanby Hall Independent Electoral Commission (MHIEC). According to the MHIEC which was represented by her General Secretary, Oluwaseun Raji, the Hall executive election which is going to be an E-voting system with all the logistics that will be used on the day of the election is estimated to cost #53,540 excluding the Hall Legislative Elections which will be a ballot system of voting and which the potential cost (budget) is yet to be sorted out. He further explained why the MHIEC has decided to use two different voting systems. First, for the executive elections he said, that the commission chose E-voting system because of its efficiency; then, the ballot system of voting for the legislative elections because of its low cost. The HLC after scrutinizing the budget rejected some the items contained in the budget for being exuberant. The house concluded that the MHIEC should go back and rectify some items contained in their proposed budget and then return to present it to the house for approval or disapproval as the case may be.
The next which was also presented in the course of the meeting was the 2018 Hall Week budget. The budget was presented by Mr. Akindele David, the Hall Vice Chairman and also the chairman of the Hall week committee. Most of the items contained in the budget were approved asides that of the Literary and Debating Society’s King of the Podium and that of Mellanby Hall Press Organization (MHPO). The proposed budget for the Hall week is #594,000. The house concluded that the items in relation to these two organizations will not be approved until they come and defend their own budgets. So, until the next meeting, none of the budgets have being approved.
