First it was Miatta French. Lara Taylor-Pearce was soon to follow. Once again an action from a Bio led government of Sierra Leone functionary has raised eyebrows with people calling it an obvious case of interference bordering on conflict of and self interests.
And once again, the wrestle for power involves another female executive, with the government presenting itself as intolerant of women, especially women that do their jobs by the book. This government’s policy on women and women’s participation in the governance of the state, no matter how lofty, is meant to satisfy certain international benchmarks to qualify for grant or aid money. In spirit, this regime cannot respect our women administrators because despite their many degrees and qualifications they still see women as weaker hence should be led. By PAOPA’s very actions, they are saying these serious female administrators cannot make effective leaders.
The recent decision by the Minister of Finance to cross his threshold of power and order the board chairman of Africa’s best performing national revenue collector, Dr Tuma Gento-Kamara of the National Revenue Authority (NRA), to refrain from interviewing certain companies to give an account of their revenue donation and other tax related activities smacks of state interference in the conduct of an exercise that is in line with the president’s vision of blocking financial leakages and other corrupting practices.
The problem started when certain companies refused to have the NRA’s new electronic cash registers installed at their places of business in order to hide what their incomes and tax obligations to the government of Sierra Leone and its people are. Therefore, Dr Gento-Kamara put out a directive to probe certain well established business entities in the country, vis-à -vis their tax compliance portfolio, which action falls well within her power and authority as chairman of the board of NRA.
Among many others, the board chair has the power and authority to set goals and objectives, with the input of the rest of the board that the executives that are directly involved in planning and putting the entity’s strategies into action are expected to achieve.
But why would the Minister of Finance want to stop the NRA board chair in light of the current impasse between the executive and the suspended (many say sacked) Auditor General Lara Taylor-Pearce and her deputy Mr Momoh? That another well respected, highly qualified and effective female administrator is being prevented from doing her job is yet another case of bullying of female administrators by their male bosses, who most of the females are more qualified and effective than.
As the argument continues to rage in public spaces about the propriety of the Minister of Finance’s revoking of the NRA board chairman’s directive, many have pointed that as one of the lead actors in President Bio’s avowed fight against corruption, the Minister of Finance must be advised that one of the flagship programmes of the current SLPP-led administration is fighting corruption, using different approaches that must be fully embraced by all relevant stakeholders in the fight – in the light that the Minister himself has recently been critical of MDAs that do not operate uprightly in the management of their finances, based on the findings of the 2020 Audit Report.
NRA in this light has been doing extremely well since this government came to power in 2018 and appointed a new Board and Commissioners General and his Deputy; attested to by the huge quantum leap in annual revenue generation that the NRA has been reporting since then – even exceeding revenue targets in the past two COVID-19 years.
This clearly attests to the quality of leadership and direction provided the Authority by the Board and Management that should be applauded, not dampened by any means.
The public is calling on the Minister of Finance to show reason why these businesses he does not want queried shouldn’t be. In his letter to revoke the meetings between the NRA and the unmentioned companies, Minister Vandi said: ‘We have no doubt that such action by the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the NRA will result in an unhealthy business environment, impacting on the financial and economic governance of the State… In view of the foregoing, I hereby direct that all the invitations sent for the said investigation to the concerned businesses be rescinded with immediate effect.
It is clearly spelt out in Section 16 of the NRA Act that in the exercise of its functions, the independence of the NRA shall not be subject to the direction or control of any person or authority.
The only assumption then is that these companies have something to hide in terms of their tax compliance and other obligations to the state and people of Sierra Leone, and the Minister’s action smacks of him trying to prevent such companies from giving accounts of their activities which would embarrass the very same Ministry and government of Sierra Leone for their lax attitude in collecting such revenues for the state. Someone somewhere is hiding something and does not want the NRA to carry out its legally mandated task.
The New Direction government must allow its women heads of boards or MDAs to perform their duties without any interference from above. These women have shown themselves more capable than their male colleagues in many instances and on many performance indicators. So to try to stop them from doing their jobs can only be interpreted in one or two ways: that you have something to hide and that because they are females they need male oversight to get things done the proper way.
The ACC should definitely look into the reason for Minister Vandi revoking Dr Gento-Kamara’s directives. Lonta!