By John Tarawally
In a bid to update community stakeholders, on the work of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and solicit public support, the Public Education and Outreach Department of the Commission, on Saturday 26th January 2019, engaged residents of the Rokel Community.
Dilating on issues of corruption at community level, Head of Outreach Unit, Abubakarr Turay, described corruption as a scourge that affects all in society irrespective of region, religion, tribe or political affiliation.
He said many studies have shown that corruption hinders community development, adding that sometimes funds meant for the development of communities are squandered by unscrupulous people, which leaves the communities in ruins.
He spoke also on the Pay No Bribe campaign, which targets petty corruption in public service delivery, and called on the people to report to the ACC through the 515 (all networks) toll free lines any incidence of corruption.
He also spoke on the government’s flagship Free Quality Education programme and encouraged the people to be vigilant to make the programme succeed.
Mr. Turay informed the people of the recent gains made by the Commission in the areas of recoveries, the Millennium Challenge Scorecard, prosecution and systems reviews.
He encouraged the people to support the work of the Commission by resisting and reporting acts of corruption and be on the side of the Commission, and not the corrupt.
Staff of the Concord Times Newspaper and a member of the Media Alliance Against Corruption (MAAC), Ibrahim Tarawallie, said corruption mostly affects communities because of the complacency of their inhabitants.
He said the people should take leadership role in curbing acts of corruption in their communities by identifying corruption issues affecting them and reporting them to the ACC.
Earlier, whilst speaking on the purpose of the engagement, Communications Officer of the ACC, Alhaji A.K. Bangura, drew the attention of the audience to the fact that bribery cases are common in public service delivery and appealed to them to play their part in tackling them.
He said that the essence of such engagement was to interact with the people face to face, identify issues of corruption in their community and chart the way of tackling them.
Welcoming the ACC team to the Rokel Community, the Head Woman, Juliana Williams expressed thanks and appreciation for the meeting. She added that they will support the Commission in its anti-corruption campaign.
She said that, with the many land cases in the community, they have been yearning for this kind of engagement with the Commission.
The meeting ended with a very interactive question and answer session.