By: Winstanley.R.Bankole Johnson
When a few months back I expressed my aversion to what I considered was a draconian Bill proposing drastic amendments to the existing ACC Act of 2008, and which if enacted by Parliament would have implicitly transformed all ACC Commissioner-incumbents into larger than life monsters with more powers than the entire Judiciary, one of Commissioner Francis Ben Kelfalla’s legal colleagues took umbrage, and in his published rebuttal, he totally ignored my submissions and attempted instead to impugned on my character by making snide references to my era as Mayor of Freetown. But I let that pass, because I discerned his actual intention was to intimidate me into silence by using all sorts of legalese in the process, none of which was made any sense to me anyway. So he failed miserably in that enterprise because as we say elsewhere “…the tongue of good report” had long been heard in my favour – since 1973 – and it is only pronounced once. Attempting to negate that Forty-six (46) years on is like throwing water on a duck’s back.
Cowards
I am not a Journalist; nor do I need to be one or to obtain permission from the Sierra Leone Association of Journalist (SLAJ) to freely publish literary works, insofar as I keep within the laws against libel and slander and several other provisions of the Public Order Act of 1965, always having due regard for the reputation of persons who feature occasionally in my articles. And thus far has the Lord helped me. So those who have information of value against me of malfeasances but decide to withhold them away from the ACC and the Police, yet would make snide references to them each time they become irked by my utterances or articles are mere cowards of the greatest disservice to this country. Since leaving the Mayoral Parlours, my visits to the precincts of the Cathedral either for Church worship or entertainment at the Beccles-Davies Memorial Hall has neither subsided nor has my appetite to faithfully apply services to me in the latter circumstances diminished.
Journalism
As far as I am concerned, all my articles resonate well with the wider readership because the fundamentals of journalism are served and particularly in the case of the proposed ACC amendments, that article which was captioned: Gaps in The Proposed ACC Amendments 2019” ultimately:
– helped influence Parliament not to rubber-stamp it. ( which was Information conveyed)
– elicited further more enlightened submissions from a totally legal perspective from no less a personality than former Attorney General Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara Esq .(which was Education conveyed) and also;
– caused the usually calm voice of our present ACC Commissioner Ben Kelfallah to reach a crescendo when he was reacting to that my article as hosted on the airwaves immediately after its publication (which was Entertainment conveyed albeit vexatiously)
Unorthodox
The current ACC exams malpractices debacle is receiving enough attention already, so no point dwelling on it here again. The proposed amendments to the ACC Act are still in abeyance, but suffice it to ask: Would it have helped the previously inarguably impressive career of Commissioner Francis Ben Kelfallah if government had checked him in his tracks “ab-initio” by drawing his attention to the facts that he was exceeding his competence through abuses of both his office and powers? What was wrong to have advised him against sacrificing the rule of law to the expediency of narrow political party interests? To what end did the young anti-corruption crusader develop the zeal to imagine that he alone is honest or so he alone must be made more important and powerful than the entire Judicature?
He would frown at or challenge judgements handed down by superior Courts (which is his right), and would appear to have gotten away with a few unorthodox anti-corruption modus operandi, such as:
– arranging private settlements with those accepting culpability (for which they ought to have been effectively nailed in regular Courts of Law competent for the purpose and possibly made to have paid more to the State)
– seizing properties of owners who are afraid of coming out to publicly identify and own them up, possibly because of the same trepidation those signing up to secret settlements programs with the ACC had – that are still not made public – and could have been exposed to. I mean seize: not to sequester them as the law would support.
– In the Kono Hotel instance, the Commission went as far as appropriating the seized property. Does he have that right? Incidentally to build properties anywhere in the world requires following basic guidelines: obtaining Conveyances: Licensed Survey Plans; Building Permits: Payment of Taxes and Properties’ Rates: Insurances, EDSA and Guma/Water Resources Commission Connections to name a few – and all of which ought to have been assigned in particular names. If the ACC wishes us to believe that devoid of malice or mischief, they were not able to trace the actual owner of that hotel in Kono before seizing and allocating it for use by others like they did – with or without Police aid – then it is possible that even if they had found a mortuary in that building, they would not have been able to identify the corpses or even been interested in inviting the police to help them do so, because of the expediency to seize it. “If sieze dae na Law then this country is fearful oh?”
– In Freetown here even without first putting out public notices inviting the owners of properties suspected to have been illegally acquired for explanation, the ACC willy-nilly dispatched armed Police officers to forcefully evict occupants from those properties one cold rainy morning – coincidentally all allegedly owned by APC members – cordoned them off and leaving them in utter shock and dismay asking whether the law and order in this country was on vacation, and replaced by jungle justice.
– releasing that alleged Nigerian academic to the Nigerian High Commission with whom the ACC has no Memorandum of Understanding
all above of which makes me disagree with the ACC Commissioner that the strategy to publicly name and shame this time round was merely applied to test public reaction, because he has never tested for public reactions on any of them before, not even on the matter of why pro-APC suspects spend far longer custodial hours with them or the Police during investigations. Their argument that in pursuing suspects they can use “all means necessary” certainly does not hold sway because I am sure by applying “all means necessary” our laws will not condone committing murder, arson and incest in the process. This is not Russia please!!
Waterloo
In the eyes of a few, Francis Ben Kelfallah was on the right track. So he got away with many of the unorthodox measures he implemented in complete disregard for due legal processes, until he reached his “Waterloo” in those lowly school authorities and pupils at the Cotton Tree, which begs for attention to two Biblical passages of the scriptures as under:
1. 1. Corr.1:20 – “Where is the wise……God can make foolish the wisdom of the world”. In the words of C19th British politician Lord Acton, -“Power corrupts: absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
2. Gal.5:16-17 – “If you are guided by the Spirit; you will be in no danger of self-indulgence……and it is because the two are so opposed to each other that we are not able to carry out our good intentions”. That is clear. It is when the two begin opposing each other that we become confused as to whether to serve God and country diligently or to focus instead on satisfying only those who gave us political appointments. So by his recent exploits to “frog-march” and disgrace them, who was the ACC Commissioner trying to serve better?
COIs
Corruption is a cancer—is a cancer—-is a cancer. Agreed. But fighting it must be from a national – not from a narrow political party or regional – perspective, otherwise the leader of the crusade will make everyone outside his/her region, tribe or political party believe that they are the target and make them either to become disinterested in the crusade or to undermine it, especially where the available facts speak around that perception. The further perception is that the desperately underlying intentions of the Francis Ben Kelfallah to have piloted those amendments to the ACC Act was insidious; in that once so empowered he would target and pursue all his perceived political enemies within the APC whom the ongoing Commissions of Inquiries (COIs) could not sufficiently nail or that by using his unlimited powers under the revised Act, he would selectively vindicate those within his political party deemed by the COIs to have actively conspired with others whilst serving the past regime as senior government functionaries between 2007 -18 to defalcate the State. Yes; that Act would have given him those powers in the same way that under his watch, the ACC prematurely aborted proceeding against a former Permanent Secretary and SLPP Card holder.
We all have political inclinations, and Francis Ben Kelfallah cannot deny his to the SLPP, because I have video clips of him declaring a countrywide Black Friday during SLPP opposition days and in which, even without obtaining Police clearance for the purpose he was calling on the citizens to mass demonstrate for their civic rights, which was within the law. That was why he wasn’t invited by the Criminal Investigations Department or the for Police interrogations of suspicion to breach public peace. Video clips also exist of him in “GREEN” during a pre-2018 election SLPP rally. The very basis that made him eligible for his job now are the very ones that made others lose theirs for joining APC rallies and adorning “RED”.
Game plan
Most people have wrongly attributed the actions of Francis Ben Kelfallah against those lowly Teachers and pupils to exuberance and even pejoratively prefixed that with the adjective: “Youthful”. That is; the youthful zeal to get things done. What dishonesty!! What I pick up from most of the actions of the ACC Commissioner is “malevolence” rather – that desire to inflict as much pain and discomfort on someone based on vicious ill-will, spite or hatred. That was the basis of the need to amend the existing ACC Act of 2008, so that those APC stalwarts the COIs missed on the swing he would gather on the bend, which will include creating as much discomforts for them through protracted and inconclusive Court proceedings, during which the ACC would seek – and of course obtain – the necessary injunctions prevent all of them from participating in any electoral processes for the next five to ten years. That was the game plan.
Teach
By and large allowing for human frailties, the ACC Commissioner admitted on the airwaves to a failure of the strategy to name and shame suspects publicly, and given the public outcry of disapproval, have committed themselves to go back to the “drawing board”. Not a bad idea; because we all make mistakes occasionally and need time to recalibrate. One only hopes the ACC has enough ink for that “drawing board” so that in re-defining their strategy consideration can be given to:
– Withdrawing wholesale that proposed Bill of amendment to the existing ACC Act by diffusing the powers contemplated that would have left him almost with Executive Powers equivalent to those of H.E the President
– Ensuring it incorporates a whole chapter addressing reasonable compensation packages for citizens unduly molested by the ACC before, during and after trials: provided they are acquitted and discharged, supported by the Commission’s written apologies to them which must be published and broadcast for three consecutive days on the print and electronic media.
That will teach the ACC to be responsive to the various constitutional and legal frameworks guaranteeing the fundamental right that all citizens are presumed innocent until proven guilty in competent Courts of Law.