The Anti Corruption Act of 2008 has not specifically called for the President, the ACC Commissioner and other public officials to declare their assets publicly before and after leaving office.
Many Sierra Leoneans believe that the current ACC Commissioner has exhibited huge commitment and exuberance in fighting corruption and this is also supported by the ever increasing zest and zeal from the New Direction Government and the Presidency.
The issue of declaration of assets is very key in the fight against corruption and public officials are expected to declare their assets before and after they leave office as provided for in law. Many public officials, including their President in many countries in the sub region such as the Republic of Liberia, declare their assets publicly before and after taking office.
In Sierra Leone, even when our laws do not make such provision for public declarations of assets, but it would have been inspiring to have had President Julius Maada Bio and his Anti Corruption czar and other Government officials declaring their assets publicly before and after they leave office.
This move would go down in history as historic while also giving an impetus to the fight against corruption. While we admire and applaud the many amendments to the ACC Act of 2008, Sierra Leoneans were equally looking for a section in the proposed amendment to have called for public declaration of assets by public officials before and after leaving office.
The current efforts by Francis Ben Kaifala, to include the issue of Assets Declaration in the proposed amendment, further indicate the importance of Assets Declaration in the fight against graft. This, according to the proposed amendment, would reduce the number of public officials who will declare their assets. This was against the backdrop that the process of processing all assets forms of public officials was cumbersome and hence the Commission lacks the capacity to effectively process all these forms.
President Helen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia had publicly declared her assets before and after leaving power.Why are our corruption czar and the untiring anti-corruption crusader President Bio? Can he make history by being the first leader to publicly declare his assets?
It is fruitless to declare assets in secrecy when one claims to be highly committed to making corruption a costly affair in the country. The President has noted that corruption is a security threat to the country and hence he should do everything to ensure that the fight is conquered….
We are not insinuating that the Government’s fight against corruption will only be judged against such parameters of public officials declaring their assets publicly. But we are saying is that it will boost the fight and President Bio and his Government will go down in the history of Sierra Leone with regards their resolve to fight anti graft.