The Financial Secretary, in the SLPP New Direction Government, Sahr Jusu, has broken his silence by finally responding to our Monday 3rd December publication, relating to the accusations that his wife has bagged a number of high profile and huge contracts from the Government of Sierra Leone through his influence and that of the Ministry of Finance, actions that frustrate genuine and tax complying business entities in the country.
In the first place, Mr. Jusu started by stating that he does not have a wife. He said that his fiancée, who probably the article would be referring to as Patricia Tamba, is a banker and not a businesswoman. Does she really need to be one to be able to bag contracts in Sierra Leone?
The poorly written PR thrash was so short and poorly written to have served as a serious defense coming from a sober minded PR practitioner, defending a very key and senior ministry like the Ministry of Finance.
The Public Relations stunt at the Ministry is an academic dwarf who does not have a grasp of what it takes to defend the Ministry and the Financial Secretary from the present quagmire they have found themselves. It would have been better if the Public Relations at the Ministry had relied on their earlier threat to take legal action against the nightwatch Newspaper rather than further opening up a Pandora’s Box like they have done.
We, at nightwatch, have always maintained that the current Financial Secretary’s dubious acts and tainted record at the Ministry of Finance, during the last ten years, does not resonate well with the determination and relentless efforts of the President to maintain fiscal and prudent management of the nation’s resources.
Sahr Jusu is known by almost all Sierra Leoneans to have manned the debt management portfolio at the Ministry of Finance for the last ten years, leading Sierra Leone as one of the most indebted countries in sub Saharan Africa by the time the New Direction government took over the reins of governance.
His tenure, during the last ten years, has witnessed the negotiation of numerous fake and sub-standard contracts and agreements, including the 100 buses from China and few others that have only benefitted the political class, including him. Sierra Leone, as a country, is currently bearing the brunt of having to pay such monies against other competing priorities.
Nightwatch Newspaper was the first to have questioned the appointment of the current Financial Secretary by his Excellency the President, simply from the fact that he had prevailed over a highly corrupt and institutionalized system over the last ten years, with rogue business people, who are enemies of the country. It would be very difficult to have him operate differently from what this new regime would stand for, and this has manifested through the vicious attempts by the FS to introduce a bill that would have created a parallel body to the NPPA. Thanks to our MPs for not heeding to this ploy.
We are publishing a number of companies owned by the Financial Secretary’s concubine, mainly in the construction sector, that have gone ahead in influencing key MDAs for the award of contracts in various sectors depriving legitimate businesses in the country. We will, in other subsequent editions, publish the various contracts these companies have secured in different ministries and the quantum of monies for such contracts.
We will not relent to expose corruption at the Ministry of Finance. Night Gathers and Now Our Watch Begins.