Day by day, SLPP(Sierra Leone People’s Party) officials tap into the treasury of the state albeit illegally, a source has intimated this press.
The act is massive corruption that may further worsen the country’s economy. Men in the street are at the wrong end. Where the loot is kept remains unknown, but this press continues to investigate.
Many Sierra Leoneans say the ruling party officials indulge in such graft since they know, without doubt, that they are going. June 24 is fast approaching, and hope For a winning by the SLPP does not exist. The people of Sierra Leone have made up their minds. Three institutions have been named, but their names withheld for now.
The last-minute loot is the latest in a stream of lootings in the government of President Julius Maada Bio. Institutions of accountability particularly Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is yet to go into action, and there are no signs that it would act as the looting continues unabated.
The Financial Intelligence Unit in the Ministry of Finance too is mute. Most SLPP/PAOPA officials have been caught pants down in graft times without number. The corruption started not too long after they took power in 2018.
A US-based media agency, Africanist Press have published several reports in which the hands of senior government officials have been caught on the loot. The first to be hit hard was Professor David Francis who was Chief Minister for close to three years. Now, he is Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
While he was Chief Minister, Professor Francis siphoned a huge chunk of the country’s finances through procurement irregularities, and fake media consultancies abroad.
He spent billions of Leones in the purchase of office furniture without going through accepted procedures of procurement. Prof Francis also misappropriated public funds when he embarked on media consultancies to give SLPP government a good image outside Sierra Leone.
The former Chief Minister did not observe any rule or law while spending public money. Procurement laws and regulations criminalise the act of spending money without recourse to the legal frame work. He was never investigated since the allegation was brought to public attention. Sources say the Chief Minister and the ACC boss are sons of the soil of Kenema.
However, a new government would investigate the graft in the near future. Africanist Press also did not spare Office of the First Lady.
The report delved into the misappropriation of US$2m (the equivalent of Le2 trillion) by Mrs Fatima Bio, money meant for the ‘Hands Off Our Girls’ campaign. Africanist Press report was compelling and appealing to Sierra Leoneans as it raised heated public discussions and debates.
It also sparked shock and awe among donor partners who forced ACC chief, Ben Kaifallah to go into action. He went into action, but with no result as the First Lady was let off the hook. Ben Kaifallah started to show bias and sinister cover up of Mrs Bio’s fraud after he announced that he would chase first the former First Lady, Sia Nyama Koroma.
The ACC chief did not get to the bottom of the investigation as doing so would cost him his job. Despite the euphoria the investigation generated at the initial stage, it was all but name. It has died a natural death as no cockroach let alone a rat fell into ACC net.
The matter would however be investigated by another government. Mrs Bio would not be safe from money laundering related offences.
The crimes have universal jurisdiction as any country can arrest and prosecute the offence. Many say there will be no hiding place for the First Lady when Bio leaves power. The crews will be tightened to ensure that she is brought to justice.
Recent reports of corruption on Officials at the Ministry of Finance came up when their salaries were added to a record high without parliamentary approval. Salaries of the principal financial secretary and the deputy stands around Le80, 000 (eighty million Leones) while other government institutions go berserk. The law demands that parliament should approve the salaries of government officials, but it is the reverse under PAOPA.
The massive increment was surreptitiously done by government as parliament never knew about it. Speaker of Parliament, Dr Abass Bundu is an SLPP member, so he hardly questions the unlawful act of Bio’s government. Probity in the management of state finances is completely whittled and watered down.
To date, the salaries remain as they are while the country bleeds. Sierra Leoneans also witnessed big increase in salaries of ECSL (Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone) staff without seeking approval from parliament. The increase was treated with suspicion of rigging next year’s election.
ECSL is the body set up by law for the conduct of elections in Sierra Leone. SLPP’ s only hope is rigging since much is not there to point at. Bribery of elections personnel by way of fabulous salary is one key way. Increasing salaries without Parliamentary approval is a form of corruption.
The country’s highest institution, Office of the President, came under fire when it was labelled as the third most corrupt. The President’s office follows the Sierra Leone Police and Parliament which occupied first and second respectively. The survey report on corruption of the presidency was authored by a consortium of civil society organisations: Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law, Restless Development and Christian Aid.
Office of the President did not respond to the allegations raised in the survey. Minister of Information and Communication, Mohamed Rahman Swarray however say that Office of the President is a composite term.
It does not specifically refer to State House, the official workplace of the President. Much of Sierra Leone’s finances has also gone into the travels of President of the first couple (Bio and his wife.) It was reported that over US$500, 000 (the equivalent of Le5bn) was withdrawn from the state’s purse to finance Bio’s trip to the UN summit in New York.
The 21-day private visit of the first couple to the Asian country of Lebanon also cost the country direly. Billions of Leones went into it. The worst side of the President’s visit is the empty-handed home coming. No real investor would follow Bio when he comes back home. The President’s trips do not yield the required dividends, and calls to reduce foreign trips remain high.
The move is to save the country’s money as no one knows what comes next. One must save for a rainy day. In 2018, President Bio campaigned on the platform of stopping leakages and corruption but graft throughout his tenure rendered his promise tenuous and farcical.
The looting at the eleventh hour is the worst.