By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
The one-year old Commissions of Inquiry (COI) has finally completed its arduous, long journey with a total of 84 indictees.
However, it is worthy to note that the National Public Procurement Authority (NPPA) Chief Executive, Ibrahim Swarray happens to be one of the three names that was discharged of all allegations against him. In other words the NPPA’s chief has been cleared of all allegations that was made against him and left with no case to answer.
A letter of invitation dated 6th February, 2019 by the COI secretariat summoned the presence of the NPPA chief before one of the COI Judges, Biobele Georgewill as a person of interest and to also aid the investigations.
Chief Swarray being a law abiding Sierra Leonean honoured the invitation and availed himself before Biobele where he presented evidence to prove his innocence. After several months of investigations, the NPPA have been finally discharged of all allegations made against him. Today, he walks as a free man having experienced the fairness of a civilised jurisdiction which enjoyed non-interference from the incumbent government.
The COI was set up to look into the activities of the past Koroma-led government with special attention to the management of public finances.
The move to set up the COI has a direct link to the findings and recommendations of the Transition Report of 2018 in which the past government officials were accused of mismanaging and looting state resources.
A huge debt burden of four trillion Leones and two billion united states dollars including domestic and foreign debts respectively was viewed as one of the greatest indicators of mismanagement of public funds.
The COI’s most sensitive area of investigation was the mismanagement of funds allocated to the fight against Ebola Virus which struck Sierra Leone in May, 2014.
The Ebola Virus took health professionals aback owing to its complex nature. The state’s response to the Ebola virus outbreak initially was haphazard claiming the lives of over 1,000 Sierra Leoneans.
The then government allocated financial resources to fight the Ebola pandemic, and also appealed to the International Community for assistance.
Nations of the world community heeded to the call from the then government of Sierra Leone and made financial donations to stem the Ebola epidemic.
At the height of the Ebola fight, allegations of misappropriations of money were raised against those at the forefront of the Ebola fight particularly the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS).
In response to the allegations, Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) in October, 2014, audited institutions that were involved in the management of Ebola funds and came out with a report titled:
Report on the Audit of the Management of Ebola Funds (May to October, 2014).
ASSL is a government institution mandated by law to audit all institutions funded from the consolidated fund as per the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone and the Audit Service Act of 2014 provides for annual auditing of all government institutions and present a report to parliament for necessary action.
The ASSL audit exercise focused mainly on procurement, disbursement of money including hazard payments, cash and bank management and internal control systems.
The MoHS Procurement Unit which was headed by the NPPA chief came under the spotlight regarding the award of contract to Kingdom Security Logistics (KSL), a local private company, for the procurement of twenty (20) ambulances valued at US$1,050,000 meant for the ebola fight.
MoHS procurement officer in the person of the present NPPA chief at the time was also obliged to provide evidence on how the contractor, KSL was selected for sole sourcing.
The Audit report pointed out several lapses in the award of the contract including the non-submission of relevant documents upon demand by ASSL auditors.
The report also indicated that MoHS overrode internal controls which led to the wastage of government resources and created room for corruption.
Apart from the evasion of internal controls according to the report, MoHS also breached a key contract requirement by making a final payment of 40% before the ambulances were tested and examined on delivery.
“The general conditions of contract requires an advanced payment of 60% within 30 days of the signing of the contract to be followed by the final 40% payment within 45 days of acceptance of delivery,” the 2014 Ebola Report reads in part.
Most importantly, the report indicates that an additional amount of US$360,000 over the contract value of US$1,050,000 was unjustifiably paid to KSL Ltd. to air freight 17 of the 20 ambulances procured.
“The payment of the additional sum”, the report says, would have been avoided had contract rules been fully complied with.
Again, the report alleged that 4 out of the 20 ambulances estimated at US$284,000 procured were not delivered.
By all indications, the report pinpointed a cavalier attitude on the part of government officials towards management of public funds.
Consequently, the MoHS’ then procurement officer, now NPPA Chief, Mr Swarray was slammed with a 6-month suspension which lasted for 9 months without pay, courtesy of a letter dated 25th August, 2015 originated by Human Resource Management Office (HRMO).
The letter also indicated that the NPPA Chief should not serve as a procurement officer or perform any procurement function for the next five years effective from the time of suspension.
The suspension was thus the outcome of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report in Parliament.
However, the NPPA Chief successfully petitioned the PAC and HRMO actions on the grounds that he had no hand in the management of ebola funds, stating that all ebola related procurement activities were handled by an ad hoc committee known as ‘Case Management Committee’ and that the instruction for the procurement of the 20 ambulances came directly from the former Minister of Health (Madam Miatta Kargbo) through the Permanent Secretary.
Contrary to public expectations, the NPPA chief’s suspension was quashed by the erstwhile Attorney-General and Minister of Justice through a letter dated 27th October, 2015 addressed to the Secretary to the Cabinet signed by John Arrow Bockarie Esq.
The then AG pinpointed that Parliament can only make recommendations after an investigation, but have no powers to impose punitive measures.
“Those that were subject to the investigation of parliament were not accorded the opportunity to be represented by a counsel nor guide them on answering certain critical questions on issues that may be put to them nor do they have the requisite competence of a trained counsel to answer the questions that were put to them,” the revocation letter reads in part.
The AG was also of the opinion that the proper thing Parliament ought to have done was to recommend for either a disciplinary action or further investigation by a competent judicial authority.
The AG’s legal opinion was in place as Mr Swarray resumed duty and was then transferred to the Procurement Unit at the Sierra Leone Correctional Service. Thanks to a transfer Memo dated 20th May, 2016.
Today, Mr Ibrahim Swarray is in charge of regulating all procurement activities in Sierra Leone after having gone through complex legal crucibles that would have cost his job and smeared his image.
Judging from his management style at NPPA, one can deduce that he is determined to see the right things done ie no more business as usual and Sierra Leone is set to take back control of its hard-earned finances. All these are made possible because of the firm decisions taken and laws implemented at the NPPA.
Finally, it is unarguably true that procurement process is one of the major ways through which the country’s money is siphoned. Notwithstanding the presence of a prudent and astute young man at the helm of affairs who happens to be Mr Ibrahim Brima Swarray backed up with the cooperation of relevant authorities, transparency and value for money are slowly making foot prints in our Procurement system.
Thus, a hope for a brighter future in the Procurement sector of Sierra Leone is indeed assured more especially with the turning around of things by the NPPA’s current Chief Executive, Mr Ibrahim Brima Swarray.