By Musa Paul Feika
The Speaker in the Sixth Parliament Hon. Sengepoh Solomon Thomas has vowed to go after criminal heads of schools (Principals) across the country that are creating and putting unnecessary burdens on the government.
Hon. Thomas made this statement on Thursday, 8th May 2025, in the Well of Parliament while the Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary School (MBSSE) Conrad Sackey was updating the House on why a good number school pupils were disqualifie3d from writing the 2025 West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Hon. Thomas accused some heads of schools of failing to submit names of candidates of their schools for obvious reasons while some he accused of submitting candidates from schools that don’t even exist, emphasizing that even the Minister himself has become aware of such corruptibly unfortunate situation.
He proffered that some heads of schools are deliberately in the habit of submitting names of candidates that are not even in their schools, stressing that they are creating unnecessary burdens on the Government of Sierra Leone.
Addressing MPs, he stressed that was the main reason he had summoned the Minister to Parliament to let the general public have a clear understanding of the deliberate corrupt actions of some of the heads of schools for which he asserted that the House must go after those corruption perpetrators for them to face justice in favour of the host of deprived boys and girls and frustrated parents that have been fleeced of their hard-earned money.
“That is more reason I called the Minister here for us to go after those criminal heads of schools. They are putting and creating unnecessary burden on the government and stress on potential candidates that have been deprived and their families,” Hon. Sengepoh noted with anger.
In addition, he stressed that his concern is not only about the extra financial burden those corruptible heads of schools are putting on Government, but they are with clear understanding, undermining the education system of the country.
“As citizens, they mustn’t be indulged in such unpatriotic actions and because they know they are wrong in their action; they now want to implicate the Minister and the Ministry as having knowledge of the anomaly,” the Speaker fumed.
The Speaker went to recall how during a tripartite meeting including Parliament, the Ministry and Council of Principals, they were able identify some of the issues bothering the country’s education sector. He assured that very soon the House will go after those criminals in each district, emphasizing that they will make the outcome of their investigations public.
Buttressing, the Opposition Leader 2, Hon. Daniel Brima Koroma said the opposition party is part of governance, asserting that there is no district in Sierra Leone that is not affected by this issue plaguing the education sector.
Hon. Koroma therefore urged the ruling MPs to put aside some of the Standing Orders (SOs) in order to address what he referred to as menace afflicting the education sector.
He encouraged colleague MPs to allow the opposition Chief Whip, Hon. Abdul Karim Kamara, giving his wealth of experience in the matter, to delve into the issues or made his point as it pleases him and come out with the resolution to address the issue.
Speaker Thomas acquiesced to this, confirming that the Opposition Chief Whip is well abreast with issues in the education sector, when he had earlier accused heads of schools of their intentional failures to upload names and other identification details of their candidates for the 2025 WASSCE.