Seeking the people’s mandate to run the country, the SLPP through its flagbearer, Retired Brigadier Julius Maada Bio, came up with its flagship promise to block all leakages and fight corruption in the country’s governance structure. Tired with the only system of continuity in governance, leakages and corruption, the people overwhelmingly voted for Bio.
However, three years down the line, the floodgates of corruption have been thrown wide open resulting to what is now the worst crisis in the fight against corruption for the Paopa government, and most likely the worst in the history of recoding such acts in Sierra Leone.
The reason is that the institution charged with the mandate to fight corruption has in effect become the official spokesperson for any government official, ministry, department or agency accused of corruption. The ACC dragnet it is now apparent can only catch small fishes, as the big fishes, also known as sacred cows, continue to escape its dragnet.
Instead of fighting corruption and blocking leakages, the ACC goes all out to explain hence justify corrupt practices that continue to leave our government with its hands perpetually out asking for donor aid, which they continue to fleece.
Now the public is asking, if the SLPP government was serious about fighting corruption or blocking leakages, knowing about all the propensity for corruption inherent in how parliament conducted its business, shouldn’t the government, guided by the ACC, the Auditor General, the Ministry of Finance, the Attorney General – and for good measure add international experts to this team – have conducted a system and processes review beforehand so as to make recommendations and administrative adjustments that will enhance sound and prudential financial and administrative architecture before taking power?
But now that it has been proven, through the ACC press release that concluded its investigation into corruption allegations by and against members of parliament and parliamentary staff, that there are no systems in place to actually ensure that loopholes in how parliament conducted its business are blocked, the ACC, the unofficial spokesperson of State House, has in effect proven that Tawa Conteh was honourable enough to acknowledge that such is obtaining in parliament.
After Hon. Gevao did the dishonourable thing and become a turncoat, Honourable Tawa Conteh was honourable enough to stand his ground. The unofficial PRO of all alleged and corrupt public servants and institutions, the ACC, in its recent defence of parliament on the accusations brought against it by Tawa, exposed to us some very corrupting practices or actions that even the ACC had to say should be resolved.
Setting Tawa’s disclosure of paying bribes in parliament to have, among other things, budgets approved and other accusations, the 2019 Government Audit Report by the Audit Services Sierra Leone (ASSL) on the current Bio led administration, part of which was looked into by the ACC, went beyond Tawa’s revelations.
In its auditing of records, financial statements and administrative documents for their compliance with existing regulations and guidelines for Constituency Development Funds (CDF) paid between 2018 and 2019, ASSL discovered discrepancies in their disbursements amounting to a whopping Le22 billion (twenty two billion Leones), equivalent to $2.2 million.
So, were the people’s perceptions in the CARL/IRC citizen’s perception survey of Parliament as the second most corrupt institution in Sierra Leone off-track or on-pint? Far from being off-track, they actually painted a more subtle picture of corruption in Parliament, which the 2019 Auditor General’s (AG) report and the ACC investigation revealed in true and living colours.
Here is just a tip of the iceberg from the report: In 2018 and 2019 Le10,100,000,000 and Le12,220,672,500 were respectively paid to 146 Members of Parliament (MPs) who weren’t retired. ASSL said during its audit of the CDF no retirement details for the paid monies was presented for verification by Parliament no less. The fact here is that if MPs upon losing are not retired then who do their continued payments go to? Another, were payments meant to be used for either the construction of or renting of constituency offices across the 132 national constituencies. Imagine that one of government’s biggest expenditure is its payment of rent to private individuals and companies for use by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
It is safe to assume that given our exposure to the corrupting acts and tendencies of our leaders and people, these guys mostly rented to get their own cut thereby further leaving government in the rental cycle. Constructing constituency offices would lessen the burden on government, monies that could then be used for other developmental activities in the people’s interest. But there is no rule on how to spend this money.
But our leadership has never before done anything in the people’s interest. By their past and present actions, they haven’t. How can an uncorrupt Parliament make disbursements based on a contract with Ndeva Support Services for the provision of consultancy service between the Parliamentary Service Commission and the Ministry of Finance (for which five tranches of payments were made totaling Le100,000,000 and Le240,000,000 in 2018 and 2019 respectively) without the company’s terms of reference, no evidence of its consultancy work done, no report and no business registration certificate?
How about its gross negligence of a conflict of interest in the case of Hon. Edward Stile Jengo of Ndeva Support Services (NSS) doubling as the Principal Parliamentary Liaison Consultant to the Ministry of Finance when NSS was granted the contract? How about the Le968,493,150 paid out in 2018 and 2019 to 14 Paramount Chiefs without constituencies?
Then add to all of the above the revelations of the Africanist Press in relation to the Chief Minister, the Eco Bank allegation by journalist Jalloh, the disbursements to and the use of public funds by the Office of the First Lady, and the current shameful call for the Auditor General to step down in a clear attempt to prevent her from doing a thorough 2020 audit of this government, especially on how it has spent COVID-19 grants and other supports.
The ACC, and by extension the SLPP Government has lost all credibility to anyone, institution and country in its supposed role as an anticorruption watchdog agency. With no wins under its belt (it lost the case against; Alpha Timbo in the Chinese school rice saga; Isha Johansen) the ACC keeps defending leakages-culpable individuals and institutions to the detriment of the populace. We know that with Timbo recycled from Education to Labour, the only reason the infamous Dr. Dennis Sandy was not recycled is that his actions are still fresh on the minds of the public.
It should be an act of treason for Parliament to conduct its affairs the way the ACC has so detailed. By doing so they in effect think of ‘We the People’ as a bunch of naïve, docile and conquered public. In normally functioning democracies, the people, in their cause for empowerment to better their lot, choose from among their brothers and sisters, people to represent their interest in a house built to bring together the competing local, regional and national issues and needs of the people for a democratic solution.
They, our leaders, represent us; not the other way around. We are their employers and bosses. Sadly in Sierra Leone, we have allowed our leaders, including our presidents, the police, army and all other public office holders to lord it over us; we seem always at their mercy. See how police and army personnel assault us, whose tax monies pay their salaries to protect us!
By the ACC admitting to a lack of system to adequately ensure how monies are spent in parliament, they have in effect exonerated Tawa Conteh. By the ACC’s own admittance, and the flimsy and shameful explanations given by Parliament regarding the audit, they are trying to; blemish the image of Tawa Conteh and anyone who wants to speak up against corruption in the second branch of government; fetter the work of the ASSL, blemish the integrity of the Auditor General whose report of what actually obtains in Parliament is a shameful indictment on the entity hence us; the government of the people, by the people and for the people.
What the Sierra Leone public fails to realise is that we are the government. If the people we send to represent us in Parliament can be so insolently corrupt, then it says a lot about the public that would fail to hold them to account. It says we are complicit and willing participants in our own pillaging by our hired hands or employees. When young boys and sometimes girls steal, we have the audacity and hypocrisy to murder them on our streets for being thieves. Yet when men and women in western and traditional suits and other costly apparels steal millions of dollars in Parliament and other public offices in a rich country full of poor and poorly educated people, why is it that we praise, even admire them? Surely, a reorientation is needed.
But with the ACC finding it necessary, contrary to its mandate, to publicly defend the fraudulent actions of members of this government, thereby providing an excuse for corruption, we cannot trust it to do the needful. All the dust it has kicked up regarding Tawa Conteh’s claims and the AG’s reports covering 2015-18 of the APC government compared to its defence of the current regime’s obvious financial malfeasance makes the ACC, hence the SLPP government untrustworthy in a vote of confidence on its handling of corruption on both sides of the political divide. This has in effect become the worst case of corruption from the SLPP so far; that is, the corruption of the ACC meant to fight leakages and corruption, hence the worst crisis in the SLPP government since taking over three years ago.
Mr. President, as head of government (and with you successfully bringing parliament and the ACC under State House), please insist on it that all suspected cases of corruption in the AG’s 2019 Report and what has been exposed by the ACC with regards to Hon. Tawa Conteh on this current government of, for and by the people, come to its logical conclusion as by law.
If the law is seen to be ineffective, we will always have this audacious attempt by our leaders to commit daylight robbery while our watchdogs howl instead of bite, or for either not having teeth to bite or not given teeth to bite.
We are calling for a clear message of deterrence to be sent out to all and sundry that there are no sacred, corrupt cows or big fishes, regardless of political and other affiliations.