Coming into power in 2018, Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio fervently led the country’s anti-corruption drive. President Bio’s three mandates are war on indiscipline, war on corruption and war on poverty. Bio launched three Commissions of Inquiry, investigating malpractice in the government between 2000 to 2018 when former President Ernest Bai Koroma was in office. Bio pledged to support the Anti-Corruption Commission, giving assurances that it will operate independently.
The fight against corruption in Sierra Leone led by President Julius Maada Bio was resulted in the launch of three Commissions of Inquiry on the 29th of January 2019, with the swearing-in of three judges. The three judges, Justice William Annan Atuguba from Ghana, Justice Biobele Georgewill from Nigeria, a judge in the Court of Appeal in Nigeria and Justice Bankole Thompson, a former High Court judge in Sierra Leone have been given six months to work.
The Commissions of Inquiry were tasked with looking at three key issues, governance processes, assets, and the outcomes of the forensic audits, disparities between income or means and assets and inefficiencies and deficits in governance especially where people deliberately misused public offices or took advantage of state institutions.
During the launch of the Commissions of Inquiry President Bio said, “Corruption remains the single most critical deterrent to the development of Sierra Leone. It impedes human capital development which is the most critical driver of development in every country. When monies meant for educating our children and youth population are stolen by just few people that is a threat to our national development. When monies meant for providing basic social services for every citizen are stolen by just few people to build mansions and buy luxury cars that is a threat to our national development.”
President Bio also noted that the judges, “The judges have no stake in the politics of our country and they will sit as independent commissioners without bias or prejudice. It is not a political witch-hunt. Nobody is going to be asked whether he or she belongs to a political party or hails from a particular region. It is a simple process. The Commissioners will ask people questions, investigate what they are told and the evidence put before them, and thereafter present a report of their findings. As a government, we will act on those findings because it is in the national interest and it is for the public good. We will act on the findings to show Sierra Leoneans, including serving government officials that this must be the last Commission of Inquiry in our history.”
On the 22nd of October 2018, the Parliament of Sierra Leone debated the proposal of setting up Commissions of Inquiry to investigate corruption of the previous All People’s Congress (APC) government which had been in power from 2007 to 2018 under the former President Ernest Bai Koroma.
However, off all those effort, it is vivid that there has been rampant corruption under the administration H.E Bio. There are many routes to trace the lines of corruption under Bio’s administration, but the shortest route is to look into the 2022 Audit Report. As a way to minimize if not to stop mismanagement of public funds in Ministries Departments and Agencies in the country, the Auditor General whose mandate is to check and cross-check the activities of different institutions has issued its 2022 Audit report and has brought to light the dubious activities of the Sierra Leone Airports Authority in the country.
For instance, the 2022 Audit Report exposes the financial mismanagement of the man himself, H.E Bio. According to the report, bank withdrawals without Supporting Documents In contravention of Section 100(1) of the PFMRs of 2018, the following were observed: Bank withdrawals totalling SLE22,370,463 made from the Lungi Bridge Feasibility Study Account and paid to the Atepa Group for the Lungi Bridge feasibility study and the supervisory consultancy for the construction of the new Airport, were without payment vouchers and supporting documents. Bank withdrawals totalling SLE1,254,186 from various Imprest Accounts were without payment vouchers and other relevant supporting documents. Without these documents, we could not confirm whether withdrawals were utilised for the intended purposes
Apart from that, the Ministry Mines and Minerals Resources had 32 staff who were Mine Wardens and Mines Monitoring Officers. Their responsibilities however clashed with that of the Compliance Officers of the National Minerals Agency. Despite the fact that they had received total salaries of SLE310,059 during the period under review, there were no evidence to suggest that they carried out the jobs they were tasked to do in Ministries.
Part from the Audit Report, while President Bio has been busy saying that he will surely crackdown corruption, his closest political lieutenants and senior government officials have been busy dipping their hands in the cookie jar – stealing public funds.
According to a statement by the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) published yesterday after immense public outcry, both the Clerk of Parliament – Paran Tarawally, and his wife – Abibatu Paran Tarawally are being investigated for corruption and abuse of office.
“The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) wishes to inform the general public that it had commenced investigation into Corruption allegations against the Clerk of Parliament, Hon. Paran Umar Tarawally and his wife, Mrs. Abibatu Tarawally.
“The Commission is investigating allegations that the Clerk of Parliament employed his wife without due process and that since the said employment, Mrs Abibatu Tarawally has not been reporting for duties but received salaries. This raises serious questions of Conflict of Interest and abuse of position by the Clerk of Parliament.
“While investigations continue, as a condition of her bail, Mrs Abibatu Tarawally returned the sum of One Hundred and Thirty Thousand (New) Leones (Le 131,000) from the One Hundred and Fifty-Six Thousand (New) leones (Le156, 000) she received as Salary for the 10 Months she was on payroll, according to records obtained from the Account-General. Meanwhile, Hon. Paran Umar Tarawally and Mrs Abibatu Tarawally are on bail pending further investigation.”
Records show that Mrs Paran had indeed been receiving a net monthly salary of over Twenty-Three Million Leones from state funds, at least since 2021, not ten months as alleged by the ACC in an attempt to falsify the records and minimise the seriousness of the crime.
