By Alusine Fullah

The Parliament of Sierra Leone is the supreme legislative body in Sierra Leone that has the constitutional authority to hold the executive to account. The Parliament is accountable and answerable to the people of Sierra Leone in light of Section 5(2a) of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone that places sovereignty in the people from whom through the said constitution power, authority and legitimacy is derived.

In recent times, Sierra Leone Parliament has been on the firing line about many corruption scandals. This can be evident by the recent corruption allegation against by the Clark of Parliament, Paran Umar Tarawalie and his wife. Responding to the above allegations, the Anti-Corruption Commission noted: “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 Tarawalie and his wife, Mrs. Abibatu Tarawalie.“The Commission is investigating allegations that the Clerk of Parliament employed his wife without due process and that since the said employment, Mrs Abibatu Tarawalie 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 Tarawalie 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.”

Paran Tarawalie is not new to corruption and wrongdoing. Last month, a Parliamentary Commission investigated a personal and unlawful decision by Tarawalie to sack over one hundred parliamentary staff believed to be mainly from the north of Sierra Leone, political heartland of the opposition APC party

The latest Corruption Perception Report published by the DFID-Funded PFM Consortium in partnership with the Centre for Accountability and the Rule of Law in Sierra Leone, says that the most corrupt institution in Sierra Leone is the Sierra Leone Parliament.