By Joseph A. Kamanda

With increasing talks about government’s uncompromising stances on corruption when the welfare of key people in the country’s financial sector who are procurement practitioners and officers Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDA)s across the country.

They are the least motivated government workers across the board, whose take homes are nothing to write home about when compared to those working as heads of MDAs as the Managing Directors for instance, of SALPOST, the Financial Secretary, Shar Lahai Jusu and his deputy Financial Secretary at the Ministry of Finance.

A Commissioner at the Electricity Generation and Transmission Commission (EGTC) including hosts of several other who go home with the lion’s shares of salaries meant for the public and civil service workers leaving procurement practitioners-officers to fend for themselves as if they are not on government payroll.

This is the unfavourably demotivating circumstances under which procurement practitioners in Sierra Leone from top to bottom are working amidst the Julius Maada Bio’s much publicised anti-corruption battle, with little or no attention being paid to those who decides when and how to procure for which MDAs as and when necessary.

So, one wonders as to how serious is the Bio government and his stooge Anti-Corruption Commissioner low-level lawyer Francis Ben Kaifala are in fighting corruption in Sierra Leone. Or else the whole process could be looked at as a mere cat chasing ‘rats’ for crimes they didn’t commit at all, but just being targeted because of their vulnerability in nowadays ‘cat’ dominated kingdom of ours’.

Procurement matter starting with the National Public Procurement Authority (NPPA) which is charged with the huge task of accelerating Sierra Leone’s economic growth and enhancing sustainable national development, but amid the present magnitude of demotivation of procurement practitioners-officers everywhere in government’s public sector, one goes with series of doubts that such mandates are far fetch unmet by the public procurement authority.

The excuses as at now will be placed on the demonic global coronavirus pandemic, though lately recorded here in Sierra Leone that should not stop the Bio government from looking into the very legitimate issues of procurement practitioners, starting with salary harmonisations, pay rises, promotions and improve condition of services for them as they too deserve better living standards.

Since the era of late president Alhaji Dr Ahmed Tejan Kabbah onto days of former president Dr Ernest Bai Koroma and now incumbent president Bio, the plights of procurement practitioners have always remained the same, while staff of other workforce particularly Finance Ministry are regularly being reviewed with motivations and promotions with improved conditions of services as and when required.

For instance even with almost the same qualifications, auditors earn Le7,000,000 monthly salary, while budget officers earn Le30,000,000 which is are three times more than the take home of procurement practitioners-officers from top to bottom. And at higher levels, the Financial Secretary Shar Lahai Jusu earns Le86, 935,130, whiles the Senior Deputy Financial Secretary who receives a monthly salary of Le32, 141,121. And auxiliary staff assigned to the deputy Financial Secretary earn between Le 552,000 to Le 1,420,079 monthly. Also, the Managing Director of the defunct SALPOST is also paid a monthly salary of well over Le 60,000,000 monthly for doing nothing at a postal service that does not even deliver stamp to people.

That is very much unfair and demotivating for people working at the procurement offices in MDAs and if the battle against graft is anything to go by, then the Bio government needs to pay some profound attention to these anomalies before we can consider the selective anti-corruption fight ‘serious’.

It therefore it is worthy to note that if Bio is that thoughtful about the fight corruption then his administration must address the welfare of procurement practitioners everywhere in government before it is too late.

That salary rises have come and gone, but never affected procurement practitioners and that is unacceptable let alone to talk of promotions of them from one level to the other, whereas their peers in other sectors are regularly being promoted with pay rises’ and improved conditions of services. What a wicked government?

These situations have existed for the last twenty years or so and it must be handled now than later if fighting corruption and the much talk about financial prudence in the management and administration of public finances in state governance are unpretentious concerns.

What remain vividly scary and worrisome as at now is that the Bio government is deliberately failing to learn from the political mistakes and lessons of the last administration, forgetting that the Koroma regime got all its ‘corruption scams’ because it ignored  procurement and accountability related procedures.

Is it because president Bio’s blue eye boy Finance Minister Saffa has placed all finance related MDAs including the NPPA on his chest owing to the fact that his table is full at the Ministry of Finance? We just posed a legitimate question of concerns for which the anxious public expect immediate and appropriate answers now, concerning addressing of welfare, pay rises’, improve service conditions and promotions of procurement practitioners-officers from top to bottom.

With the much influence being demonstrated by minister Saffa, it is expected of him to do all in his powers at the Finance Ministry to harmonize salaries based on credentials of procurement practitioners, budget officers and auditors before we continue to delve into the crux of the issues in subsequent publications, with further naming and shaming of lion’s shares carriers.

Moreover, it is no secret that the leadership and functions of NPPA are presently being hijacked by the Finance Minister Saffa and his ministry so that he can continue to protect his wife’s contracts’ interests as one of government’s major contractors, not to mention the long list of pro-ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) members’ contracts’ interests as well.

And on the illegitimate grabbing of all finance related MDAs and bringing them to your table as minister must come along with certain responsibilities which is why you should be as well providing an appropriate leadership in relating well to the welfare of staff of the NPPA and other finance related MDAs, not just your Financial Secretary, Jusu and your budget boys from whom you are always receiving tokens of bribery from for contract payment kickbacks.

All of these have major tendencies of undermining anti-corruption efforts, a critical government official who prefers anonymity observes, adding; “In Sierra Leone we are not yet ready to fight corruption because high place public officials are still deep neck in graft particularly those working directly with the presidency.”

Besides, Bio’s anti-graft battle would be just seen as a mere witch hunt of former All People’s Congress (APC) government officials with the just concluded Commissions of Inquiries and the failed and toothless bull dog ACC for crimes they didn’t commit, only to institute political intimidations on them on orders from State House Chief Minister, where Bio now has the biggest corrupt public official whose name will also be published subsequent editions, in strong actions are not taken to address disparities of salaries of public officials as well as unqualified presidential appointees.

It could be recalled that payroll corruption was exposed by an online Africanist Press on the 5^th of March edition this year in which the publication exposed huge financial inconsistencies in government of Sierra Leone’s payroll for civil and public workers under the Bio rule.

Bio while campaigning for presidency several years back vowed to limit state expenditures and instil discipline in the management of public finance, which happens to be the exact opposite of what he preached while hustling for the presidency of Sierra Leone barely two years in office.