By Mat Simon
The credibility of the anticorruption fight has been compromised due to political interference by the ruling party government in power. This is the contention of citizens and anticorruption advocates who say the sitting government of the day contributes to the crippling of the anti-graft fight despite startling allegations, admissions and payment of fines and seizure of properties and other assets illegally acquired by civil servants accused and convicted of corruption.
The return of the disgraced clerk of Parliament, Paran Tarawally to Parliament after his wife was employed at the House from September 2021 to March 2023 and collected public salary from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) despite not once reporting for work has raised public angst and disgust about the anticorruption fight in Sierra Leone. Abibatu Paran Tarawally collected Le156 million for the time she didn’t work, out of which sum she repaid Le131 million and admitted her guilt. Her husband after investigations by the ACC was cleared of all charges and thanked for working with the commission to resolve the matter. The couple escaped facing the court of law.
Meanwhile the low key nature of the public query by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) headed by its chairman who is also the deputy Speaker, Hon. Tawa Conteh, has raised eyebrows with many people alleging that the work of the PAC has continued to expose corruption in the Maada Bio led government. For this reason people alleged that Tawa has been reined.
It must be recalled that the president won his first term campaign promising the people to make corruption and financial leakages in government a thing of the past. Corruption was declared public enemy number one. Six years on and with the suspension of the Auditors General of the Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) by the president, their subsequent investigation by a tribunal established outside constitutional provisions, and the fact that the Fifth Parliament never debated any of the ASSL reports coupled with partisans working in the government being slapped on the wrists when found wanting for fiduciary malfeasance and recycled back into government have all contributed to the lack of credibility of the anticorruption fight.
But the problem is not with this regime. Every government of Sierra Leone has protected their members found complicit of corruption allegations and charges. When president Bio was campaigning for his first term he said there will be no sacred cows in government where corruption and financial leakage are concerned. But it would seem that the sacred cows instead of being jailed are all at the ranch. Referred to as “the pa ihn borbor” there is no such designation where the law is concerned. For concerned citizens the anticorruption fight is the same with the APC and SLPP governments. They allow their governments and parties to be stained though their partisans are tainted by corruption scandals.
The question is why recycle people like Paran Tarawally and retain the managing director of the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank and Kapuwa formerly of the SLBC? Kapuwa who is now head of the Independent Media Commission (IMC) was unable to account for millions of donated funds to digitalise the public broadcaster. Instead of the SLBC championing government’s activities to the public, it is the privately held AYV that has been championing the government’s agenda. Kapuwa is literally in heaven at the IMC ranch and still being paid from the CRF. Is this how to fight corruption?
The fight has digressed to taming corrupt people in government to enrich themselves at the detriment of the people and state. These are the people the ill-informed people in the public and government admire; we admire their ill-gotten houses, cars and other expensive acquisitions. These people are hero worshipped and seen as demigods by the poor masses who don’t know that funds meant to alleviate their day to day struggles might have gone into such acquisitions. The law being the law, Paran and others shouldn’t be where they are today. This means that the anticorruption fight has failed as both APC and SLPP governments cannot effectively fight graft because of political interference which brings the reputation and credibility of Parliament, the Audit Service, and the ACC into disrepute.
It must be recalled that during his first term president Ernest Bai Koroma promised to return electric power back to Freetown in hundred days. Hafsatu Kabba took advantage of her closeness to the regime to procure power plants flouting procurement procedures. At the end of the 2008 ACC Law effectively used to expose people like Kabba and Tejan Cole they were recycled to other government agencies. Their cases were aborted just as it is now being done with the current PAC and ACC.
Salone man na Salone man, be it SLPP or APC, they are the same people with the same culture. It is all about protecting their interests. The low key nature of the present anticorruption fight by the PAC has been assumed to mean that we will not see party pekins facing the law for allegations and admission of corrupt practices. Had that been the case Kapuwa, Kadiru Kaikai, Paran and others would have faced the full force of the law for alleged wrongdoing.
If left to work in true independence, the ACC, PAC, ASSL and indeed Parliament and the Judiciary would have been much effective and Sierra Leone would have made corruption a thing of the past since the ACC was given teeth to bite in 2008. But interference from above has crippled the fight and brings to doubt the credibility of all institutions established by law to address public graft.
