Perspective ACC Boss Optimistic About Fight Against Corruption By J.B Roy Believe it or not, because of man’s insatiable greed and quest for material wealth and comforts, corruption exists everywhere in the world. However, in the Scandinavian countries of northern Europe, it is so minimal in public life that it doesn’t in any way affect their governments provision of the basic social welfare needs of their citizens. That is why consistently these countries come right on top of the UNDP Human Development Index list. Here in Serra Leone, it is the opposite. Corruption in high places takes away from government and the people more than what we receive annually as aid from donor countries. It is therefore imperative that if we are to lift ourselves up by our own financial bootstraps, government and the people must do all in their power to put a tight lid on corruption. The fact that corruption lately seems to have inundated government does not discouraged, weary or make afraid the ACC boss Mr. JF Kamara and his staff to take the fight against corruption to its perpetrators. But Mr. Kamara admonishes that the nation should be fully cognizant of the fact that it is not he and the ACC alone that will win the fight; it takes the entire nation. “Corruption is an issue we all need to take onboard,” he said past Friday in the conference room of the Ministry of Finance where the ACC presented its systems review report to the SLRTA. Mr. Kamara maintained that the ACC is not a witch hunter out to prosecute erring public officials. Rather, what it wants is to ensure as part of its own contribution towards good state and corporate governance of MDAs strict adherence to the rules of good corporate governance, which certainly will stem the tide of corruption in public institutions. Towards this end, the ACC has been doing training and reviews of the MDAs. Alas, what saddens Mr. Kamara is that the government itself is not acting in good faith towards the fight against corruption. He cited for example that a conscientious ACC had done a proper systems review of Customs and the ASYCUDA process and that if the recommendations made had been incorporated, the present Customs/Ecobank/SLNSA fraud would not have occurred. In the same vein, the ACC he said in reviewing the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, it had found grave discrepancies in handling of the GAVI Fund even before the theft of about USD700,000 from the fund was unearthed by external auditors from GAVI. Therefore, the ACC boss took the opportunity to implore the Government of Sierra Leone to be more mindful of the findings and recommendations of the ACC with respect to how MDAs are administered, managed and monitored. What, however, gladdens the heart of the ACC boss is that the recently published TI report which damns Sierra Leone as being highly bribed and corruption prone has served as a wake up call for citizens to become more aware of the dangers of corruption to the wellbeing of the state and its people. Mr. Kamara is concerned that in spite of the tremendous job being done by the ACC to muzzle corruption, the past twelve months has seen heightened reports of corruption in the country. “It is a huge disappointment,” he commented. That notwithstanding, the resolve of the ACC to stem corruption in the country has not been dampened. The ACC, he said, to intensify its struggle has now teamed up with the PRSU of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to bulldoze MDAs into taking their service delivery roles more seriously and responsibly. Mr. Kamara touched on the recent Auditor General’s Report which highlights many glaring deficiencies in resource management. “There is serious problem in public management,” Mr. Kamara warned. He reported how the ACC has been inundated with calls from parents about teachers and schools requesting for monies to give out report cards. In Magbema chiefdom in the Kambia district, for example, he reported how about 98% of the schools have ghost pupils and there are about 3% of ghost schools in order to collect more subsidies from government. “Better records management for proper accountability is what the entire government needs”, Mr. Kamara highlighted. Mr. Kamara also harped on government’s responsibility in the fight against corruption by asking: what is government’s response to the ACC’s findings? What is the public’s response? Do we as a people have a will to “bastardize” corruption and collectively join the ACC and the government to condemn and fight it? These are what will make the fight against corruption more effective, Mr. Kamara suggested. The ACC boss along the way paid complement to the great role the press is playing in highlighting the issues involving corruption in the county and for publicizing the ACC’s work.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 09:59:41 +0000
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