Nabillahi-Musa Kamara
Director – National Anti-Corruption Strategy Secretariat
Sierra Leone Telegraph: 3 January 2017
The attention of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has been drawn to a publication titled:“CHRDI Condemns the ACC and urges government to do more to fight corruption;”authored by the Campaign for Human Rights and Development International (CHRDI), which purported to have concluded a study on the national fight against corruption.
In another publication, CHRDI claims that the ACC has not published audited accounts in the past ten years.
The ACC wishes to state that these reports are misleading, malicious, and unfounded. ACC has no records of any CHRDI researcher speaking to any of its officials on the issues raised.
Furthermore, the facts and figures on the programs and operations of the ACC are contained in its annual reports and National Annual Audit Reports. It seems obvious that either CHRDI did not read these reports, or chose to ignore them.
CHRDI should understand that the judiciary has the sole mandate to determine cases inclusive of setting dates for trial.
CHRDI’s presumption that cases are stalled on appeal because the ACC is ‘unwilling to urge the judiciary to slate dates’ is misguided; and any such steps taken by the ACC, undermines the principles of separation of powers and the operation of the rule of law.
CHRDI also claims it ‘discovered’ that ‘the ACC lacks staff with the right competencies, expertise and skills especially in areas of policing organized economic crimes, financial intelligence and forensic auditing,’ completely lacks merit.
Between 2014 and 2016, the country made the most gains in the fight against corruption as evidenced in local, international and regional anti-corruption barometers. In the area of prosecutions, many have been convicted, including sitting ministers, magistrates, mayor, high profile public officials and business people.
The ACC has had more than 102 convictions and had even secured a 100% rate in 2014.
Consequently, Sierra Leone made 39 spaces upwards in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index moving from a ranking of 158 in 2008 to 119 in 2014.
The Mo Ibrahim Index on Governance 2014 states that “Sierra Leone is the second country that has demonstrated statistically significant improvements in the quality of overall governance over the past five years.”
In 2016, Sierra Leone moved 16% upwards in the Millennium Challenge Cooperation Control of Corruption Indicator, with 53% as against 37% in 2015.
The Pay No Bribe Campaign is the most scientific method designed to fight corruption. It is an initiative between the UK Government through the Department for International Development and the Government of Sierra Leone.
It represents one of the most effective ways of countering bribery. Please visit the website at www.pnb.gov.
On claims that recoveries are diverted for personal use, a simple research would have shown CHRDI that these monies are publicly presented to the President on an annual basis by way of cheques endorsed to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
(Photo: ACC Chief Macauley congratulated by President Koroma).
So far, the ACC, has been able to recover almost 11bn Leones, excluding court fines and recoveries. The annual national audit reports clearly show this.
However, the ACC recognizes that “corruption has hindered economic development, reduced social services, and diverted investments in infrastructure, institutions, and social services into personal accounts.”
Therefore, the ACC calls on the leadership of CHRDI to help in the fight against corruption by supporting its undertakings in the national campaign against graft, rather than undermine same to promote a desired agenda.
Nabillahi-Musa Kamara
Director – National Anti-Corruption Strategy Secretariat
Mr Musa – if the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Chief is earning over $15,000 a month which is equivalent to 97 million and 5 hundred thousand (97,500,000) Leones a month assuming that US$1=6500 LEONES; and multiplied by 12 months in a year, is equivalent to 1,170,000,000 (one Billion, one hundred and seventy million) Leones.
And you are boasting that the ACC has been able to recover almost 11 billion Leones, excluding court fines and recoveries.
The annual national audit reports clearly show this. That Mr Ade Macaulay’s annual salary alone is equivalent to 1/10th of the amount recovered, is nothing to write or take note about in terms of the hundreds of millions of dollars still unaccounted for, especially from the Ebola funds.
One wonders what is the total benefit in terms of tax payers’ money being spent on the operations of the ACC under the APC government, compared to it’s operations during the past SLPP government, as it was during the SLPP government that the ACC was able to prosecute and convict a sitting magistrate and lawyer.
Please can you – Mr Musa Kamara, elaborate and name the sitting magistrate, mayor, etc. that had been convicted in your own words as stated above in the article?
Between 2014 and 2016, the country made the most gains in the fight against corruption as evidenced in local, international and regional anti-corruption barometers. In the area of prosecutions, many have been convicted, including sitting ministers, magistrates, mayor, high profile public officials and business people.