Mackie M. Jalloh: Siera Leone Telegraph: 17 August 2024:
The ZoodLabs contract, awarded during Mohamed Rado Swaray’s tenure as Minister of Information and Communications, stands as a stark symbol of the corruption and incompetence that have plagued Sierra Leone’s telecommunications sector.
Entrusted with managing the nation’s International Gateway, ZoodLabs promised to invest $20 million in critical infrastructure upgrades—a promise that remains unfulfilled nearly four years later. Instead, the company has operated on unstable financial footing, depleting the Le6 billion it inherited from Sierra Leone Cable Limited (SALCAB) within a month and delivering unreliable services that culminated in a major outage on August 4, 2024.
The awarding of the ZoodLabs contract was marred by questionable practices from the start. Despite significant concerns raised by the Ministry of Finance about the contract’s financial transactions, Swaray pushed the deal through Parliament with minimal scrutiny.
This reckless disregard for due process has left Sierra Leoneans to suffer from unreliable internet services, while ZoodLabs continues to stumble under the weight of unfulfilled obligations and financial mismanagement.
But the ZoodLabs debacle is only the tip of the iceberg. Swaray’s tenure as Minister of Information and Communications was riddled with failures that have left lasting scars on Sierra Leone’s telecommunications landscape.
Central to this legacy of mismanagement is the collapse of Sierratel, once the country’s leading state-owned telecommunications provider. Under Swaray’s supervision, Sierratel was expected to spearhead the modernization of Sierra Leone’s communications infrastructure. Instead, the company was driven into the ground by corruption, financial mismanagement, and a lack of strategic vision.
Swaray allowed Sierratel to languish, neglecting the urgent need for technological upgrades and infrastructure investment. Funds that should have been used to revitalize the company were instead squandered on poorly conceived projects that yielded little return.
His failure to enforce accountability within Sierratel’s leadership further compounded the company’s decline, rendering it incapable of competing with private sector operators.
The unbundling of SALCAB and the privatization of key assets, which were meant to breathe new life into the sector, only deepened Sierratel’s woes. These moves were executed with little transparency, raising suspicions of corruption and personal gain at the expense of the public good.
Simultaneously, the Sierra Leone News Agency (SLENA), another state-owned enterprise under Swaray’s purview, suffered a similar fate. Charged with serving as the government’s official news outlet, SLENA was left to deteriorate under Swaray’s leadership.
The agency, which could have been a vital tool for public communication, was instead starved of resources and direction. Outdated equipment, inadequate funding, and a lack of strategic oversight turned SLENA into an irrelevant relic, unable to fulfill its mandate in an era where effective communication is crucial.
Honourable Ibrahim Tawa Conteh (Photo below), then Chairman of the Parliamentary Transparency and Accountability Committee, was among the few who dared to challenge Swaray’s mismanagement.
The parliamentarian’s confrontation with Swaray over the ZoodLabs contract and the handling of SALCAB’s fiber optics was a bold stand against the corruption and incompetence that have crippled Sierra Leone’s telecommunications sector.
Conteh’s resignation from his position following this dispute was a clear signal that something was deeply wrong. Now, as Deputy Speaker of Parliament, he is calling for a thorough investigation into the ZoodLabs deal, urging the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to scrutinize Swaray’s role in this national crisis.
The collapse of Sierratel and SLENA, coupled with the ZoodLabs debacle, has left Sierra Leoneans demanding Swaray’s immediate removal from his current position as Minister of Labour.
The public’s anger is fueled by the realization that Swaray’s leadership was characterized by a pattern of self-interest and corruption, which has compromised not only the telecommunications sector but also the integrity of public service as a whole.
The time for accountability has arrived. The Anti-Corruption Commission (Photo above: ACC commissioner – Francis Kelfala) must launch a comprehensive investigation into Swaray’s actions as Minister of Information and Communications, particularly his role in the ZoodLabs contract and the mismanagement of Sierratel and SLENA.
The people of Sierra Leone deserve to know how these state-owned enterprises were allowed to fail and who profited from their downfall.
As Sierra Leone continues to struggle with unreliable internet services and a telecommunications sector in disarray, the legacy of Mohamed Rado Swaray serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of corrupt and incompetent leadership.
Honourable Tawa Conteh’s call for justice must be heeded. The ACC’s intervention is essential not only to hold those responsible accountable but also to restore public trust and pave the way for a more transparent and effective governance of Sierra Leone’s telecommunications future.
If a government can RIGG a whole national election to its benefit, what about a State owned Enterprise???? ACC as an accomplice in te rigging of the 2023 elections and a shielder of presidential cronies from accountability can only save a state owned enterprise that much.