By Alimatu Jalloh
Dr. Alie Kabba, former ambassador and permanent representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations in New York and former minister of Foreign Affairs, on Friday, October 14, 2021, testified before Justice Adrian Fisher of the High Court in the ongoing Chancery saga against Samura Kamara and five others.
Led in evidence by ACC Counsel M. T Matesbo, Alie Kabba recognized the first accused Saidu Nallo who was head of chancery in New York. He said he had no working relationship with the second, third and fourth accused persons.
He said that in August 2018 he presented his credentials to the United Nations, and he officially started work on September 5, 2019.
He further that the second accused Kandeh Foday Bassie Kamara was the financial attaché at the said mission by the time he arrived for duty.
He said in 2019 he immediately conveyed a meeting with the diplomatic staff about the chancery project and among the briefing notes he didn’t see the head of chancery Mr. Nallo, the first accused.
The former Minister further that before his arrival, Mr. Nallo had assured him through memos to the Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the project would be completed and ready for opening by President Bio that same year.
He further that when their government came to power, they inherited the problem of lack of payment for the project.
He said he then implored the then minister of finance Jacob Jusu Saffa to ensure the disbursement of funds for the project to save the country from an embarrassment because Mr. Nallo had informed him about a potential lawsuit by the contractor against the government.
He said that US$500,000 was disbursed by the Ministry of Finance for the implementation of the project.
He said while as minister of foreign affairs, he consistently made all efforts to make sure funds were flowing for the completion of the project, but to his disappointment before the end of his tenure, he visited the said chancery project and found the project far from being ready for commissioning by President Bio as planned.
He said that he then immediately called for a meeting with the contractor where the latter instead of talking about the completion of the building was rather requesting for more money. He said that he made it clear to the contractor that more money will come in for the project and requested that the contractor do a clear workplan and timeline for completion.
Alie Kabba said during one of their weekly meetings the contractor introduced a woman as the architect of the project but was later proven to be an interior designer.
He said he also discovered that the contractor had no competence and professional records, according to the data from business bureau.
Alie Kabba said having realized the project was not near completion, he summoned a meeting with the chancery’s diplomat to wrap up the project.
He was asked by ACC lawyer if he ever looked at the contract, he responded that he and his deputies made several requests for the contract document but kept receiving excuses from the head of chancery that the document was bulky, but later saw some pages of the said contract somewhere other than from the head of chancery.
He said in the contract, he saw provisions for an architect and how payments should be done with the architect and who should authenticate it.
Alie Kabba continue that in April 2021, he decided to visit the building to see how far the work has gone but the head of chancery and the contractor dealing with the project were preventing him as head of mission from accessing the building by putting padlock on the premises throughout the period, but he insisted on seeing the building.
“It was like scene of horror movie. At the time the building was opened to him with the roof dripping water and wet walls,” he stated.
He said he never took a paper to cabinet for such additional floors which cost US$1.9 million.
The reason for that was because there was no roof on the building leaving everything that had been done before to be destroyed.
At this stage the matter was adjourned to Monday, October 17, 2022 for further hearing.