“The development of the community depends on our collective resolve to demand for more transparency and accountability from duty bearers in the implementation of projects and programs in communities.”
This statement was made on Tuesday 16th November 2020 by the Chiefdom Speaker, Sulima Chiefdom, Falaba District, Mohamed K. Samura, at a sensitization meeting with chiefdom stakeholders organized by the North-East Region Office of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Speaking to chiefdom functionaries at the Court Barray, Falaba Town, ACC’s Senior Public Education Officer Abdulai Saccoh said, the composition of the participants apparently demonstrate the Commission’s desire to increase public involvement in accountability programs.
The Senior Public Education Officer averred that though their community is resource rich, majority of its inhabitants remain in abject poverty as a result of corruption. Mr. Saccoh furthered that, among the several reasons for the deplorable state of public infrastructures in rural communities, is the diversion and misappropriation of limited funds for community projects.
He admitted that the cost of corruption is huge, and as a consequence, robs the state of legitimate resources that could have been used to improve the socio-economic wellbeing of the citizens.
The Senior Public Education Officer alluded that some of the perpetrators of these heinous acts sometimes go unpunished because certain individuals collude with them to hide their tracks. He advised the chiefdom functionaries to prioritize the payment of taxes and abstain from smuggling since the aforementioned acts only enrich few at the expense of the masses.
He cautioned that the law is not a respecter of individuals who pride themselves in causing misery in the lives of ordinary Sierra Leoneans.
In his statement, Public Education Officer ACC, Abdul Karim Bangura, said the meeting is part of the Commission’s approach to engage chiefdom functionaries in a constructive discourse to share anti-corruption messages and promote the culture of accountability.
He said the presence of public sector institutions in rural communities is to make quality social services accessible and devoid of corruption.
He referred to corruption as any wicked practice that breeds resentment.
Mr. Bangura cautioned chiefdom authorities not to use customary rites accorded to them as an excuse to extort money.
He dilated on some of the gains the ACC has recorded in the past few years, including the recovery of over Twenty Two Billion Leones, high conviction rate, and the 81% score in the ‘Control of Corruption’ indicator in the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) scorecard.
Traditional authorities, school administrators, health workers and other public sector personnel made meaningful statements. They commended the ACC for providing them with anti-corruption messages but catalogued a number of challenges, including: unapproved teachers, delay in school subsidies, unavailability of essential drugs, insufficient health workers, lack of funds to run health centres and no salary for local court staff and some chiefdom administrators.
The chiefdom authorities acknowledged Government’s efforts to improve education, health and other sectors, but encouraged them to do more to alleviate their current challenges.
30/11/2020. ISSUE NO: 7960