By Umaru Fofana
It seems the more we fight corruption in Sierra Leone the more the scourge persists and the more the dog barks at the bone and not bites it. The grim situation is made worse by the fact that both the government and the anti-graft agency, ACC, arrogate themselves more credit than they admit to the reality that they are not making much headway, if any.
The latest Auditor General’s report, like the last two before it, disproves any notion or feeling that the fight against graft is yielding much dividend if at all. Not for the first time in recent times, key decisions to probe deeper or even charge for corruption have been triggered by the Auditor General’s report. The tough law that is the ACC Act, as amended in 2008, does not seem to be being put into efficacious use to enhance a robust fight against economic malfeasance in public offices.
Now, a very interesting press release came out of State House last week. It, in part, reads: “The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is investigating allegations of misuse of donor funds relating to the Gavi Alliance assisted health strengthening “HSS” cash support to Sierra Leone and other corruption related complaints appertaining to the ministry of health and sanitation.
“The nature and weight of the said allegations make it imperative that those involved should be suspended from office to preclude obstruction and interference with the conduct of the investigations.”
The release continues that the president, Ernest Bai Koroma directed that ten officials in the ministry of health and sanitation be immediately suspended from office while the ACC investigation was ongoing. The said officials included the chief medical officer, the permanent secretary, the principal health economist and the principal accountant, procurement manager and accountants.
This release came days after the ACC had announced that it was investigating the case of the missing Bill Gates money which led to the multimillionaire’s Foundation freezing any funds intended to fight diseases ripping off our children. Again the fact that Gavi Alliance themselves, and not our state institutional firewalls against corruption or the health ministry’s own internal mechanism, had to track the apparent stealing of more than half a million dollars, begs a lot of questions. And it is surprising that many people in many offices are still in their positions.
Now the Office of the President has done the right thing by suspending the officials who may have had a hand in the apparent disappearance of the Gavi Alliance fund pending investigations by the Anti Corruption Commission. Much as this decision by the President is laudable I cannot help but ask why the same action was not taken when senior officials of the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) were being investigated for the corrupt purchase of two rickety ferries at apparently inflated prices and the hundreds of thousands of dollars pumped to fix them. Yes, fix, even before they could be used. And the second ferry is still nowhere to be found and no one is saying anything to the nation about it. But the missing ferry and the apparently stolen dollars are not the thrust of this piece. What is, is the manner in which the case was handled or mishandled.
Throughout the investigations into the infamous NASSIT case, Edmund Koroma the former head of the institution who, at the time of the investigations as now, was the Financial Secretary was never suspended. The Chairman of the NASSIT Board was left in place. The investigations were completed and the ACC assured that they had evidence to charge the matter to court. Under the ACC Act, as amended in 2008, anyone who is charged for corruption offences, must be suspended from work. Apparently in a bid to evade this and the subsequent conviction which would have barred them from holding public office a rather murky deal was struck. The men agreed to an out-of-court settlement under which they were to pay hundreds of millions of Leones each so the matter would be dropped.
I still ask why the President did not suspend those NASSIT staff – former and current – when they were being investigated. Or is it only good to do so when it is convenient to do so? Then that is the beginning of the failure in the fight against corruption. Anything bad done by anyone must be treated the same way. After all it was President Koroma who said there would be no sacred cows under him as president. If this action, laudable as it may be, does not remind us of the sacredness of the NASSIT cows, then nothing else does.
When I asked some officials at the heat of the NASSIT case as to why the officials had not been suspended as civility and good practice would demand, I was told that should be an administrative decision and not an ACC action. I agreed then as I do now. Even if I thought, as I still do think, that the ACC should have requested for such.
What I do not understand, probably disagree with, is why the Human Resource Management Office (HRMO) did not take this action to suspend the Health ministry officials. They were never appointed by the President and I would imagine they should not have been suspended by him. Had they been ministers, then the president it is that should have acted.
And if the HRMO had taken the decision to suspend the health officials I would have excused the president for not acting against the NASSIT people and asked of the HRMO why now. But the fact the president can take such action as he has done, means he could have done same with Edmond Koroma and others. Unless, of course, as rumoured, he had filial and other considerations in some in the NASSIT matter. In which case he contradicts himself when he said there would be no sacred cows with him at the helm.
It seems that in our fight against corruption, it is one set of rules for one group, and another for another. This only means one step forward and three steps backwards in our fight against graft.
(C) Politico 05/02/13
