The long awaiting Commission of Inquiry Report that was set up by the Maada Bio led government to carry out through independent, fair and impartial, investigations into allegations of corruption and abuse of public office and to make relevant findings and to proffer appropriate recommendations to the government of Sierra Leone for its consideration, has finally been published by the commission on Wednesday 25th March 2020.
This commission which aimed at examining the assets and other related matters in respect of persons who were president, vice presidents, Ministers, Ministers of state, Deputy Ministers and Heads of Chairman of Boards of parastatals, Departments and agencies within the period from November 2007 to April 2018, is set up to inquire into and investigate whether assets were acquired lawfully or unlawfully by some of the members of the APC party who served in the then Ernest Bai Koroma’s government .
This unprecedented development has however summoned a lot of tongue wagging among Sierra Leoneans of different work of lives, as some political critics perceive it to mean a strategy by the ruling SLPP government to collapse the financial capacity of certain APC resolute whom they think may have the necessary political thump and strength to engage in the fierce battle in clinching the 2023 elections.
Anyway, to us the covenant newspaper, the bold action of HE President Bio to establish a commission of inquiry that will look into the corrupt activities of selfish politicians is a welcoming and brilliant awareness, because we are of the strong conviction that Sierra Leone as a nation can only be develop when corruption which serves as a cankerworm and which has destroyed the fabrics of the society, is mitigated or totally eradicated. Therefore H E President Bio’s action of establishing a commission of inquiry to investigate the erstwhile Ernest Bai Koroma led government would be regarded as a laudable venture, provided members of his current government are ready and willing to free themselves from the shackles of corruption which purportedly they might have engulfed themselves into, as we believe and know that zero tolerance in corruption is appropriate but the reality is that it takes a little bit longer to fight and remove corruption in Sierra Leone because like in Ayi Kwei Armah’s “Beautiful ones are not yet born” it has become a culture to the society in such way that failing to abide by it dictates will render one meaningless in the society.
It is clearly indicated in the report that one of the indicators use by the commission to measure corruption is that the standard of living of government workers should be commensurate to their salary emolument. That is fine, as the covenant newspaper marveled at it, for it will be a good check to curb down the massive corruption that has eaten on the development aspiration of Sierra Leoneans, but the trillion questions that remained unanswered are; how many working Sierra Leoneans are actually making their living with their meager salaries? Are salaries paid to government workers adequate enough to take care of even the bills in the house? Is it not true that the adage “wesei dem tie cow na di en di eat” a common maxim used by office workers?
However, from this perspective, the covenant newspaper is of the opinion that in order to combat corruption in Sierra Leone the SLPP government that is currently in the seat of power must be ready to lead so that others will follow suit.
Besides the covenant newspaper is also concern with the commissions omission of certain other ministers who actively served in the Ernest Bai Koroma’s led APC government, as we in the covenant may want to know whether these set of ministers who served in different Ministerial positions during the regime that was commissioned were not found wanting of any corrupt practices?
In other words, does the commission led by the erudite legal pundit and religious fervent, George Biobele wants to frantically present to us that , Denis Sandy ,who served in the capacity as Minister of lands; Musa Tarawalley,who served as one time resident Minister South, Minister of internal Affairs and Minister of lands and a host of others Ministers, directors and Managers of institutions innocent of corruption during the periods in which they served in those capacities?
That some of the Ministers, Directors and Mangers have been indicted and coarse to pay monies that they are alleged of misappropriating is a good precedent that is worth emulating by subsequent governments.
