Echo Of The Pen!!
By Lansana Fofanah
Can The New Direction Do It The ACC Way?
For the second year in a row, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has been maintaining it leads in the country’s global assessment of performing institutions by the Millennium Corporation Challenge( MCC).
Just after the recent visit made by the Chief Executive Officer, of the MCC, Caincross in Sierra Leone, the United States Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Maria Brewer on the 9th of November 2020, took welcoming news to State House that the country has again passed an additional two MCC indicators while improving on corruption control.
From 79% in 2019, the MCC 2020 rated Sierra Leone’s corruption control at 81% which happens to be the highest score the country has ever had.
For a Commission that is underfunded, with not enough vehicles or staff to carry out its enforcement mandates properly, the ACC Commissioner, Francis Ben Keifala’s effort in fighting corruption has not gone unnoticed. He has been able to imbibe the culture of fear, transparency, and accountability in every sector as the Scorpion Squad at the Commission is in readiness to sting anyone indulged in corrupt practices.
Sierra Leone would have won the MCC compact during the last assessment had the ACC been the only determiner, but some institutions are yet to know the true meaning of New Direction.
While some ministries department and agencies are busy showing theories without results, the ACC has been proactively on the move to expose cabals and corrupt syndicates that continue to stagnate the growth of the economy.
Recently, the Scorpion Squad at the ACC busted on a long-existing fraud network at the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority where billions of Leones are being stolen daily by top management while failing to improve on electricity supply.
When the ACC paraded teachers and students that were indulged in exam malpractices around the great Cotton Tree at Siaka Stevens Street, many condemned that action for they believe they should go after big thieves.
Corruption is Corruption no matter who committed it or which way it was done.
The standard of education was at its lowest ebb for some people will have fantastic degrees with little or nothing in their heads.
corruption in the educational sector was something legal for parents that believe the only way to tertiary education is through bribery and for the coordinators, the only way they could make millions of Leones is by finding every possible way to satisfy their new-found clients who are desperate to pay anything to get university requirements.
Correcting those wrongs means doing the needful and hurting those that rely on it for their sustenance for the good of all is necessary.
Two years along the line we have seen the results of that harsh reality.
According to a statement from the West Africa Examination Council, the May/June 2020 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination results are encouraging as 64% of candidates got more than five subjects with credits including English and Mathematics. This was because the hub of bribery and corruption in exam halls has been suffocated and students are left with no choice but to study if only they want to pass for the bar has been raised.
It is now becoming a normal practice for those accused of embezzling public funds and under investigation by the ACC to secretly settle a matter by refunding what they were alleged to have stolen to avoid similar actions of parading them in public or naming and shaming.
Those indelible achievements did not come to many as a surprise because Ben Keifala knows the mandates of the Commission unlike some political appointees that are squire pegs in a round hole that do not exactly why they were appointed and the functions of their offices.
If the ACC as a Commission could deliver on its mandates, and keep putting Sierra Leone top in the global ranking, what is hampering institutions like the Justice sector, Agriculture, Lands, Finance and Trade that have full ministerial status from doing the same but always staggering with low figures?
President Bio has always provided his unflinching political will and support to every ministries department and agencies for he believes the New Direction should be seen doing things differently. But despite several ministerial retreats and usual cabinet meetings, the impact of several ministries is not felt by the public and one may wonder whether the President is pleased with the abysmal performances of those ministries.
For Sierra Leone to be among winners of the next MCC compact, President Julius Maada Bio must ensure that grey areas and recommendations are considered seriously and that other ministries and agencies must be seen doing things the ACC way which is by showing results than telling.
News 24 publication.
11/11/2020
