“WE ARE GOING TO ACCOUNT ONE DAY”
President Julius Maada Bio has reiterated that the culture of corruption in Sierra Leone wherein people even hailed corrupt officials have to end. He said serving officials in the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) led government should ensure that they make the best decisions and always act in the best interests of citizens of the nation.
“We are going to account one day,” he said on the BBC on Friday, adding, “If we are serious about development, we cannot be this corrupt as a nation and expect to develop.” He added that serving officials should follow processes and procedures as far as financial and administrative management of the State are concerned.
Bio said the recent Commissions of Inquiry should serve as a strong warning to serving officials that they have a duty of care that when one is appointed to serve one’s country, it must be done “with honesty, fairness, justice, diligence, and compassion.”
The release last Thursday of the white papers outlined punishments that are awaiting public officials who took oaths to serve their people but instead looted State Coffers and built themselves mansions. Bio said properties are going to be confiscated and that people are going to return money to the State after investigations found them wanting.
“We want to make corruption unfashionable, risky and expensive and that people would have to think twice before stealing,” he said, adding “We want this to be the culture not just for my administration.”
Responding to whether serving officials are listening to him, President Bio said anybody found wanting will face the full force of the law. He reiterated that nobody would be barred as the “commissions of inquiry were not a witch-hunt but to get the people’s money back and invest in the people. Impunity is one thing that we want to stop.”
Recent reports by various organizations have indicated high level corruption in most sectors in the country. Recently presenting a copy of the “Corruption Perceptions Survey 2019” to Beyond Borders, the Executive Director for the Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL), Ibrahim Tommy said in contemporary Sierra Leone, “public officials see nothing wrong in stealing and the masses celebrate such officials.”
The CARL Corruption Perceptions Survey 2019 stated that 73% of respondents indicated that corruption is a serious problem in Sierra Leone.
