By Chernoh Alpha M Bah (11/01/2022)
By now every Sierra Leonean knows that the arrest and detention of anyone on allegations of corruption have never been a secret affair in Sierra Leone.
Especially in recent years! If that is the case, the question that has to be answered by the ACC is why should the so-called arrest and detention of public officials in connection to the Abdul Aziz FY2020 Audit Report be a secret affair; one that is only known by the ACC? The answer we already know is very simple: This is because no such arrests and detentions happened anywhere in Sierra Leone in the course of the holidays. (Photo: President Bio, Foreign Minister Dr David Francis, Chief Minister Jacob Jusu Saffa are the biggest thieves in the ruling SLPP regime).
Police records in entire Sierra Leone have no mention of any such arrests and detentions in connection to the Abdul Aziz FY2020 Audit Report. And the important thing to note here is this: It is against the law in Sierra Leone, and even elsewhere, to arrest and detain anyone without maintaining a record of such arrest and the reason(s) for detention. We all know that arresting and detaining anyone without such a record would qualify as an act of kidnapping. (Photos: The sacked Auditor General Madam Lara Taylor-Pearce and the corrupt ACC Chairman Francis Ben Kaifala).
So, the simple demand here is for the ACC to simply release the names of its so-called detainees and the reasons for their detention, including where they were detained during the course of the holidays. And we have to remember that this was a public promise made by the ACC in an open press conference. Besides, the ACC has always issued press releases with names of the alleged corruption suspects in the past, so why should the situation be different now?
Again, we know the ACC’s list of accused persons was not issued because no such arrests and detentions happened during the Christmas holidays! The TRUTH is this: No one was invited by the ACC or detained in any police station in Sierra Leone in connection to the Abdul Aziz FY2020 Audit Report during the holidays. Police records in entire Sierra Leone have no mention of such arrests or detainees!!
This new effort to cover up corruption underscores why Sierra Leoneans must now recalibrate the national conversation on corruption and redirect national energy and attention towards a real conversation on the corruption crisis in the country. It is only through a holistic national effort, devoid of the fire-brigade-type response to symptoms of any social crisis, that the actual causes of underdevelopment – both human and material – will be properly understood and truly tackled. And until we separate the campaign against corruption from its partisan paraphernalia, then the real obstacles to economic progress and development will be difficult to address.
Courtesy: Chernoh Alpha M Bah, Africanist Press
