By Edward Kargbo
When the current ACC leadership assumed office, it set a tone that signaled a broad fight.
They went after teachers, students and school administrators. They went after people they suspected were working in the country on fake qualifications. They went after opposition politicians who were in the previous government. They showed the public that they can be anywhere and everywhere, rooting out corruption. It seemed like a crusade. They committed to making corruption costly. A lot of these actions prompted mixed reactions from members of the public.
BEN KAIFALA, ACC COMMISSIONER
I was particularly unimpressed with their casting-the-net-wide approach to the fight against corruption. Criminal, police matters were taken on by the ACC with all their might and resources. One Scorpion raid after the other. The result from this exuberance is increased demand for their attention and high expectations from the public. Basically, creating demand that they cannot sustainably service.
Now, the same ACC is saying they cannot get involved in the investigation and prosecution of people involved in the degree-gate. I get it. I understand the ACC boss when he says these are matters for the police to investigate. I am, in a way, with him on this. The police should be looking at this as a criminal racketeering ring. The problem though is that they had set a standard and backtracking on it may come across as hypocritical to many people. And the fact that the Police boss is one of those embroiled in the degree-gate makes it hard for people to believe that the Police can do anything about it.
The ACC is now like a spider that is entangled in its own web. This is because they have been all over the place, showing clear signs of a lack of focus. Today, they are prosecuting clerks, the next day they are busting examination fraud rings and the other moment they are trying hard to explain why they cannot investigate powerful people in government. Literally all over the place and extraordinarily defensive. Now people expect them to be involved in everything because they had suggested that they were in a position to do so. And these are issues that have wide-ranging implications for public confidence and trust in the ACC. Such flip-flopping and backtracking put them in a corner where they have a lot of explaining to do.
I remember when the issue of the Audit Report came up. The ACC was extremely defensive and dismissive. Through public pressure, they eventually budged, albeit half-heartedly. The same pattern has been followed with the #degreegate. At first, they were dismissive as usual, in a you-cannot-teach-us-our-job tone. As the scale of the scam becomes clearer, they remain adamant, but the tone has certainly been watered down.
When the ACC seems to be allover the place, flip-flopping, it loses its stature and clout. Now they are in their own web, trying to explain themselves. If they tried to appear more strategic and targeted in the very beginning, not trying to draw attention but focus on the actual work—systemic and high-level corruption—people wouldn’t be looking up to them to investigate and prosecute every case of suspected criminality and corruption. They are too out there, they talk too much, blow their own horn, and in the process appear overly familiar. Posin nor dae fraid or admire debul wae dae komot everyday.
Focus!
