On Monday 14th September 2020 Sierra Leone’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has called on the public to help by providing information on alleged corrupt practices in the house of parliament.
The ACC informed the public it would soon conclude the investigation into corruption allegations involving the Clerk of Parliament, Hon. Paran Tarawally, and Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh of Constituency 132.
The investigation which commenced in November 2019 is about an allegation of misappropriation of public funds in the country’s House of Parliament.
“The public will be accordingly updated on developments regarding the said investigations,” a release signed by the commission’s Director of Public Education and Outreach pointed out.
ACC also said in the release that it notes public reactions and rightful concerns about allegations of corruption in Parliament emanating from the 2019 Corruption Perception Survey Report commissioned in April 2020 by the Public Financial Management Consortium led by the Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL) in which respondents said parliament is the fourth most corrupt institution in Sierra Leone and parliamentarians the second most corrupt persons in the country.
ACC said their attention was also drawn to an interview granted by Member of Parliament, Hon. Hindolo M. Gevao to the British Broadcasting Corporation–BBC’s Focus on Africa program of Wednesday 9th September 2020 in which Gevao acknowledged instances of corruption in Parliament.
The commission said they have commenced probing the issue by taking a statement from the said parliamentarian, adding that Gevao confirmed the general claim that parliamentarians or parliament is corrupt but did not provide any specifics like “names, instances, persons involved, modus operandi – which to us fell short of any meaningful ‘lead’ or helpful evidence.”
ACC said investigations would continue, and it appears they have to rely on other sources to make desired progress on the matter based on the serious claims made by Hon. Gevao.
“In that regard, the commission is requesting all persons who have paid monies to, or from whom monies have been solicited by any member (s) of the current parliament, or staff of parliament, in order to approve their appointments, institutional budgets, legislative instruments, or such other public service, etc. to make same known to the Anti-Corruption Commission with, where possible reasonable specifics to assist with the investigation,” the release informed.
