By Joseph Lamin Kamara
Civil society organizations have welcomed the reappointment of the head of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara with caution.
News of the extension of the term of the ACC boss was revealed over the weekend in a statement from the anti-graft agency.
“President Ernest Bai Koroma has reappointed Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara to serve another five-year term as Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC),” reads part of the statement sent to Politico.
While welcoming the development, the organizations which focus on accountability issues highlighted a number of concerns around the thorny issue of fighting graft in Sierra Leone.
“It’s a welcome idea. A lot of strides and gains have been achieved in the fight against corruption,” said Edward Bankoloh Koroma, Head of Programmes at Transparency International Sierra Leone, adding: “We look forward to seeing how he can continue the programmes he has started.”
Koroma described as “robust” the National Anti-Corruption Strategy launched last year, which spans up to 2018, but he raised concern about the independence of the Commission to fully implement it.
Valnora Edwin, Executive Director of Campaign for Good Governance (CGG), said they recognized the reappointment, but they would also want to see the commission do better than it was already doing.
Mr Joseph Kamara was first appointed in September 2010 for a term of five years and his first tenure elapses next month. His appointment came following the resignation of Abdul Tejan-Cole, whose departure came in the wake of the indictment of the then Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Afsatu Olayinka Ebishola Kabba. Mrs Kabba was eventually found guilty by the High Court.
Mr Tejan-Cole’s departure without a public statement, however, left the public speculating that his work had been affected by political interference.
There has not been any statement yet from the office of President Koroma about the extension of the term of office for Mr Kamara. But the ACC statement issued by its Executive Secretary cited the head of the Commission as the source of the information.
“The Commissioner wishes to thank the Board, Management and Staff for their contribution and support and encourage all to continue in the spirit with the fight against corruption.”
Mr Kamara`s first term has been marred by controversies aroused by a number of high profile corruption cases, most, if not all, of which have been lost. In some cases, successful indictments have been overturned through appeals hearings, as was the case with Afsatu Kabba who was recently appointed by President Koroma to the prominent position of High Commissioner in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
But there have been even more embarrassing situations for the anti-graft agency, notably when senior officials were indicted and on successful conviction got weak punishment, like paltry fines.
Such scenarios, and there are many of them, have persistently fuelled public perception towards the Commission.
But Koloneh Sankoh, ACC’s Director of Public Education and Outreach Department, told Politico that the commission had been successful in its duties as far as they were concerned, under the leadership of Commissioner Kamara.
She cited 2014 as particularly successful with a “100%” conviction rate out of 14 cases the Commission prosecuted.
Sankoh highlighted a number of other successes by the Commission under Joseph Kamara, including mainstreaming of the fight against corruption, notably the establishment of integrity committees within public offices countrywide.
“We have launched the second phase of the Anti-Corruption Strategy focusing on mainstreaming anti-corruption measures in the public sector,” she said, adding that they had support from partners like the European Union.
Sankoh also spoke about introduction of “integrity pledges and integrity pact”, of which she said the latter had been signed by permanent secretaries “committing themselves that corruption does not occur in any transaction under their watch.”
“We went further to ensure private sector comes under scrutiny,” she said.
Another notable graft case lost by the ACC under the leadership of Commissioner Kamara was the one against the former head of the National Revenue Authority (NRA), Alieu Sesay, in 2013. The commission lost that case on all 57 count charges
Ms Sankoh said the commission did not regard such instances as failure, blaming them instead on the “weaknesses in the design of the process.”
She observed that the [court] process did “not have trial by jury but by judge” and “it is one man who presides over the case.”
“We don’t have a problem with the Appeals Court ruling. Justice has been served,” she added, referring to the Afsatu Kabba case.
However, for the civil society, all these major losses raise questions around the independence of the ACC.
Transparency International Sierra Leone, for instance, believes the commission can hardly be independent for the mere fact that it is government-funded and the top officials are appointed by the president.
“The independence of the commission is sometimes questionable. The ACC cannot come and report there has been political interference,” said Edward Bankoloh Koroma.
“Most of those things are done behind closed doors.”
Ms Edwin added though that political interference was a public perception about the ACC and that there was no clear evidence to prove it.
“There seems to be executive control, but it is difficult to say a definite ‘yes’ or ‘no’,” she said.
She however added that it was difficult to see political will in fighting corruption in Sierra Leone.
Madam Edwin also said that when the ACC continued losing cases against high political figures, the public confidence in the commission was bound to wane.
(C) Politico 05/08/15
