By Mabinty M. Kamara
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Sierra Leone have in a press statement called on the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to protect people who speak and act against corruption.
The letter addressed to the head of the ACC, Francis Ben Kaifala, was signed by 54 CSOs, who called his attention to the recent suspension of two parliamentarians - Hindolo Gevao of Constituency 003 in Kailahun District and Ibrahim Tawa Conteh of Constituency 132 in Freetown. The wtwo were sanctioned for speaking out against actions pointing to corruption in the lawmaking institution.
The CSO want the ACC to intervene to ensure the men’s reinstatement.
“We believe that both Hon. Gevao and Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh were assisting the Commission in the fight against corruption by sharing information that could provide leads to the Commission,” the letter reads.
It adds: “In this regard, they deserve the protection envisaged under Section 86 of the Anti-Corruption Act 2008 as amended, which states the following: “No action or proceeding, including disciplinary action, may be instituted or maintained against a person in respect of assistance given by the person to the Commission or an investigating officer”.
The CSOs notes that the government has in recent times been lauded for the fight against Corruption in the country, which has been evident in the recent Afrobarometer report and in the 2019 Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) scorecard.
The CSOs say that MPs of the two largest political parties in the House - the main opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) and the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) are complicit in the act of suppressing whistleblowing on corruption and stifling citizens’ feedback to elected officials, noting that the motion to suspend the two MPs was moved by the Leader of the governing party in the House and seconded by the Leader of the opposition. This, according to them, raises serious questions about parliament's ability to hold itself accountable, or to police itself.
In April 2020, a DFID-funded CSO Consortium on Public Financial Management released a Corruption Perceptions Survey report that named the Parliament of Sierra Leone as the fourth most corrupt institution in the country and parliamentarians as the second most corrupt set of individuals in public service.
In response to the report, Hindolo Gevao, in an interview on the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme, confirmed that the perception of corruption within Parliament had merit and should not be ignored. His assertions were followed by a publication of the Afrobarometer on 15 September 2020, in which 81% of the respondents said: “All” or “Most” Parliamentarians were corrupt.
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