By Abass Jalloh
Sierra Leone’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dr. Alie Kabba has revealed that the fifth accused, Jules Sanders Davies, who was the contractor for the reconstruction and renovation of the Sierra Leone Chancery Building in Manhattan, New York, United States of America, between 2011 and 2019, had no competency for the project.
Over $ 4,000,000 (four million Dollars) was allegedly transferred for that purpose between these years, according to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
“What I discovered much to my shock having checked the DBB [Data Business Bureau] and other sources I got to know, that he really has no competency and no professional record in this work,” Dr. Kabba said on Friday 14th October at the High Court No. 1 in Freetown while testifying in the witness box in the case of the Chancery.
Dr. Kabba also claimed that Davies and his wife were running the affairs of the building as she was the Financial Administrator, adding that during his visit to New York, she was introduced as an architect but later found out she was an interior designer and had no license to practice architecture in New York.
Former All People’s Congress (APC) Presidential Candidate Dr. Samura Kamara was indicted by the ACC in November 2021 together with Head of Chancery of the Sierra Leone’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations Saidu Nallo , former Financial Attaché ,Foday Vahfomba Bawoh, former Permanent Representative, Adekalie Foday Suma, Financial Attaché ,Dr. Kandeh Foday Basil Kamara and Jules Sanders Davies, an American citizen and Contractor for the Sierra Leone Chancery building.
Dr. Kabba is the 18th prosecuting witness (PW18) who testified in the matter involving the State versus Dr. Samura Kamara, and four others on allegations of misuse of funds in the course of the project.
Dr. Kabba told the court that he knew the accused persons but not from a working relationship nature and that he recognized Davies as the contractor and others in their respective positions.
In a bid to check on the project, he said, he went to New York in 2019 as minister together with his Deputy Ambassadors and Permanent Secretaries of Legal and Political Affairs and a Diplomatic Staff, and that they were all present at the meeting, with the exception of Nallo.
He said he did enquire at some point about the status of the project and was informed by Nallo that the main issue over its completion was lack of funds. He said he was also told that the building would be officially presented to President Bio in September 2019 for commissioning.
Based on those memos for the funding, he said he contacted the then Minister of Finance, Jacob Jusu Saffa, for more funds, having being informed by Nallo that the contractor wanted to sue the government.
Dr. Kabba recalled that in 2018, he pleaded with the Finance Ministry to provide $ 500,000 (five hundred thousand dollars for the project to avoid the embarrassment of being sued, adding that it was the beginning of his engagement regarding the project and that he made sure that funds were made available for the continuation of the project.
He said he was “disappointed” when he had to go to the building and realized that the funds sent to New York could not be translated to the said chancery building project, adding that at that moment “I made it clear that there was no way the building could be made available to the president for commissioning.
“I met unfinished walls, and it was obvious that the project was not on the verge of completion,” he stated, adding “this assessment was done in 2019, and I called for a meeting with the contractor in which he [the contractor] was asking for more money.” He also said when he walked into the building, the first and second floors which he thought were done, turned out to be a “cover up,half plastered cement on the wall and water dripping, and ‘’everything was exposed to the rain and snow through the winter.”
“I said to the contractor that if more money was to be given, we needed a timeline for the completion of the project,” he added.
Dr. Kabba further told the court that his deputies made repeated requests for the contract document be made available to them and that the only excuse he got from the contractor was that “the document was bulky”, stating that part of the contract was only later submitted to his deputy at the time he was leaving New York.
The matter continues today 17th October.
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