By Mustapha Sesay
The Auditor General`s report on how funds meant for fighting the Ebola epidemic, released last Thursday, continues to generate heated debate even after parliament slammed a ban on reporting on its details.
The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has vowed to pursue everyone named in the report but in doing so it has found itself on a collision course with the parliament. It emerged Wednesday that the Commission this week summoned 39 people named in the report for questioning.
But majority leader in parliament, Ibrahim Bundu, condemned the move and called on all those summoned to ignore the directive. He said the ACC lacked the constitutional authority to do so.
Bundu said parliament, through its constitutionally mandated Public Accounts Committee, must be allowed to examine the document first before it could be subject of public discussion.
The report is “our property and the ACC lacks constitutional mandate to invite any individual at the material time,” he argued.
The parliamentary majority leader stressed that the report has to go through “due process” so as to prevent any hasty decision.
As law makers who had the people’s interest at heart, the governing All People’s Congress MP said, they had the right to regulate anything that affected the country’s citizens. He also noted that there were laid down procedures that needed to be followed and said the issue of corruption was national as it was affecting everyone in the country. “We are all taxpayers and it is our money,” he added.
But the ACC feels it is also constitutionally mandated to investigate corruption offenses.
The ACC chairman, Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara, referred to the MP’s statement as “unfortunate”, citing its “tendency to undermine the credibility of the commission.”
Kamara said it was wrong for Bundu to sit in a radio interview and make such statements, noting that they, as a commission, were “very correct” to make the summons. He insisted their decision was based on “public uproar and we will continue with our investigations.”
As an arm of Government, Kamara went on, parliament needed to work closely with the ACC to enhance good governance.
He added that the report his commission was working on came from a “credible institution which has done what is right.”
Alhassan Kargbo, Public Relations Officer of ACC, told Politico that the commission would maintain its position on the matter.
Kargbo said those who have been summoned bore an obligation to report to the ACC because the commission had an autonomous power.
“Anyone who refuses to honor our summons will face the full penalty of the law,” he said.
© Politico 19/02/15
