By Bampia James Bundu
Sierra Leone’s telecoms regulatory body, NATCOM, has within two weeks recovered Le9Billion from telecoms operators and internet service providers registered with the commission.
This was revealed by NATCOM’s Director General, Mohamed Bangura, at a meeting held in Freetown to welcome the commission’s newly approved Chairman, Momoh Konte. Bangura explained that over the years they had been finding it difficult to collect dues from telecoms operators across the country due to some undue delays by the companies.
He said their recovery of the sum of Le9Billion in two weeks was the first time since the inception of the telecoms regulatory body in 2006. He said the companies usually paid their dues in April every year.
“But since the appointment of Momoh Konte as the new chairman, mobile phone companies and telecom operators have been queuing up to pay their dues,” the DG said, describing the act as “unprecedented and strange”.
Bangura revealed that they had already remitted Le2.5 Billion into the country’s Consolidated Revenue Fund, the highest amount ever to be paid by NATCOM at ago.
The Commission`s DG informed the new chairman that he would be inheriting a multimillion dollar building project at IMATT and encouraged him to pay attention to it. He told him that the commission had already submitted various policy documents to the former board and was still awaiting approval. The DG assured the new chairman of their full cooperation in transforming the commission.
Chairman of NATCOM Board, Momoh Konte, told the meeting that he was not going into the commission as a stranger but as someone that had been doing business with them, backed up by years of experience in telecommunications.
“I am not here to fail, but to bring out positive result for the commission and to regain its lost glory,” he assured.
Konte cautioned officials to be mindful of using personal relationships to their advantage in their various duty stations and assured of fairness to all. He also urged his staff to treat each other with fairness and respect, irrespective of their ranks.
Konte admonished workers to be content with whatever little they had so as to avoid being misled or influenced into doing things against the commission’s rules of engagement.
He said he would ensure that he had a professional board but stated that the commission’s office would not be used as their office, adding: “I will only visit this office when I am required to.”
“You have only one boss and he is the DG. I hope you will give him the fullest support for him to deliver well,” Konte told his staff.
© Politico 10/02/15
