Parliament chides Sierra Leone Police

Parliament has accused some senior members of the Sierra Leone police force of lying about their age with over 131 of them refusing to retire even when, by law, they have reached 60 years and over. According to the public accounts committee, such an act constitutes a breach of Section 2 of the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT)Act, which forbids supposed retirees sill being in active service and on government pay roll. Deputy Chairman of the Committee, Eric Koedoyoma, MP, said payment vouchers not accounted for amounted to over Le15.9billion and an outstanding of Le10.5 billion on salaries alone. He alleged that there was a breach of contract for the purchase of two vehicles, problems with bill of quantities for a building at Kingtom and for which no documents were provided. The same he said, applied to the Pamalappolice station rehabilitation. Deputy Inspector General of police, Richard Moigbeh,told the committee that they had retained the said number of personnel for the good of the nation and for national security, as the country was approaching elections and the officers were needed for their experience and manpower. He said they did not want to look “ungrateful” which he said would have been the case had they laid them off just after the elections. He claimed that the Police Council, a supervisory authority with the Vice President as its head, was actually aware about the decision to retain the 131 personnel who had reached retirement age. On the issue of a breach of contract for the purchase of two vehicles, the AIG said transactions were still in progress. Assistant Superintendent of police and head of procurement, Issa Kamara, told the hearing that the Pamalap rehabilitation project did not pass evaluation stage, therefore no money was spent on it and no contract was signed. He said they were ready to clarify most of the issues and cooperate with the committee.