Investigations reveal
A three-week-long investigation mounted by Politico reveals that the country's Anti Corruption Commission is in a serious financial situation. Our sources say that staff did not get their full end-of-year salary bonus due to the apparent financial crisis. Staff who had to travel to Freetown to answer to an official call late last year were only paid half their per diem.
Even more serious are persistent reports that cases are lying down due for investigation with investigators not able to carry out their work due to fuel shortage at the office. Disgruntlement among staff is high with many people Politico spoke to full of negative words about the Commissioner, Joseph Kamara. Their disgruntlement was due largely to what they refer to as his “poor and discriminatory management style” as well as his high salary. He gets a take-home pay Le 48 million.
Our investigations show that the British Department for International Development (DfID) who are the largest donors to the ACC, are in no hurry to get going this year. They had previously not allowed a hiatus between the end of their funding circle and the start of a new one which seems to be happening now.
A source at DfID told Politico that they were still negotiating with the commission regarding funding. Another source said DfID was not happy with the operations of the commission lately. He would not elaborate. Diplomatic sources, however, say the British were unhappy with the commission over the long delay in indicting the Mayor of Freetown, Herbert George William which only happened in November after a scathing report by the Auditor General's Office. They also express concern over why the commission took no action regarding some foreign embassies the Audit reports says were also involved in misappropriation.
Another reason attributed to the apparent funding difficulty to end the year, our sources say, was the unbudgeted-for expenditure the commission embarked in hosting a workshop for Paramount Chiefs and another for journalists.
The ACC Commissioner, Joseph Kamara denied they were facing funding difficulty. Speaking to Politico he said DfID was no longer giving direct financial support to his commission rather they were doing through the Government of Sierra Leone via a Basket Fund. He said all staff did receive their full end-of-year bonus last year even though all our investigations prove this is not true. He also denied any shortage of fuel at the office saying in fact that he had just signed a cheque for fuel.
