By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Press Secretary to President Julius Maada Bio, Yusuf Keketoma Sandi, has told Politico that the Afrobarometer report which states that officials from State Houses are the third most corrupt in the country came to such conclusion only because of old perception that is still held by many citizens on how State House have operated in the past.
The Office of the President, with a 38% score, sits just behind Parliamentarians who scored 41% and the Police who are top of the list as the most corrupt with 62%. The report reveals a depressing performance of some of the country’s most important offices in terms of accountability.
The Institute for Governance Reform (IGR), which did the survey on behalf of Afrobarometer, said they interviewed 1,200 respondents across the country.
Responding to the findings of the report, Sandi said: “This has been the most transparent State House, because since we came to power we haven’t had any scandal and we know in the past we used to have Timber Gate scandal and various scandals.”
He added: “The perception of people just necessarily mean that they are probably thinking about the past. Because they have held a perception about how the Office of the President used to be, that still lingers on and they think it’s still the same.”
Sandi’s remarks about old perceptions come even after the Julius Maada Bio administration has been in power for 29 months. But he insists that it’s a huge battle to clear a perception of corruption that has lasted for more than a decade versus the progress the current administration have made in just over two years.
“We are talking about two years as against eleven years. This is something that has been there for quite some time,” he stressed.
In recent weeks, the subject of corruption has been topical after back to back reports from civil society organizations revealed a deep seated mistrust between the public and state institutions like parliament and the police.
Sandi said the President is still committed to the fight against corruption and that that is why he is leading the crusade personally by ensuring his office is used as an example of transparency.
“The fight against corruption is being led by the President and he has made it very clear through his pronouncements everywhere that corruption is something we are fighting and we will win. And therefore it starts even with government officials. This means that he is using his office as the brightest example,” Sandi said.
Despite his disagreement with the perception that was portrayed in the report, the presidential spokesman said the presidency has always been open to learn from those reports, “whether it supports us or against us”.
He added that there is need for them to improve their public relations to explain some of the good things they have accomplished, which negates the opinion of most citizens that State House officials are corrupt.
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