The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has conveyed integrity messages to staff of the Smalland Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDA) at the Agency’s Stocco Road office in Makeni. The customized meeting, which took place on 22nd January, 2025, is an integral part of the Commission’s public education and outreach efforts to raise awareness on corruption and foster ethical conduct in public bodies for quality service delivery.
In her keynote statement, Mariama Navo, manager of the ACC’s northern regional office, underscored the perils of corruption in the public sector. Aside from government losing huge amounts of funds, she noted, corruption distorts the systems of public institutions rendering them incapable to properly deliver on their mandates. She stressed that the undue hardship caused by corruption could be precluded with an increased sense of patriotism among Sierra Leoneans entrusted to serve the public.
Manager Navo urged her audience to uphold best practices, comply with the ethics of their institution andseekthe interest of the public over personal advantage. “There is no need to police any public officer if they uphold integrity in their various offices. We have to resolve to maintain transparency and accountability in order to enable us fight corruption successfully,” she avowed. However, Miss Navo did not fail to mention that the anti-corruption law in the country is stiff, and the best way to not get in trouble with it is to abide by acceptable work standards.
The staff of SMEDA were updated on the National Anti-Corruption Strategy NACS 2024-2028, which was launched on December 9, 2024 at the Miatta Conference Centre in Freetown. According to the ACC manager, the new NACS is the fifth in succession over a span of twenty years, and it serves as a masterplan to foster transparency and accountability in the public sector to control corruption through prevention and collaboration between and among Ministries Departments and Agencies. She implored SMEDA to be an active part of the formidable coalition of stakeholders against corruption, the NACS aims to achieve within its five-year implementation timeline.
Making his contribution, Senior Public Education Officer, Aiah Sourie, reassured SMEDA that the ACC ”will continue to work in the interest of all Sierra Leoneans without fear or favour.” He cited the Commission’s fruitful interventions in Audit Service Sierra Leone Reports over the past six years. In 2020, he revealed, the Commission actioned on 21 irregularities in the 2015-2018 Audit Reports; 13 of which opened investigations, 2 led to prosecution, and recovery of billions of old Leones. “Such watershed interventions serve as testaments to the Commission’s good governance and protection of public funds,” the officer declared.
Business Development Officer of SMEDA in the region, Alhaji Ngamor Foday, responded to the integrity messages by thanking the ACC for its fortitude in fighting corruption and particularly its approach to facilitate an institutional coalition against corruption. He pledged on behalf of office to support the cause of the ACC always.
Established in 2016 by an Act of Parliament, the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency operates under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and is mandated to coordinate, among other things, small and medium enterprises in the country.
