25th March 2023.
THE NATIONAL FIRE FORCE PRESENTS INTERNAL ANTI-CORRUPTION POLICY TO ACC
By: Bernard Abass Kargbo, Public Education Officer, ACC
The National Fire Force (NFF) Sierra Leone, on Thursday, 23rd March, 2023 presented a copy of their Internal Anti-Corruption Policy to staff of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) Secretariat, at the NFF Headquarters, Tower Hill in Freetown. This Policy is designed to guide the activities of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to internally fight corruption.
The Internal Anti-Corruption Policy is also part of the assigned action points allocated to MDAs and Local Councils if they are to attain 100% compliance rate in the NACS 2018-2023 Strategy implementation monitoring exercise.
In presenting the Policy to ACC, the Chief Fire Fighter NFF, Nazir Ahmed Alie Kamanda-Bongay underscored the importance of the document, noting that, after completing all other required action points, the Policy is the final document to put the NFF at a 100% compliance rate.
In her statement, the NACS Coordinating Officer, Mateneh Lamin Josiah commended the effort of the NFF in putting together the document. “We are proud to witness the popularization of the institutional national anti-corruption policy of the NFF” she stated, which now positions them among the MDAs with full compliance. She admonished them to fully implement the dictates of the Policy as it belongs to them so they should own it. Madam Josiah further affirmed that, “institutional national anti-corruption policies are owned by the crafting institution and used by them to mitigate and discourage corruption and corrupt practices within the workplace”.
Earlier, the Deputy Director, NACS-ACC, Zainab Othman, informed the NFF leadership that the Policy will enable the entity to improve on service delivery and promote accountability and integrity in its operations. Ms. Othman encouraged the leadership of the NFF to remain vigilant and support the anti-graft crusade through institutional reforms.
Bintu Fatmata Kamara Esq., the focal person NFF in her submission on the newly developed Policy, highlighted some of the corruption offences enshrined in the Anti-Corruption Act (ACA) 2008 as amended in 2019, which forms the basis of their internal policy. She urged her audience to always report instances or suspected acts of corruption as the Policy makes provision for whistleblower protection.
NACS Implementation Analyst Montfort Okeke Macauley, whilst responding to questions during the engagement advised NFF staff on the receipt of gifts by while holding public office. He urged the top management of Fire Force to maintain a gift register, in order to record gifts received by staff.
