9th July, 2020                                 

NEWS ITEM                             

As part of the framework for ensuring transparency and accountability in the use of public funds in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the North-east Regional Manager of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and her team have embarked on a tour of COVID-19 Command Centres in the region.

In her engagement with three of the four Command Centres in the North-East, Mariama Navo conveyed the Commissioner's appreciation to the teams and encouraged them to maintain high level of integrity, especially in utilizing funds and other resources provided by the Government of Sierra Leone and donor partners. She highlighted the devastating effects of corruption on the image of the country, especially with regard funds provided for medical emergencies.

Miss Navo encouraged personnel of the Districts’ Covid-19 Emergency Response Centres to ensure that the right processes and procedures in the utilisation of public funds and resources are followed, warning that the availability of funds must not be seen as an opportunity to feast on them.

The Command Centre Coordinator for Koinadugu District Abdulai Barrie and his team, while welcoming the ACC manager and her team, gave words of assurances, that all funds and resources assigned to them will be judiciously utilised. They also pledged to uphold high integrity values at the workplace at all times. They however expressed serious concerns over the non-adherence to COVID-19 measures by people in their district, making specific reference to the violations of the inter-district lockdown when it was in force.

The Coordinator of the Bombali District Command Centre Mohamed Mugambu Saffa said the priority of his team was to support government's effort to end the pandemic. He said they would therefore do all it takes to achieve this goal, including making proper use of resources assigned to them and maintaining integrity in the workplace.

In another engagement, the ACC North-east Regional Manager and her team travelled across the region to ensure that public officials, especially school authorities and teachers in hard-to-reach areas submit their asset declaration forms to the Commission. They also held series of radio programmes on examination malpractices ahead of the upcoming NPSE, BECE and WASSCE public examinations. The Regional Manager made reference to the widespread cases of examination malpractices in the country in 2019. “To be fore-warned is to be fore-armed,” she said.

All the engagements were climaxed with calls to encourage whistle blowing through the Commission’s toll free lines of 515, 077985985 or 077986986.