23^rd October 2018

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Tuesday presented the draft copy of the report on the monitoring of the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) 2014-2018 Action Plan to members of the Integrity Management Committees (IMCs) of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of Government.

The presentation took place at a validation workshop held at the Conference Hall of the Ministry of Finance, George Street, Freetown.

The Deputy Commissioner of ACC Shollay Davies said the objective of the workshop is to allow open discussion on the findings of the monitoring exercise conducted on MDAs by CARITAS and to proffer recommendations on the anti-corruption policies that have not been implemented.

Mr. Davies said the monitoring exercise is important as it provides feedbacks on the gains made and the challenges encountered by the MDAs during the implementation process.

He informed his audience that plans are underway to develop a new NACS and that the findings of the monitoring report will help guide the process.

The Deputy Commissioner reiterated the need for public offices to take the lead in preventing corruption in the workplace in accordance with the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.

He described the NACS as a roadmap to strengthen institutions and it involves, among others, the setting up of IMCs, signing of integrity pacts and the development of anti-corruption policies in MDAs.

Mr. Davies said even though there has been much improvement in public institutions, there are still challenges that need to be addressed.

The Chairman of the event and Director of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy Secretariat Nabillahi-Musa Kamara said the implementation of the strategy is a structural intervention to strengthen public institutions.

Mr. Kamara stated the public institutions targeted for the monitoring exercise include 40 MDAs, five security entities, three anti-corruption agencies, media houses and 19 local councils.

Edward Massaquoi of CARITAS did a presentation on the findings of the report in a bid to enable representatives of MDAs to look at the findings and make recommendations before the final report will be launched.