By: Alex A. Bah, Communications Officer, ACC
In his visits to the different training centers across the country, the Deputy Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Augustine Foday Ngobie, admonished trainers and participants of the Emergency Cash Transfer (ECT) trainings in Bo, Kenema, Makeni and Port Loko, on the tenets of integrity, accountability and openness.
The three-day training organized from the 24th–26th February, 2023, is part of the Government of Sierra Leone Productive Social Safety Net and Youth Employment Project (PSSNYE), supported by the World Bank and implemented by the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) and other partners. The ACC is a critical partner of the project, and superintends the Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) Component.
The ACC Deputy Commissioner in his address to the Community Monitors (CMs) and Data Enumerators (DEs) stated that, they are the primary trainees across the various districts. He informed them that the ECT is a relief scheme that is designed to ameliorate the sufferings of people wallowing in abject poverty. He said the Government of Sierra Leone and partners are keen to ensuring that these intended beneficiaries receive these monies, and have their living conditions improved. “It is the bad experiences of malpractices in the past by those charged with the responsibility to channel these monies to beneficiaries, made the ACC got involved through the GRM Component”, he asserted. .
Mr. Ngobie therefore advised trainees not make to engage in malpractice of any form, during the course of implementation of the scheme. He noted that thoguh the project caters for the poorest of poor people, any move to get anybody included who is not qualified will attract punitive sanctions as provided for by law. "This is why in addition to our staff that are part of every stage of this process; l have left my office to admonish at this trainings, in order to uphold the integrity, as the Commission will remain very vigilant".
The Deputy Commissioner ACC commended their interest shown to serve the country, disclosing that it is indeed an honour to have been selected on the basis of merit to provide the much needed support to the implementation of this scheme.
The ECT will have 35,000 female headed or elderly headed households and Persons with disability as beneficiaries, using poverty as a primary criterion. The trainees will be working in the beneficiary districts of Bonthe, Falaba, Kono, Karene, Koinadugu, Kailahun, Kambia, Tonkolili, Pujehun, Moyamba, and Western Area Rural.
The training also had Community Identification Committee (CIC) members, comprising representatives from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that included; the Ministry of Social Welfare, Ministry of Labour and Social Security, District Councils, National Commission for Persons with Disability, among others. These CIC members will be providing support in enlisting the deserving and desired beneficiaries.
©️ Public Relations Unit, ACC
