Members of the Judicial and Local Governance Sub-committees of the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) have engaged the Management of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on the constitutional review process at the Commission’s Head Office in Freetown.

The engagement was used to furnish the Commission with the contents of the questionnaires of their sub-committees to enable the Commission to make its input into the process.

The Chairman of the Judicial Sub-committee Justice Valesius Thomas said they would want the Commission to make inputs on the issue of whether or not to separate the position of Minister of Justice and Attorney General in order to avoid what supporters of the move refer to as “conflict of interest”. He said the Commission should also look at what should be the role of a future Judicial and Legal Council and how to improve on the budget allocation to the judiciary to ensure the independence of this arm of government. He noted that it is not all the contributions of respondents that could be factored into the reviewed constitution but that such inputs may be used to shape future statutes.

In the area of Local Governance, a member of the sub-committee, Aruna Man-Davies said they would want the Commission to respond to questions relating to the collection of taxes and revenue allocation chiefdoms and local councils.

The Commissioner of the ACC, Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara, thanked the two sub-committees for their work and noted that the areas under review are very important to the improvement of the administration and dispensation of justice as well as improving the entire justice system of the country. He said one of the most important areas for the Commission would be to recommend for the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Commission to be a constitutional provision.

Mr. Kamara said the area of taxes and the role of chiefs are also very important components which have attracted some debates over the years. The Commissioner pledged the Commission’s contributions to the constitutional review process.