By Lawyer Abess

Part 2

From my penultimate piece on the explicit topic of the present fight against corruption in our beloved country Sierra Leone, a wave of resentment by supporters of the current government was not an astonishment on my part. It shows the myopic way of thinking of some of our educated elites. I will never be suppressed by unpleasantries because I believe in the doctrine of truth for a better Sierra Leone.

In this part 2, I have used a case study for readers’ understanding of my argument, and also inviting the people of Sierra Leone to make an informed judgment about the content of the White Paper.

Thankfully, one person stood up to the charade. The former Deputy Minister of Information, former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and former Press Secretary to the President, Sheka Tarawalie (Shekito), wrote a scathing letter about the ‘town-crier’ and scaremongering tactics used in running the COI. He refused to attend, stating that he had done nothing wrong in his service to the nation. Indeed, the COI could not find any act of corruption against him. Instead they came out swinging a hammer of a ban on holding public office. But that also has been smashed, because the government White Paper accepted it had no such powers judicially (and we heard this was forced on them by the international community). So their plan boomeranged – and they have turned Shekito into a hero who stood up against a kangaroo court.

But, generally, the SLPP government has succeeded in maligning and tarnishing the hard-earned reputations of many mainly opposition figures.

As I have mentioned in Part 1, the GTT Report provided the foundation for the setting up of  Commissions of Inquiry (COI), the marshall plan for the political extermination of Northerners – all disguised as a fight against corruption.

The formation of the COI was totally unnecessary, as it has served no useful purpose. Instead, it has devised a cord of disunity among many Sierra Leoneans – at a time when we should be consolidating the peace left behind by the Ernest Bai Koroma regime and showcasing a peaceful transfer of power from one political party to the other.

Whilst I commend the spirit of the COI, the Anti Corruption Commission (which is a body with an ultimate prosecutorial power) could have done better than the former in terms of investigating the alleged corrupt practices of past officials, because it is a body that has the jurisdictional competence to do just that. How I wish this had been done. This would have saved a lot of resources that could have been utilised on meaningful projects.

The findings of the commissioners have invited so many criticisms. Not least because the process at the outset was condemned by members of the main opposition, who were the targeted victims. The Rules of Court committee for the establishment of the COI was never entertained by the commissioners (apparently spurred by their paymasters). So, from the outset, the process lacked legal validity. But that’s a subject for another day.

The categorical conclusion by any rational person is that the COI was obviously a witch-hunting instrument by the New Direction in a wrong direction. A classic example is the valuation of the assets of the former President. This was obviously wholly wrong – just from a professional perspective. Because, in determining a man’s lifestyle to ascertain whether it is commensurate to his emoluments, the market price at the time the assets were acquired or constructed must be the amount used to determine a fair value in measuring the scale – not the current market value. Therefore, the lamest of surveyors and property valuers would have known that the former President’s house in Goderich would not have cost more than $500,000 – including fittings and furniture – at the time of construction. For the paopa-induced COI to accept an unqualified and half-baked property valuer to peg the house’s worth at $5,000,000 was a ridiculous display of a witch-hunt. Which was the whole essence of the COI anyway.

Just that Sierra Leone stands to lose more. My country bleeds for true justice!

Watch out for Part 3.