ACC takes public education campaign to Kenema City Council
In continuation of the public education campaign targeting public officers in MDAs with the aim of soliciting their support in the fight against corruption, the Eastern Regional Office of the ACC on Tuesday the 12th July 2011 engaged core and supporting staff of the Kenema City Council in an interactive public education exercise
Mayor KCC, Brima Kargbo (in dark suit)
The meeting which was attended by the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Chief Administrator, core and supporting staff of the Kenema City Council took place at the Council’s Conference Hall in Kenema.
Welcoming the ACC to his office, His Lordship the Mayor of the Kenema Municipality, Chief Brima Kargbo registered his appreciation to the ACC for holding such a sensitization session with staff of his Council. He said such engagements will help guide their operations and hoped that the session will be very interactive. He reaffirmed his council’s commitment to the fight against corruption
Cross section of staff of KCC
Declaring the purpose of the meeting, the Regional Public Education Officer David K. Conteh told his audience that such visits are not unique to the Kenema City Council (KCC), but it is the usual venture of the ACC to engage government Ministries, Departments, Agencies and communities to solicit and their support in the fight against corruption.
PEO David Conteh
Mr. Conteh said that the ACC recognises the fact that it cannot fight corruption alone and as such needs the support of entities like the KCC, a major pillar of integrity to fight graft. He stated that as public officers, staff of the council need to be educated on what constitutes a corruption offence and how to respond to instances of corruption especially as they are in custody of public resources and come in contact with the public.
DCO, Mohamed Sylvanus Blake
Mohamed Sylvanus Blake, District Coordinating Officer highlighted several corrupt practices contained in the AC Act 2008 such as offering, soliciting and accepting advantage, possession of unexplained wealth, abuse of office, using influence for contracts, conflict of interest and corrupting a public officer, offences likely to be committed by public officers. He explained the penalties for each of these corrupt practices.
Mr. Blake outlined the procedure for reporting corruption and how long it takes the Commission to respond to reports or complaints. He spoke of the secrecy and confidentiality of staff of the ACC, noting that information in the Commission is treated with strict confidence and encouraged all to break the culture of silence and report corruption for the development of Sierra Leone.
Chief Administrator, Mr. Bockarie K. Buanie
The Chief Administrator, Mr. Bockarie K. Buanie who chaired the meeting expressed satisfaction over the meeting. He described it as the most informative and educative session on corruption he has ever witnessed. Mr. Buanie noted that they have been given enough information to be able to resist, reject and report corruption. He expressed willingness to join the fight against corruption for the good of all. He called on the ACC to target primary and secondary schools in these sensitization drives so that pupils would imbibe the culture of resisting, rejecting and reporting corruption. He suggested that the ACC should be inviting council representatives in their engagements with MDAs that receive funds through the council.
ACC Acting Regional Manager, Peter Baio Kamara
In his brief overview of the Commission, Acting Regional Manager East of the ACC Peter Baio Kamara spoke about the three operational departments of the ACC; the Public Education and External Outreach, Systems and Processes Review and the Intelligence Investigations and Prosecutions Departments. He stated that the first two departments the Public Education and System Review take the preventive approach while the other that is the II&P is confrontational.
Mr Kamara said that the AC Act of 2008 increased the corrupt practices from nine to twenty seven, giving prosecutorial power to the Commission and making the penalties stiffer than those contained in the 2000 Act.
He said that such meetings with MDAs do not in any way cast aspersions on officials but are meant to serve as a wakeup call to all public officers to operate within the provisions of the laws governing their operations. He stated that the ACC prefer converts to convicts.
Many questions were asked which were appropriately responded to by ACC officers the hotlines through which report can be made to the ACC were read out.
By Mohamed Sylvanus Blake, ACC District Coordinating Officer- Kenema District
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