ACC educates officers of the Magburaka local prison
As a mark of its deliberate effort to spread anti-corruption messages to public officers, the Ant-Corruption Commission (ACC) Regional office has on Wednesday 20th November, 2013 educated personnel of the Magburaka Local Prison on the negative ramifications of corruption.
Espousing the purpose for the engagement, ACC District Coordinator Tonkolili Abdulai Saccoh observed that Prisons Department was very central to the work of ACC as they are a justice sector institution and a pillar of integrity. Mr. Saccoh noted that the meeting was to enlighten the officers on the bad impacts of corruption on the Country and solicit their most valuable support in the campaign. “The approach must be cohesive, coordinated and collective if as a nation we have to win the fight against graft,” Saccoh added.
ACC Regional Manager North Patrick Sandi highlighting key corruption crimes to the officers
Senior Prison Officers listening attentively to ACC staff
Dilating on the corruption crimes and their related penalties; the ACC Regional Manager North, Patrick Sandi emphasized that ACC was using educative, preventive and enforcement measures to deal with corruption, contrary to views many hold that the Commission’s work is pegged to arrests and indictments. Mr. Sandi informed his audience that the Commission has equally made significant gains in the system reviews of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and the incalculable outreach meetings held in the North in the bid to raise awareness on corruption; couple with the numerous successful prosecutions. Manager Sandi highlighted offences such as soliciting and accepting advantage, peddling influence, abuse of position and office and conflict of interest as vital to the work of the officers. Any breach of them, when found guilty is a penalty of paying a fine not less than thirty Million Leones (Le 30,000,000) or imprisonment not less than three (3) years or suffer the two. The ACC boss North encouraged the officers to be committed to their work.
Cross Section of SLP personnel in Magburaka listening to anti-graft messages from ACC Staff
Senior Public Education Officer Al-Hassan Sesay explaining how to make reports to the ACC
Explaining how to report instances of alleged or suspected corrupt acts, the Senior Public Education Officer Al-Hassan Sesay revealed that reporting corruption constituted the civic responsibility of all citizens. He admonished the officers to be careful in their dealings with inmates as the law is no respecter of persons. Mr. Sesay assured the officers of their maximum protection when they report corruption cases to the ACC. “Corruption pays as you will be rewarded 10% of the total money recovered from the corrupt,” the Senior Educator concluded.
OIC-Magburaka Prison ASP Massa Banya welcoming ACC to the Prison in Magburaka.
Earlier in her welcome statement, the officer-in-charge (OIC) Magburaka Correctional Service, Assistant Superintendent (ASP) Massa J. Banya expressed hearty sentiments about the tremendous work done by the Commission in spite of the challenges. She advised the men and women of the Prisons Force to cooperate with the ACC eliminate the menace in Sierra Leone. Citing the relevance of ACC, the Prisons boss, Magburaka opined that ACC was also contributing immensely to the revenue of this country, by paying into the Consolidated Revenue Fund huge amount of monies recovered from corrupt individuals. ASP Banya urged the officers to remain steadfast and resilient in their work despite the many hiccups.
Questions and answers formed part of the interaction.
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