Office of Tony Blair, Government of Sierra Leone jointly refute press reports
Recent press reports saying that ‘secret’ documents belonging to the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative were stolen are completely untrue and are rejected by both the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative and the Government of Sierra Leone.
The Africa Governance Initiative has been seeking to improve the effectiveness of public administration with the aim of reducing poverty, and is proud to have been supporting the government of President Ernest Bai Koroma since 2008. Mr Blair has visited the country three times since then, and a team of experts has been in Freetown since October 2008 helping to build capacity in the Office of the President and key Ministries.
The first phase of this work was supported by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as is documented on their website, which makes very clear that the aim of the project is ‘to prevent and relieve poverty in Sierra Leone by providing strategic advice and building institutional capacity in the Government to promote peace, economic growth and sustainable development’.
The Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative has acted at all times to ensure the appropriate management and distribution of all support received. That means all projects are administered in accordance with the terms set out by the funders, and the Africa Governance Initiative will be writing to the Sierra Leone Independent Media Commission asking for any allegations suggesting otherwise to be retracted as they have no basis in fact whatsoever.
The Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative is a registered charity in the UK and receives funding from a number of foundations and other philanthropic sources.
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