The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has, as part of its outreach meetings across the country, engaged and shared vital integrity messages with officers of the Congo Cross Police Division in Freetown. This is in line with the Commission’s mandate to prevent corruption through public education, which involves enlightening people on the dangers of corruption and the benefits of a corrupt-free society.
Speaking at the engagement, Michael Sesay, Head of Public Education Unit, ACC, spoke about the operations of the Commission and its broad mandate of fighting corruption, emphasising on the relevance of prevention.
This, he said, the Commission does through public education engagements, systems and processes review of various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), among other measures.
“The Public Education team is the friendly face of the Commission and there is another face that is made up of the elite Scorpion Squad, which conducts sting operations,” he said.
Assistant Prosecution Officer, Georgina C. M Vincent Esq., highlighted some of the major offences in the Anti-Corruption Act of 2008 (as amended in 2019), including bribery, gifts, corrupting a public officer, among others.
She urged the officers whom she referred to as “custodians of the law” to support the fight against corruption and restrain themselves from committing any of the offences, warning that they attract serious penalties on conviction.
Public Education Officer, Shiaka Kamara encouraged the officers to support the fight against corruption by not just resisting and rejecting corruption and corrupt practices, but also to report any suspected instances of corruption. He provided them with the toll-free lines of 077985985/077986986 to make corruption reports.
Chief Superintendent of Police, Ahmed Kamoh Kabbah, earlier welcomed the ACC team, and commended the Commission for making the much-needed visit to share integrity messages with them. He said maintaining a high level of integrity is key for public officers particularly police officers.