In his welcome statement to the more than two hundred Integrity Club members and their Teacher Coordinators at the Pastoral Center, Teko Road Makeni, where the procession ended; ACC Regional Manager, Abu Bakarr Kamara acknowledged their resilience and resolve to work with ACC and its partners in making the Pay No Bribe campaign a success. Manager Kamara described their action as a spectacular display of patriotism worthy of emulation. He emphasized that their determination to show solidarity with the ACC in the campaign is priceless and it will go down in the annals of history as their contribution to combat bribery. The Regional Manager advised his audience to uphold high moral standing and conform to the dictates of the club.
Giving an overview of the Pay No Bribe program, ACC Public Education Officer Abdulai Saccoh told his audience that the PNB is an innovative reporting platform that gives citizens the opportunity to report incidents of bribery in public sector institutions. Saccoh stated that 4.7 million British pounds is provided by the UK Government to fund the PNB program in technical assistance and financial aid. He said, the PNB is led jointly by the ACC and the Office of the Chief of Staff with the relevant MDAs. The PNB platform is funded by UK Aid and GoSL, with Coffey International providing technical support to the ACC and GoSL in the implementation he added.
Saccoh admonished his audience to be the emissaries of the PNB campaign in reaching out to their colleagues and ensure that they speak and stand against bribery in schools. He advised them to take their academic work seriously and endeavor to imbibe the virtues of integrity, honesty and diligence.
In his submission on behalf of the Bombali District Education Office, Senior Inspector of Schools Gibrilla Sesay lauded the Commission’s initiative for setting up these structures in schools to capture and prepare the young minds to denounce bribery and live exemplary lives. Sesay assured ACC of their support to the campaign in a bid to make the schools bribery free societies.
The program was climaxed with a skit performed by Bombali comedians that portrayed ”bribery and its effects on service delivery”.
