The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) continues to mainstream anti-corruption measures in public sector institutions in order to institute integrity, transparency and accountability in public service delivery.
Part of these activities saw the Commission’s Southern Region office recently engaging staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) in Bonthe at the Ministry’s Conference Room in Mattru Town, Bonthe District.
Speaking at the meeting, the Southern Regional Manager of the ACC Musa J.B. Jawara said engagement with Government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) is crucial as it provides a platform for public officers to discuss issues intended to address systemic corruption.
Mr Jawara said as Government continues to work to transform the agriculture sector it behooves staff of the Ministry to continue to speak against corrupt practices.
Corruption, he said, causes loss of public resources and poor service delivery and serves as a major impediment to the country’s socio-economic development.
The Manager recognised that the Commission therefore prides itself in preventing acts of corruption to improve service delivery.
Mr Jawara emphasised that MDAs should now endeavor to fix corruption prone areas in their offices through the Integrity Management Committee (IMC) in their respective institutions instead of waiting for the Commission to intervene.
He drew their attention to some of the offences in the Anti-Corruption Act 2008 as amended in 2019 and warned them to steer off from such practices. “The penalty for these offences is a fine not less than fifty million Leones or imprisonment for a term not less than five years or suffer both fine and imprisonment,” he warned.
In his statement ACC’s Senior Public Education Officer AbdulaiSaccoh said instituting potent internal control measures aims at reducing the opportunities for corruption. “It is imperative on MDAs to implement fully recommendations which emanate from systems reviews because there is a sanction for non-compliance,” he said. He acknowledged the challenges the sector is faced with, noting that with commitment to weed out rogues their condition will improve. The Senior Public Education Officer expressed his dissatisfaction over the attitude of some public officials who solicit bribes before the performance of their lawful duty.
ACC’s Bonthe District Monitor David Garrick said although the Ministry and the ACC have diverse mandates, it is incumbent on the two institutions to work together to improve the country’s agriculture productivity. He encouraged them to report any suspected act of corruption to the Commission and assured them of protection and confidentiality.
Bonthe District Crop Officer, Alpha B. Kallay commended ACC for its public education drive and described it as a prevention tool to broaden their knowledge. Mr. Kallay said such engagements also serve as checks on the wrongs sometimes perpetrated during the execution of their duties.
