At the Kagbere Town Hall, the Chiefdom Speaker, Chief Bockarie Sesay welcomed the ACC with an intersperse of traditional praise songs for the Commissioner, and the ACC team. Pa Bockarie lauded the efforts of the Commission in promoting fairness and transparency in the implementation of the SSN cash transfer project. The Chief confessed that the inhabitants of Kagbere have been religiously following the initiatives and activities of the ACC and have always been impressed with the commitment of the ACC in pursuing its mandate in the country. The Chiefdom Speaker underscored that, the work the of the ACC in sensitizing beneficiaries on the purpose and use of the cash support, and monitoring the cash transfer of the project is a clear example of what a well structured institution such as the ACC is capable of achieving. He commended the Commissioner Mr. Ady Macauley, the Regional Manager Abubakarr Kamara and the head of the team Mr. Michael Sesay for targeting Kagbere as a spring board for the dissemination of the anti-corruption message in the chiefdom.
Responding to the Chief, Head of Unit, Public Education, Michael Sesay, who doubled as Chairman, told participants that the purpose of the meeting was to create awareness on the SSN project as it relates to women empowerment, poverty alleviation and grievance redress. He urged the people to be very attentive and bold to ask all relevant questions and make meaningful recommendations to the ACC.
Making a statement, the highly motivated ACC Regional Manager North, Abubakarr Kamara informed participants that the mandate of the Commission in the SSN project is to coordinate the GRM arm, which involves the provision of accurate information on the specifics of the project in terms of what is due them and monitoring cash transfer. Manager Kamara also intimated the people of Kagbere that the GRM gives them the opportunity to report any suspected anomaly they encounter or discover in the SSN project through the toll free numbers- Africel 077 985 985/077 986 986 and Airtel 161.
The Regional Manager expressed gratitude to the people of Kagbere for their appreciation of the ACC and warm welcome. He noted that, the Commission can only achieve maximum success in the fight against graft if all Sierra Leoneans are willing to reject, resist and report corruption.
In the plenary session, beneficiaries of SSN thanked the donors, the Government of Sierra Leone, World Bank, UNICEF and the ACC for the immeasurable support. They gave stories of how the SSN has transformed their households in areas of food security, health and education. They however requested that more people be included in the chiefdom for support.
