Welcoming the ACC and all present, the Paramount Chief Representative, Mr. Moses Kamanda, thanked the ACC for decentralizing the anti-graft message at chiefdom level. He said as a chiefdom they are in readiness to be trained to identify corrupt practices in their Chiefdom and report same to the Anti-Corruption Commission for investigation.
Giving a background of the President’s Recovery Priorities (PRP), Joseph Taylor Conteh Community Engagement Officer PRP Team Kono highlighted the key successes of the 6-9 months President’s Recovery Priorities and gave a brief overview of the 10-24 months President’s Recovery Priorities for the seven priority Sectors of Health, Education, Social Protection, Energy, Water, Agriculture and Governance. Thirteen Key Results Areas are targeted for these Sectors. The Community Engagement Officer Challenged community stakeholders and local authorities to take ownership and responsibility of PRP activities implemented in their communities.
Giving the keynote address, the ACC’s Sub-Regional Manager, Mr. Wilfred Bangura opioned that the engagement with the Chiefdom authorities was to ensure effective partnership for development and corruption prevention in project implementation within the Nimiyama Chiefdom. The Manager cautioned all present to take the fight against corruption very serious. He said community stakeholders should be willing to mainstream anti corruption policies in their day to day activities. He said development should not be seen to be sacred. He advised the community stakeholders to request for bills of quantities from development partners to ensure transparency and accountability in project implementation in their communities. He advised all present to be focused, forward looking and determined to see their various communities grow. He maintained that the ‘Pay No Bribe’ campaign is a gateway to stop petty and grand corruption. He noted that very soon bribery will be seen as a thing of the past. Mr. Bangura told participants to embrace the LIPW and SSN as their baby. He took those present on ways of identifying corrupt practices and methods of reporting corruption. Mr. Bangura concluded by encouraging all to resist, reject and report corruption to the ACC.
Other speakers who made significant contributions were: Chief Komba T. Gandi and the Sewafe Youth Chairman-Komba Momoh.
Contributions, comments and a question and answer session climaxed the occasion
