Following allegations of the stealing of funds meant to cushion the impact of the recent three days lockdown enforced by the government of Sierra Leone last month, May 2020, the Anti-Corruption Commission has published a statement saying it has concluded its investigation into those allegations and found no evidence of misappropriation by public officials.

This is what the ACC says:

“The public may recall that sometime in May 2020, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) commenced investigation into allegations relating to misappropriation of public funds by officials of the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) and a staff of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), which came about from a video footage screened by the Africa Young Voices (AYV) Television on 12th May, 2020, in which, supposed beneficiaries expressed their frustrations over the payment of funds provided by the Government of Sierra Leone, to vulnerable people in the Bombali community, to cushion the effect of the three days lockdown, at 10 Arabic College Road, Makeni.

“Moreover, our investigations revealed that a Mary Kamara, also a beneficiary, residing at the 10 Arabic College Road admitted that she machinated and participated in the scheme of calling neighbours and passers-by to stand in as proxies for four registered beneficiaries who were absent on the day of the payment.

Adequate measures were not put in place to forestall corrupt activities by staff of NaCSA, its partners and the beneficiaries because of the rush to implement the safety net Cash Transfer Payment by the Government, and the sudden announcement of the pending lockdown due to Covid-19 spread fears.

“Therefore, the Commission is recommending for a review of the policies surrounding such payments as the process around it appears to be mostly ad hoc; which leaves room for corruption and corrupt practices in the list generation, payment and fraudulent activities by some disingenuous beneficiaries – as it happened in this case.