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Dr. Lans Gberie: Sierra Leone Telegraph: July 10, 2018:
Strong reactions naturally accompanied the publication, on July 4, of the report of the Governance Transition Team (GTT). It's predictable.
The enchanted circle of the political elite in Sierra Leone is an intimate circle, and the implicit rule has always been "to talk to each other only during political campaigns." Once the campaign is over, it's as if nothing has happened.
In addition, the report did what neck thieves fear the most: they publicly denigrated them and threatened their fatal political careers. In addition, he urged that – horrors – they should be prosecuted and punished.
In 2007, when Ernest Bai Koroma became president, he announced a transition team: he produced an incoherent report that said very little. Despite this failure, the Koroma government has whispered to the BBC the titillating news broadcast on November 14, 2007, that the team found the government of ex-president Tejan Kabbah "corrupted by the corruption."
The state agency had lent more than a million dollars to an unspecified recipient just before Kabbah handed him over to Koroma. "We would like," the BBC cited the report's quiet recommendation, "advise an investigation on the reasons for the loan."
Some people now feel outraged that President Bio has taken steps to order a judicial inquiry into the mbadive state
However, it is important to remember that President Koroma did come the renowned firm KPMG – one of the world's four largest auditing companies – to perform forensic audits of the operations of several key agencies.
Koroma also brought a senior judge of The Gambia to lead an investigation into alleged looting by his predecessor's government.
In an interview with the British Financial Times, published on September 14, 2007, Koroma said: "I believe that some things need to be studied.
I think Sierra Leoneans will want an answer to some questions, and if in the process they have to do with the members of the past government, then be it But I think the circle of impunity should be checked and we should put an end to it. "
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"data-medium-file =" https://i2.wp.com/www.thesierraleonetelegraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/President-Koroma-Ageing-and-weary-looking-at-UN- seven-2010.jpeg? fit = 300% 2C200 "data-grand-file =" https://i2.wp.com/www.thesierraleonetelegraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/President-Koroma-Ageing -and-tired-looking -to-seven-2010.jpeg? fit = 448% 2C299 "clbad =" alignleft full-size wp-image-430 "src =" https://i2.wp.com/www.thesierraleonetelegraph.com/wp-content/ uploads / 2012/01 / President- Koroma-Aging-and-tired-looking-A-seven-2010.jpeg? resize = 448% 2C299 "alt =" "width =" 448 "height =" 299 "srcset =" https://i2.wp.com/www.thesierraleonetelegraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/President -Koroma-Ageing-and-weary-looking-at-UN-Sept-2010.jpeg? W = 448 448w, https://i2.wp.com/www.thesierraleonetelegraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/President-Koroma-Ageing-and-weary-looking -at-A-Sep-2010 .jpeg? resize = 300% 2C200 300w "sizes =" (maximum width: 448px) 100vw, 448px "data-recalc-dims =" 1 "/> Koroma said April 30, 2008, sh Just before announcing the commission of 39: "Some people talk about witch hunts, but what I'm saying is that people have the right to know the money sent to that country on their behalf." Everyone has the right to know , and then we will be able to fix the system. "
He added," I said it during the campaign, but some people thought I was joking … I was serious about it, and now the time to report is there … But if you have skeletons in your closet, we'll open it then let's all report on our stewardship. "
The austere former Kabbah president n & # 39; 39, said nothing at the time. Dignified and knowing that he had nothing to hide, he just shrugged Koroma's shoulders. And it is true that the Koroma investigation did not uncover anything – in any case nothing significant or that nearly embarrbaded the former president.
This contrasts with Bai Koroma's feverish and frightened reaction to the publication of the GTT report. From an undisclosed location – but certainly out of Sierra Leone – Koroma on July 5, a day after the launch of the report, interrupted his "well-deserved and continuing vacation" by issuing a disjointed and vitriolic statement
. He baderted that any investigation would undermine the system of "our multiparty system" because it would show his Congress of All Peoples in an unfavorable light
. In other words, the theft and looting of the state for Koroma are not crimes but politics. This kind of objection should be under the former president, and in any case be despised by the public.
A critique of the report is, at first sight, justified, however. The report is far from exhaustive. Almost all cases of corruption or abuse of authority and looting have already been discussed publicly. His main strength is the detail he provides and his official documentary authority quote for these details.
Some minor errors were reported, especially by the always talkative Fitzgerald Kamara, who professes however to support the GGT. anti-corruption motivation.
Kamara, however, did not claim in his pitiful ride that the bizarre Sewa Grounds project, costing $ 36.1 million, was not accepted at a meeting in June 2014 at the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, or that the Mayor of Freetown and the Acting Director of NASSIT
The report gives wrong names – perhaps because Kamara and the notoriously hooligans Herbert George Williams have recently imposed as the standard for clowning APC
. the point of protests by Dr. Julius Spencer and Dr. Soccoh Alex Kabia regarding the inclusion of their names among the loan defaulters of the Commercial Bank?
The report released the prominent names of loan defaulters submitted to the GTT by banks, and whether they still serve these loans or not is unimportant. In any case, the problem is as much theirs as that of the bank.
Leaving aside the judicial inquiry that will focus on former officials found guilty under Article 26 of the anti-corruption law dealing with "unexplained wealth" – which surely must now give to all the old APCs of sleepless nights – the mess that the Koroma government has left the country begs belief.
A review of available tax statistics from the Ministry of Finance, Sierra Leone Bank, Sierra Leone Statistics and Auditor General 's reports over the last 10 years by a member of the transitional team – that' s. he shared with me – are troubling.
During this period, iron ore exports increased 499% by 308%, resulting in an overall increase in total business turnover of 448%. However, the budget deficit has increased by almost 300%.
Imports increased by 191%, from $ 446 million to $ 1.3 billion over the period, but mostly from food, which rose 565% to $ 452 million.
The value of rice, which averaged 41% of total food imports, increased by more than 600% over the 10-year PCA period from $ 24 million to $ 191 million. ) per year at 471,000 metric tons. And despite the fact that the PCA government boasts, rice production has increased by 104%, from 370,000 tons per year to 756,000 tons per year during the PCA period. Who ate all this rice?
Now you understand why the IMF was pushing the APC government to withdraw its subsidy – that is, simply to impose customs and other taxes – on imported rice?
The fund knew Bai Koroma and his friends imported all kinds of taxable goods in the country and labeled them as rice, which is not taxed, so as not to pay customs duties and taxes, costing in the country hundreds of millions, even billions of dollars
. more ingenious way of destroying a poor country I do not know what it is …
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