{"id":1083,"date":"2007-11-14T11:25:04","date_gmt":"2007-11-14T11:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/afrikaansenuus.co.za\/?p=1083"},"modified":"2007-11-14T11:25:04","modified_gmt":"2007-11-14T11:25:04","slug":"riddled-with-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/?p=1083","title":{"rendered":"‘Riddled with corruption’"},"content":{"rendered":"
Widespread corruption and mismanagement are revealed in a confidential presidential audit in Sierra Leone exclusively obtained by the BBC.<\/p>\n

Newly-elected President Ernest Bai Koroma commissioned the report.<\/p>\n

It catalogues grave inadequacies in key areas such as health care, tax collection and the security services.<\/p>\n

And it provides a unique and searingly frank insight into the sometimes opaque business of running a poor African nation through years of war and chaos.<\/p>\n

One arm of government, for example, is alleged to have lent more than $1m (£480,000) to an unspecified recipient in the few months before the recent handover of power.<\/p>\n

"We would advise," the report says coldly, "an investigation into the reasons for the loan".<\/p>\n

At one ministry, the report seen by the BBC says, a project worth almost $500,000 was apparently financed by an international donor – but the money never reached the intended recipients.  <\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/div>\n
The Sierra Leonean Ministry of Agriculture is described as having "almost zero productivity" at the lower levels of employment.<\/p>\n

Financial accounts are reported to have gone missing from many ministries and the culture of record-keeping is generally said to be "in a miserable state".<\/p>\n

These findings might not be surprising to anyone who lives in Sierra Leone or any number of poor nations that have been through such chaotic times.<\/p>\n

But what is unusual about this report is to have the problems set out so clearly – and in a way that may ultimately put the credibility of the presidency at stake.<\/p>\n

In the 10 years I have been visiting this beautiful, friendly, but exasperating country, I have lost count of the number of times decent and honest Sierra Leoneans have told me corruption was their greatest problem.<\/p>\n

The confidential presidential report obtained by the BBC acknowledges corruption as "the greatest impediment to the country’s development".<\/p>\n

Newly-elected President Koroma has said dealing with corruption is his mantra; Sierra Leoneans may now take him, and judge him, at his word.<\/p>\n

Sierra Leone, one of the poorest countries in the world, is very slowly recovering from a decade of brutal war that ended in 2001.<\/p>\n

But it still faces huge challenges.<\/p>\n

The war started in 1991 when rebels crossed from Liberia and took Sierra Leone’s diamond fields.<\/p>\n

The rebels initially benefited from widespread dissatisfaction with corrupt government in Freetown – which they successfully used as a rallying call to unemployed, frustrated youth.<\/p>\n

After years of widespread atrocities, the rebels were eventually defeated by a United Nations peacekeeping force and a separate intervention by the British army.<\/p>\n

This year the country held elections that were seen as fair and were won by the opposition.<\/p>\n

There has been a peaceful handover of power to President Koroma.<\/p>\n

The transition was, by Sierra Leonean standards, a model of tolerance and fair play.<\/p>\n

APC supporters celebrate victory in Sierra Leone’s presidential election
The recent polls won by the opposition were seen to be fair<\/p>\n

But President Koroma has inherited a bankrupt nation which is riddled with corruption.<\/p>\n

This report shows what a mountain he has to climb.<\/p>\n

It is common for African politicians to accuse governments of corruption when they are in opposition.<\/p>\n

But they often fall into the same habits when they take power.<\/p>\n

President Koroma’s toughest test will be to show Sierra Leoneans not only that he is different, but that he can change the decades-old habits of almost everyone in government.<\/p>\n

The confidential audit obtained by the BBC must make sobering reading for President Koroma. It is a picture of an economy in crisis.<\/p>\n

But the report also raises more questions than it answers.<\/p>\n

These questions include:<\/p>\n

# Will those responsible for past corruption be prosecuted?<\/p>\n

# Will any prosecutions be seen as a "witch hunt" – and potentially backfire?<\/p>\n

# What safeguards could stop future corruption?<\/p>\n

# What was the role of donors, especially the largest donor, Britain, while corruption flourished?<\/p>\n

# How will the new government address the twin problems of an impoverished countryside and a corrupt capital city – which was one of the original causes of the war?<\/p>\n

A frank report on corruption is one thing, Sierra Leoneans may say; solving the problems it highlights is another. <\/p><\/div>\n

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Widespread corruption and mismanagement are revealed in a confidential presidential audit in Sierra Leone exclusively obtained by the BBC. Newly-elected President Ernest Bai Koroma commissioned the report. It catalogues grave inadequacies in key areas such as health care, tax collection and the security services. And it provides a unique and searingly frank insight into the … Continue reading “‘Riddled with corruption’”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[1045,21098,427],"class_list":["post-1083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c51-international-news","tag-riddled-with-corruption","tag-s19-english","tag-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1083\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}