Sierra Leone’s Missing Food: Heads Roll, but Old Patterns Continue

Top Sierra Leonean officials are dismissed in a new corruption scandal. Anti-graft authorities try to keep up momentum, but old habits die hard and institutional weakness remains an ongoing concern.

Situation Report

Last month President Maada Bio sacked three officials in the education ministry and Labour Minister Alpha Timbo. The officials were sacked for allegedly stealing from more than 2,000 tons of rice that the Chinese government donated to Sierra Leonean children in 2019. A government statement said the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) would probe the allegations. 

President Bio has been assertive in dealing with corruption since taking charge in 2018. He launched three commissions of inquiry to probe the last government and appointed a firebrand, Francis Kaifala, to head ACC. The agency has since pursued a series of corruption cases with vigour while the anti-corruption law has been amended to stiffen penalties and increase the agency’s powers. This includes the power to suspend a contract if the ACC boss believes the contract is ‘not in the national interest’.

The government's approach had much popular backing at the start. A transition committee had published a report that detailed alarming rates of corruption in the outgoing government and captured public imagination about the primacy of fighting corruption. For instance, the Transport Minister Balogun Koroma was accused of signing a contract without due process—to procure 100 buses for an amount that would have paid for double. Newspaper headlines often screamed about the arrest of one former official or another. That support gave authorities momentum. 

However, ongoing economic difficulties – described by Saloneans as 'the gron dry' - have dampened the public mood that propelled anti-graft authorities forward. A revival of iron ore mining in 2019 was short-lived, and last month the government raised fuel prices following a period of petrol scarcity as fuel firms struggled to raise money to import the products.

The latest allegations about the missing food aid follow two other recent controversies that suggest old patterns remain deeply ingrained in the public sector. Last September, a reporter was arrested while investigating bribery claims involving the Chief Minister David Francis, a highly influential cabinet member. The ACC said it found no evidence of wrongdoing on Francis’ part. Then a few months later in December, an annual government audit report showed that SLL140 billion (about USD14 million) was unaccounted for in 2018. ACC said it would investigate the irregularities described in the audit report. 

Outlook 

Sierra Leone has a history of forming commissions of inquiry. Bio is probing his predecessor Ernest Koroma, who set up a commission of inquiry to probe his own predecessor Ahmed Kabbah in 2008. These past probes mainly targeted opposition figures, but none translated into public sector reforms or significantly promoted justice. Today’s commissions of inquiry are following the same pattern and will likely have the same effect. 

Bio’s recent dismissal of senior officials suggests a willingness to stem corruption, as do recent amendments to the anti-corruption law. But these actions are not being matched by the strengthening of institutions such as the judiciary—for instance, Sierra Leone has only 35 judges for a population of 7 million people.[1]In this situation, government processes will remain significantly prone to corruption such as nepotism and bribery in the medium term. 

[1]https://allafrica.com/stories/201901110687.html