Makeni Under Spotlight As… ACC Vows To Fight On!

By Sheikh M. Bawoh.                                                                                                
Lately, the northern city of Makeni has come under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
First, it was the transfer of one of EDSA’s two standby generators to another northern city, Port Loko which sparked up riot in which precious lives were lost. Sadly, not even a meeting of stakeholders prior to the transfer could quell a riot which many believed was orchestrated by opposition elements.
And then last Thursday, 8th October 2020, the city’s residents again in a show of defiance, publicly challenged established authority by setting up road blocks to prevent the Anti-Corruption Commission(ACC) from questioning the former President, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma who is accused amongst other crimes of money laundering while he was President of Sierra Leone.
The Makeni incident has been widely condemned by the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC), civil society organizations and the security sector.
The PPRC statement reads in part: “We therefore call on His Excellency the former President in both his personal capacity as a Senior Citizen and as Chairman and Leader of the ALL People’s Congress Party to make public denunciation of those acts of lawlessness and to admonish the perpetrators (again who held themselves out of his and APC supporters) to desist from such unwarranted breach of public peace and obstruction of the work of the ACC, a legally constituted Body”.
The security sector expressed dismay over the incident and warned that defaulters in subsequent engagement will face the full wrath of the law.
The ACC boss, Francis Ben Kaifala vowed not to relent in the face of intimidation and obstruction by people who prevented the Commission from carrying out its lawful function. “We have come a long way in the fight against corruption. We will not relent”, Ben Kaifala told the Global Times.
The ACC’s eighteen points allegations include unexplained wealth, conspiracy to defraud the state, money laundering among others. The former President is alleged to have benefitted Millions of dollars in bribe in the money laundering scam, Global Times sources claim.
The former President denied inciting residents, saying he was committed to peace and stability.
Besides the money laundering allegations, the former President’s role in the illegal sale of government’s 30% shares in Sierra Rutile Company for a paltry sum of USD12.3 Million ( plus USD5 Million in tax) will also be probed in to.
It is alleged that the former Sierra Rutile Chief Executive, John Bonoh Sesay, a blood relation to the former President used a local company and another company registered in the British Virgin Islands to corruptly purchase the 30% shares which was then valued at USD 113Million.
It remains to be seen if ex-President Koroma who has in a public statement expressed willingness to attend the ACC interview but is yet to denounce Thursday’s obstruction of justice will make himself available for future engagement with the anti-graft authority.