A serious rift has erupted within the NRA (National Revenue Authority) Board of Directors over the decision to purchase a piece of land (4 town lots) along Wilkinson Road in Freetown for a scandalous US$2.8M (Two Million eight hundred thousand United States dollars).
Reports indicate that some senior members of the NRA management team are implacably opposed to the idea of purchasing the land because there is no urgent need for it. Some senior members of the Board are reportedly desperately pushing for the deal to be approved when the Board meets today.
The Commissioner General for fear of being linked to the deal has proceeded on leave, leaving his deputy to carry the blame. Sources within the top management team of NRA are complaining that some Board members are directly interfering with procurement activities undertaken by the Commission.
Meanwhile, the rehabilitation of the WAMA Building which the Government of Sierra Leone gave to NRA to transform to their head office is fraught with a lot of procurement challenges.
A spokesman for NRA declined to comment on the issue when he was contacted last night. “I don’t comment on non-operational issues”, he said.
Investigations continue.
