He expressed his views on various issues and put President Ernest Bai Koroma at fault for his stewardship.
Read on...
The advice “Don’t shoot the messenger” was expressed by Shakespeare obliquely in Antony and Cleopatra. When told Antony has married another, Cleopatra threatens to treat the messenger's eyes as balls, eliciting the response 'gracious madam, I that do bring the news made not the match'.
Shooting the messenger is a metaphoric phrase used to describe the act of lashing out at the (blameless) bearer of bad news.
The Ebola audit has brought in its wake an intensified process of educating the populace on so many salient issues related to the governance of the state. The limitations of the powers of Parliament, the relationship between Parliament and the Anti Corruption Commission and the right to free speech have all been espoused by various groups. Those who do not know about Standing Order 75, section 11 of the 1991 constitution or the fundamental rights provision in section 25 of the Constitution on freedom of expression and the press and the powers of the ACC are now much the wiser.
t was the invitation by the ACC to several people cited in the audit report that seems to have sparked off the debate. The Majority leader in Parliament, Hon Ibrahim Bundu appeared in the press giving the impression that the ACC had been wrong in its action and cautioning people to desist from discussing the audit report until Parliament shall have completed its discussions of it. This got several people and groups up in arms. There was an animated debate and falling out of sorts with the ACC Commissioner. Both SLAJ and the Bar Association put out press releases defending the right to free speech. Several individual commentators and civil society organisations came out firmly against the Majority leader. The opposition SLPP in parliament came out with a press release in effect saying the majority leader had acted without consulting with the opposition and was in fact wrong in his assertions. The combative PMDC Leader Charles Margai woke up from his now unusual slumber and was in typical combative mode coming out firmly against the majority leader: “MPs should be careful not to mislead the nation. If you don’t understand an issue don’t talk about it. You won’t sit at your backyard and become a lawyer.” He launched another tirade against MPs for having collected Le 63 million each.
The government has been firmly pitched in one corner against everyone else. If I were to summarise the reaction of people and organisations towards the audit report, it could roughly be split into the following areas:
Singling out individual perpetrators
Individuals and organisations have been singled out. They have generally come out badly in the press. The general impression is that everyone mentioned must be guilty in one way or another. Some have leapt to their own defence without much success.
Naming the hidden hands
Conspiracy theorists are in overdrive mode. They have gone beyond those named in the audit report and started casting aspersions on “hidden hands” behind the major contracts and linking them to prominent people in authority. To these people, many of the people and institutions named in the report are mere cannon fodders for puppet masters.
Casting blame on President Koroma’s stewardship
Many observers on the opposition side have gone beyond the mere fingering of those named to mention the fact that the President must bear responsibility for the whole debacle as the buck stops with him. After all, they argue, he makes the appointments and should also ensure that we have a governmental system that values accountability. They have named people who they say are close to the President himself as being culpable.
The government and its surrogates seem to have come out swinging. A careful thought would seem to indicate the following as their modus operandi:
Cast aspersions on the credibility of the audit
Surprisingly official government functionaries seem to be savaging the credibility of the report. This includes the Minister of Information Alpha Kanu who has directly impugned the credibility of the audit. The Government spokesman Abdulai Baraytay has been more measured in his criticism. His defence is that an audit does not necessarily attach guilt to those cited in the report. In a veiled criticism he mentioned that international best practice dictates that an auditor should give 21 days instead of the 7 days stipulated by the Auditor General to provide supporting documents. He seems to be torn between the need to defend the government and not giving the impression of savaging a vital government institution.
Some newspapers have gone into the defence of individual institutions cited. Instead of casting blame on the Ministry which did not provide supporting documents, the Audit office has instead come to be blamed. In all of these, no one seemed to have proven that the audit office ignored any supporting documentation given to it.
Criticize the poor timing of the audit
No less a person that Rtd. Major Paola Conteh, CEO of NERC said publicly in the media that the timing of the audit was wrong and it was a distraction for people who were still an integral part of the Ebola fight. This seems surprising considering that the even the President was in support of the audit. This refrain has been taken up by several people in the media.
Rope in civil society, media and opposition individuals and institutions
Critics sympathetic to the government have jumped on people and organisations, including media groups they consider sympathetic to the opposition, and civil society groups for also “sharing the loot”. Most of this has been without basis as in the case of Radio democracy which has issued an impressive press release.
Tout the President’s proactive credentials
The President seems to be defended to the hilt by government officials and friendly press. It is mentioned that he was “the very first person” who called for an independent Audit of the Ebola fund. I agree entirely with this but would like to relate an encounter I had with three friends of mine when I was at College. They left Newcastle to visit a neighbouring town-I think it was Consett, where there was a dance at a hostel for nurses. Two of them got friendly with two nurses and were invited to stay the night in the hostel. The third friend was unlucky and had to sleep on a couch in the downstairs sitting room of the hostel. Unfortunately he was later accosted by a vigilant matron. “What are you doing here”, she asked. “It is too late and the last train to Newcastle has left”, he replied. “This is not your bedroom. Please leave”. “But I am not alone, my two friends are upstairs”, he replied. And so my friends got thrown out, spending the rest of the cold night at the train station. I was appointed judge and jury to look into the case. I asked my “shootcrab” friend why he had reported the others. “I saw her first”, he replied. Delving into the case, he had “seen” one of the girls first but another friend had “three footed” him and he was not going to suffer alone. “So”, I said, “you saw her first but you did not succeed”. From that day we called him “I saw her first”. I will leave you to fathom the moral of the story. Surely it is not the saying that matters it is the doing.
Let us come back to the Auditor General-Lara Taylor Pearce, herself. Anyone who thinks this lady is “for turning” ain’t seen nothing yet. Her motivation is carried in the recent exceptional book “How I made it”, featuring twenty exceptional people by Modupe Taylor Pearce and Brian James.
On corruption, she says:
“I detest corruption and if I find myself in a place that I believe to be corrupt, I do everything I can to either expose it or put a stop to it.”
She goes on: “My driving force is to see things improve in Sierra Leone. One of the stumbling blocks stopping us from moving ahead is lack of accountability; there is also institutionalised corruption in many establishments.......One of the main keys to my success is that I am a focused person. I always know what I want to do, where I want to go and I don’t pay any attention to anyone whose aim seems to be pulling me down. There are times when in the middle of my efforts, other are speaking negative things. But I have learnt to ignore the negative, set my sights on my goal and pursue it. I would describe myself as a fighter. A woman in Sierra Leone who is timid will not succeed.”
She takes a swipe at us men and talks about her faith in God: “The fact of the matter is that a lot of Sierra Leonean men are bullies. One has to be bold enough to stick to what she believes in so that she gains a reputation as someone who cannot be brow-beaten or easily brushed aside. I am happy that I have been able to achieve that. The second key is that I always put my case to Almighty God. I always ask him for wisdom because with godly wisdom one can accomplish many things.” Tough cookie!
The recent happenings have indicated that as a nation we need to bring accountability to the fore, especially considering our meagre resources, Those calling for the auditors to provide more time for people to present documents are reminded that a significant amount of documents are still outstanding for the audit two years ago (730days). The President must make a resounding call for people wanting to disparage the credibility of the audit to back off as he must not be seen to condone the undermining of a system that he professes to support.
One need not be reminded of the fact that the term “shooting the messenger” also applied to a town crier, an officer of the court who made public pronouncements in the name of the ruling monarch. This often included bad news, such as tax increases. Harming a town crier was considered to be treason. Think about that, Mr. President and rein in needless detractors. Tell them-“Don’t shoot the messenger”.
Ponder my thoughts
Image:©slv
By: slv
