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Concord Times (Freetown)

Sierra Leone: War Against Corruption Intensifies

Umaru Jah and Tejan Lamboi

25 November 2008

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interview

Since the end of the 11-year civil war in 2002, Sierra Leone has made limited progress in addressing the issues that gave rise to the conflict: Endemic corruption, weak rule of law, widespread poverty and the inequitable distribution of the country's national resources.

In a new book, Rev. Pastor Peter Sorie Mansaray, a Sierra Leonean writer based in Berlin, Germany gave a historical overview of the problem of corruption in Sierra Leone spanning from the Siaka Stevens' era to that of ex-President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah.

Rev. Mansaray, in the book titled: "Combating Corruption in Sierra Leone; a review and an assessment of strategies undertaken by past governments to curb corruption in Sierra Leone", blamed past governments for "plundering state coffers and enriching themselves rather than striving to provide the urgent needs of the country".

At the official lunching ceremony of the book in Berlin past Saturday, these reporters caught up with the author who spoke about a wide range of issues, including the need for current President Ernest Bai Koroma to sustain pressure on public officials to follow his example and declare their assets. Without transparency and accountability, Rev. Mansaray stressed, "we are fighting a losing battle against this cancer that has destroyed the fabric of the Sierra Leone society." Read excepts of interview below...

Question: There are a number of social problems stalling development in our country Sierra Leone. Can you please tell us why you chose to write on corruption?

Author: As I said earlier during my speech, I think corruption is the cancer that destroys the fabric of the Sierra Leone society and unless we tackle the cancer head-on we are fighting a losing battle. This is why when I did my Masters Thesis in Political Science, I thought of a topic that will be of essence to the Sierra Leonean community.

Corruption is something that most people don't like talking about because they are afraid. Most people don't want to come out and say I am the whistle blower because we know being a whistle blower as I am at the moment, is something that can be very dangerous. But I think I am very moved by the issue of corruption in Sierra Leone because we are all affected by it. I think there is not one person in Sierra Leone who can say corruption is not something for me. So this is why I chose to write on corruption.

Question: Could you please explain to us briefly how you carry out your research?

Author: Yeah emm... When I was about to write on the topic of corruption, I did what most people will refer to as literature analysis. I went into the internet and sourced articles on corruption in Sierra Leone. Articles journalists, your colleagues have written about. And I also contacted my fiancée then who also gave me some facts about corruption and then I also did a lot of book review at our library here in Berlin. At our university, we had an African Department and in the African Department, I found books about corruption in Sierra Leone.

I am not the first to write about corruption but my book is one of its kind because it brings together all what had been discussed over the past years about corruption, from the era of Siaka Stevens down to the era Ahmed Tejan Kabbah and I think that in two or three years, we can put this new government under the spotlight and see what they have done so far in terms of fighting corruption in Sierra Leone

Question: After reading the book, we realized that most topics covered dealt with the past. There has been a transition in Sierra Leone with a new government and new structures in place to tackle corruption. Don't you think it would have been necessary to include these developments in your book or do you have plans to revise it?

Author: You see, the time I was writing my book, this government was not in place. So I did a retrospect of the issue of fighting corruption in Sierra Leone for the past and present regimes and at that time the regime of Ahmed Tejan Kabbah was in power. You can see I ended my research on his government but having said that, I anticipate writing series of books on corruption. I will also do justice to this incumbent government you can trust me on that.

Question: You pointed out that the book is an attempt to place corruption high on the economic and political agenda in Sierra Leone. You also said here during your speech that there are lots of other authors who have written on a similar topic with a similar goal. How is your book going to make a difference in the fight against corruption, which was and is still a problem in Sierra Leone?

Author: I do think that my work is very concise. You can find lots of academic work on the issue of corruption but mine is very simple. It is more or less to be used as a textbook where student and people interested can learn about the methodology of fighting corruption. Because corruption is a very difficult topic, we should be careful not to give a short-cut definition to it and when you read my book, you will see the different perspectives, whether it's the individual perspective or systemic perspective. You can find all of them in that book. My book is handy and such compact that people in Sierra Leone and those interested can have a quick information and access to what has gone wrong in the country and have the possibility of reshaping again the fight against corruption in Sierra Leone.

Question: What advice would you give to the government and people of Sierra Leone with regards to combating this age-old problem and secondly what did it take to do a book like that?

Author: I would start with the second question. It takes some time and intense amount of research to go through publications and articles from newspapers and the internet on corruption issues. It also takes time to go through the methodologies I used here to bring these issues to the readers in a form that could be understood. I wrote purposely for the common man in the street. The one who is a victim of corruption. My idea is those who are down there should profit from this book. I want them to open their eyes to know what is going on around them. I want them to know why they are suffering - because the cake that should be divided equally has been eaten up by few corrupt people in the society.

As an advice to the incumbent government, I must first of all say I am impressed because I do follow corruption issues in that country. Now corruption is being discussed openly and the media is also sensitizing the people.

If a government wants to fight corruption, there must be the political will. The political will can be summed up from what most people say: a fish start to rot from the head. So if you are the President of the country, you must show good example. You must try to tell your people that you are serious about combating this cancer in our society and you can only be serious if you show examples.

You know in Sierra Leone we are very good at talking. And maybe that is why I also know how to talk (laughs). But when it comes to action we are very slow. So if the incumbent government wants to really fight corruption, I think the President and his cabinet should begin with themselves, within and among their own circles. They must attack themselves to check themselves and to be their own police.

I must say though that I am very happy that for the first time what we call asset declaration is taking place in Sierra Leone. How could you prove that a minister for example has embezzled so much money after his term of office if you had not known how much money or property he had before he came to office? So if we say we want to fight corruption, those in places of authority should declare their assets. They should open their books and tell the people this is how much I have. They should not close their books and steal the scarce resources in the country and build houses and send their girlfriends abroad to London and other places and tell people they acquired all their wealth from hard work.

I was happy when I read in the internet that the President himself has declared his assets. I want to applaud him for that and I hope others will follow suit. But the President has to exercise some pressure because without pressure no one is willing or ready to open up and tell people what they have.

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