Concord Times (Freetown)
Bhoyy Jalloh
5 November 2009
Freetown — State House yesterday issued a press release announcing the abrupt dismissal of the minister of health and sanitation by the president after he was arrested by the anti-corruption commission, ACC for almost killing the ministry.
Sheku Tejan Koroma would go down on record as the first minister to have been sacked on allegations of corruption. He has been charged to court in Freetown while vice president Alhaji Samuel Sam-Sumana immediately steps in to supervise the ailing ministry.
While he could not be reached for comments, the minister was said to have been arraigned before Gambian judge, Justice Mary Sei who granted him bail after hours of proceedings. His passports and other traveling documents have been impounded.
Koroma was indicted by the ACC on claims of breach of procurement procedures and for awarding a contract to the wrong bidder to supply drugs to the ministry.
It could be recalled that on May 5, 2009 this year the ACC diagnosed and in a forty-two page report declared that the country's health care system was in intensive care.
Titled: 'Recommendation for Reform: Towards a Better Health Care Delivery System,' the report recommended for reform aimed at improving the health care delivery service in Sierra Leone and eliminating or reducing the risk of the occurrence of corrupt practice in the ministry and in hospitals and health centre across the country.
"Drug donations must comply with the internationally endorsed drug donation guidelines; the devolution of secondary health care service must strictly follow the decentralization agenda," the Commission suggested and noted that the procurement process and records management in the ministry and in hospitals leaves a lot to be desired as it provides ample room for corruption to occur.
In another development the president has also relieved Leonard Balogun Koroma of his duties as minister of state in the office of the vice president but no detail was given for his dismissal. He would be replaced by Dr. Komba Kono subject to the approval of Parliament.
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