By: Dadson A Musa
As the ACC boss Francis Ben Kaifalaputs it in one of his public lectures recently that “it is corruption when an individual puts his/ her interest above that of society”, and that our age-old problem in Sierra Leone has been corruption, and it is what has kept us at the bottom of the Human Development Index in the world.
Two Canadians, Bruce Mann and Bill Pikke who both own Transformation Sierra Leone and Commissioning a Lifestyle of Integrity respectively have set themselves to help us with our corruption fight. It started way back in early 2000 with Conrad Van Dyke, a Canadian veterinary officer attached to the then Njala University. In his veterinary work, he realized that corruption slowed down or impeded his work to a great extent. And when he went back to Canada and realizing that the lack of integrity was standing in the way of our progress as a country he decided to embark on a project that will help weed out the “wicked problem” of corruption in our country.
Unfortunately, he died in a road accident in Canada, and his ideas were picked-up by Bruce Mann. But the fight against corruption by their estimation has a faith-based dimension to it as they invoke God’s guidance and help through Christianity.
In 2017 their work got off to a start in Sierra Leone although they have a presence in other African countries. They have initially targeted those at the helm of society so that their reach can be far and wide. About 700 people have been contacted in this country because they want to see “practical outcomes.”
Asked if this is not a drop in the ocean they replied that the leadership of groups contact will make possible to reach out to more people. They have gone on with this fight by targeting school children so they grow up with it. A curriculum has been developed by them for school children to be taught in schools. And their “work has helped people in this country to take decisions of integrity.
The Canadians targeted the judiciary, education, business, government institutions and individuals in society. And their approach has been “bottom-up and top-down”. Their work has not gone on without challenges as issues of coronavirus pandemic, cross-cultural, deeply entrenched way of corruption in our country and cost of printing. They intend to go ahead with their work no matter what. According to them, corruption can only be curtailed if citizens are “provided with alternative means of livelihood that is reasonable and acceptable”. And call on Sierra Leoneans to accept change before this country can change.
