By: Haja Hawa Koroma
The Anti-Corruption Commission has issued out a press release on the 11th May 2022 informing the general public that it has concluded investigations into the Freetown City Council (FCC), relating to issues highlighted on the Council in the 2019 Auditor General’s Report concerning payments of council funds to personal staff of the Mayor.
In the 2019 Audit Report, the FCC made payments totaling Two Hundred Million Eight Hundred and Forty-two Thousand Three Hundred and Thirty-three Leones (Le 200,842,333) for travelling expenses (Air tickets and per diems) to one Manja Isata Kargbo, Head of the Mayor’s Delivery Unit (MDU) who is not an employee of the FCC. The Report further claimed that the said amounts paid were not budgeted for by the Council nor did they receive appropriate approval.
The ACC comprehensively conducted the investigations into the said issue, during which persons of interest were interviewed, including the Mayor of Freetown City Council, the Chief Administrator of the FCC, the Consultant Team Lead in the MDU, Manja Isata Kargbo, the Human Resource Officer of the FCC, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), among other staff of the FCC and the MLGRD.
The investigations confirmed that, the MDU was a private unit within the Office of the Mayor that did not go through normal administrative procedures for its set up and was entirely done by the Mayor without any approval from the Ordinary General Meeting of Council, and was done without any recourse to the MLGRD, and there was no legal basis under the Local Government Act of 2004 for such.
It also shows that Manja Isata Kargbo was not properly employed by the FCC. She started work as a volunteer in the Mayor’s Office and later was singlehandedly contracted by the Mayor as a Consultant Team Lead in the MDU on 1st November, 2018 without observing the Council’s normal recruitment procedures and without going through the administrative and Human Resource apparatus of Council.
The investigations further confirmed that on various dates in 2019, Manja Isata Kargbo received the total sum of Two Hundred Million Eight Hundred and Forty two Thousand Three Hundred and Thirty three Leones (Le 200,842,333) as travelling expenses while accompanying the Mayor on her foreign trips. Fifty two Million One Hundred and Fifty eight Thousand One Hundred and Seventy six Leones (Le 52,158,176) for a trip to Copenhagen, Denmark for the C40 World Mayors Summit.
In addition to this Fifteen Million Nine Hundred and Two Thousand Leones (Le 15,902,000) was used for a trip to the United States of America for the TED Women. Fifty Eight Million Nine Hundred and Forty Thousand Leones (Le 58,940,000) for a trip to Durban, South Africa for the Global Parliament of Mayors.
Another Twenty Eight Million One Hundred and Forty Four Thousand One Hundred and Forty Eight Leones (Le 28,144,148) was used for a trip to South Carolina, United States of America for the Ground Breaking IAAM Charleston Structure and Bloomberg City Lab. Thirty Three Million Nine Hundred and Ninety-four Thousand Leones Six Hundred and Thirty Eight Cents (Le 33,994,638) for a trip to United States of America for the International African American Museum and Mayor’s Migration Council and Sixteen Million and Thirty Three Thousand Leones (Le 16,033,000) for a trip to Paris, France for the C40 Women in Climate Change.
However, Manja Isata Kargbo has refunded the sum of One Thousand, Two Hundred and Fifty Dollars ($ 1,250) in its equivalent in Leones out of the One Thousand Four Hundred Dollars ($1,400) paid to her in Leones for the said trip.
For the trip to Copenhagen, the Foreign and Protocol Officer mistakenly paid Manja Isata Kargbo the sum of Five Hundred Dollars ($500) instead of Four Hundred Dollars ($400) when a request for additional two days per diem was made. These payments were improper payments as captured in the Auditor General’s Report.
The Commission looked into the Administrative Inquiry Report in the Management of the Freetown City Council commissioned by the MLGRD in November 2021.
The report shows that the issue of the MDU is the greatest threat to peaceful coexistence at the FCC. The introduction of the Unit in the governance structure of the FCC has caused ill feelings in the minds of the FCC functionaries.
In addition to this, there is need to critically re-examine the position/status of the MDU within Council with a view of abolishing it and transferring roles and responsibilities to regular Council staff.
It also shows that a cumulative sum of Two Hundred Million Leones (Le200, 000,000) was paid from Council account to a non-Council staff (an MDU staff) for various overseas trips. These payments were not provided for a part of expected Council expenditure. Therefore, the payment contravenes the Local Government Act 2004.
Furthermore, it shows that the MDU staff who was paid a cumulative sum of Two Hundred Million Leones (Le200, 000,000) for overseas trip be made to repay the amount within a period to be determined by Council.
All these findings are consistent with the ACC’s separate and independent investigation of the issue and similarly confirm the findings in the aforementioned Audit Report.
The Commission has therefore directed that, the Consultant Team Lead in the MDU, Manja Isata Kargbo and the Mayor Yvonne Aki Sawyerr jointly pay back the sum of One Hundred and Eighty Seven Million, Nine Hundred and Four Thousand, Eight Hundred and Thirty Leones (Le 187,904,830) in lieu of criminal prosecution.
The Mayor and Madam Kargbo had through their lawyers communicated requesting that they do not repay the said amount, but the Commission has rejected same and they are now under obligation to pay while prosecution is being considered.
