By: Hafsatu Z Bangura
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has on Wednesday 12th July 2023, present its findings on the twenty-eight heinous allegations levied against the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the Milton Margai Technical University Dr Philip Kanu at the Milton Margai conference hall.
Speaking at the event, the Director of Prevention Mr Rashid Turay said a comprehensive review of the report of practices and procedures of the university in which he said they received allegations of corrupt practices of the university.
He went on to say upon receipt of the allegations, investigations have begun in which two issues were raised in regard to the investigation.
According to the director the allegation of corruption upon investigation was not discovered but discovered corruption risk that can cause corruption to occur and made recommendations in the report to mitigate those risks he said.
He continued that the commission will work together with the institution to develop an implementation matrix to take into consideration findings of corruption vulnerabilities so as to prioritize those risks.
He concluded that a period of three months upon receipt of the report would be given to the institution to go through the report as the commission would be monitoring the institution and failure to implement the recommendations given by the commission is an offence.
The Deputy Director of the Anti-corruption Commission Mr Samuel Marrah said the report is a holistic one in that it encompasses students and the welfare of the institution and identifying the commission examined the practices and procedures of the institution, identified weaknesses and loopholes and proffer recommendations as he said the investigation is not to investigate the university but rather review its practices.
He also said the compliance time frame for the institution to work in accordance with recommendations of the commission has to be done no later than 3 months upon receipt of the report.
He spoke of the general governance structure of the university, sexual harassment allegations, allegations of siphoning salaries of lecturers, deduction of salaries from lecturers and more.
He said from the investigations, allegations of lecturers’ salaries being deducted for a payment course were investigated which academic staff of the university said lectures were not coarse into this payment, he said an academic meeting was held with lecturers to which they all agreed upon the deduction of a sum from their salaries towards the payment of a course to help broaden their horizon and for effective teaching.
In the investigations of sexual harassment, the commission noted that the committee was not properly constituted. He further said there are gaps in the administrative structure of departments of the institution and urged the institution to properly study and practice the recommendations of the report.
The Chancellor of the University Dr Victor Kabia thanked the commission for the report as he expressed joy in receiving the report and promised the commission of the universities cooperation in adhering to the recommendations made by the commission upon monitoring of the report in the next three months.
He urged members of the university and lecturers to read through the report and act upon the report for the glory of the university.
