(Feature)
By: Dadson A. Musa
The bank is supposed to be the place where our monies are safe and very secure. Banking was created so that there is a strict and measured control system so that businesses can go on in an organized manner. Then, people used to keep their monies at home but it became an easy target for pilferers and thieves and with time the money lost its value. Banks are supposed to be some of the most secured places on earth with safety gadgets and well trained security personnel’s.
Banking is a formal type of business and those who are supposed to run it must be people with unblemished honesty and integrity. Their trustworthiness should be of very high standard. So it is never about just picking up any Tom, Dick or Harry to work in banking. It should never be about “who knows you”, not about friendship, tribal or political connection but rather who is qualified and can deliver, period.
Handling money and its securities no doubt is a tempting affair therefore those who do should be given the right environment, right materials and the right conditions of service. Therefore if they get all of these necessary conditions and they still fall foul then they are not fit for purpose and must be punished. Banking fraud happens everywhere in the world even in rich countries so poverty is never an excuse for being involved in it. Attitude and the right training is the key to being a banker.
Here in Sierra Leone, we have heard severally of instances of workers at various banks being involved in grave malpractices involving huge amounts of money. Yes, banks should have secrets but it is becoming obvious that the secrecy must be monitored for it not to be abused.
As I write this piece I am privy to an incidence when a community bank colluded with a head teacher in the south of Sierra Leone to deprive a widow of her late husband’s salary and gratuity that ran into millions of Leones ( old notes). When it was discovered they denied it but after investigation they were found guilty and agreed to pay the money back. And you know what these fraudster are still having their jobs. So when I heard of Rokel Commercial Bank and Sierra Leone Commercial Bank of recent I shook my head. There are also foreign banks that have been mired in serious fraud cases. And all of these boil down to systems failure. Our central bank, Bank of Sierra Leone needs to do more to put very stringent measures in place to clean the image of our banking industry so that well-meaning and sober minded investors are attracted to our country, Sierra Leone.