Commissioner of the Sierra Leone
anti graft agency, the Anti Corruption Commission, yesterday disclosed findings
about the just concluded investigation into the much talk about 100 buses which
were procured by the ministry of Transport and Aviation to ease the acute transportation problem in the
country.
Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara while speaking at the public lecture
organized at the Bank Complex in Freetown said the commission has properly
investigated the matter and was unable to proffer any charges against Minister
Leonard Balogun Koroma on the grounds that he was not directly involved in the procurement process.
But the commissioner however opened that there
were blatant misuse of presidential clearance and violation of procumbent
procedures in the deal.
Kamara father that their
investigation has proved under all reasonable doubt that the Sierra
Leone Road Transport Corporation buses will not generate the required revenue
to pay the loan within four to five years.
“We have completed our investigation on the 100
buses, we found out that the ministry failed to adhered to the executive
clearance, procurement procedures were also flouted at but the minister cannot
be held accountable because he is not responsible for procurement, also we noticed that the suppliers were already identified even before the procurement process could began,” he said adding that it was appropriate for the procurement document to have been approve by parliament before embarking on the
process.
It could be recalled that Members of
Parliament as well engaged the Minister of Transport prior to public debates
from all angles in relation to the buses with a total cost of buses
is $12m (twelve million United States Dollars) while the leader and Chairman of
the newly registered Alliance Democratic Movement (ADM), Mohamed Kamaraymba,
maintained that the total cost of the buses is $4,500,000(four Million five
hundred thousand US Dollar).
Source: Concord Times
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