By Ragan M. Conteh
The Anti-graft Agency Commissioner, Francis Ben Kelfala has stated that “This is a country that has gone through trauma. He said the country has been led in a way that there is a complete break of social contract where people he said, we have entrusted for so long have behaved in horrible ways like when the country is being run like “lemon economy.”
He defined “lemon economy” as an economy where politician promised oranges but what actually the people get is lemon, which he insists is not good.
The ACC boss said the very foundation of our country for many years has been run on a foundation of a rule of extreme deception.
He stated that as such, the people have the right to be like the way they want, adding that the president has been very magnanimous to give some of these politicians the responsibility and the free hands to do their work.
He admitted: “It is very difficult to curb corruption in this country because people who have good intentions are frustrated to do their work.”
He didn’t shy away from stating that Sierra Leone’s foundation was built on corruption and the children are growing without understanding what is wrong or what is good.
He said when few officials from SLRA and Ministry of Finance squandered Le8.4 billion alone, he said, asked them a questioned about how they were feeling when walking the streets of Freetown and seeing young people hanging around without job?
“You go to the hospitals there are no drugs. The resources are not enough, there is no university in Sierra Leone that we have not done a public lecture on corruption,” he said, but stressed that the fighting is still difficult.
He maintained that the teams at the ACC don’t sleep, adding that sometimes he stressed them so hard and ask them, what they are doing.
The ACC boss said the country have to break away from the past especially corruption if we all want to see its progress and betterment for all and sundry.
He furthered that accountability starts when the ACC summon people to answer questions.