Africa 24 News-By Hassan I. Conteh

A number of civil society organizations (CSOs) have called on the government to make public the Auditor General’s latest tribunal report.

The CSOs consist of Budget Advocacy Network (BAN), 50/50 Group Sierra Leone, Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD), Action Aid Sierra Leone, Campaign for Good Governance (CGG), Institute for Legal Research and Advocacy for Justice (ILRAJ), Talking Drum Studio (TDS) and Transparency International Sierra Leone (TISL).

In a joint press statement, the advocacy groups have called on the tribunal, which was set up by the government, to make public the findings into former Auditor General of Sierra Leone, Mrs. Lara Taylor-Pearce, and her deputy, Mr. Tamba Momoh, who were removed from office regarding allegations of what the government had described as them being held for ‘misconduct or lack of professional performance’ on a letter written to the Chief Justice.

The latest CSOs’ press note follows the presentation of the Tribunal’s Report submitted to President Maada Bio on June 12th 2024.

The CSOs note that both Lara Taylor-Pearce and Tamba Momoh of the Audit Service Sierra Leone faced charges of ‘ breach of confidentiality and professional misconduct’ while carrying out their investigations into public institutions and state parastatals.

They said the tribunal outcome lacks “fairness” as the public is kept in the dark.

“Specifically, the tribunal examined the concern that Mrs. Taylor Peace and Mr. Momoh contacted hotels in Lebanon, South Africa, and The Gambia to verify the authenticity of receipts submitted for audit without the explicit approval of the Office of the President,” the CSOs wrote in a joint statement.

The tribunal was established by the government to review the charges made against Lara Pearce and co-auditor.

BAN and other CSOs engaged journalists on Friday 14, this year, at BAN’s head office on Wilkinson Road in Freetown. The media engagement followed just two days after the tribunal report was presented to President Julius Maada Bio of the Republic of Sierra Leone.

“We, the under mentioned Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), are calling for greater transparency following the conclusion of the tribunal set up to investigate the Auditor General, Lara Taylor-Peace, and her deputy, Tamba Momoh, over allegations of ‘professional misconduct’,” the press statement reads in part.

On 8th November, 2021, Mrs. Lara Tayor-Pearce and Mr. Tamba Momoh were suspended by Chief Justice Hon. Justice Desmond Babatunde Edwards following instructions given by Umaru Napoleon Koroma, the Deputy Minister of Justice.

BAN’s Coordinator, Abu Bakarr Kamara, said they consider the tribunal as a public hearing and so they needed the report of the findings to be made public and be sent to the ones who had been accused, Lara Pearce and Tamba Momoh.

Asked what if the tribunal report is not published publicly, Kamara reacted: “Firstly, it’ll hinge on the integrity of the work of the tribunal itself because there will be a lot of speculations and when that happens it’ll not bring trust between the tribunal, government and the people of Sierra Leone.”

At the media engagement program, 50/50 Group made their position on Lara and co-staff’s probing tribunal.

50/50 Group is a non-partisan organization advocating for equal rights and political participation of women in Sierra Leone.

The organization’s representative Professor Fredline M’Cormack-Hale shone light on the rights to be enjoyed by the accused when tried by a court or any special court like the concluded tribunal.

“When you talk about justice, when you talk about fairness, those that were accused; it is important that they know this is the judgment that has been made against them.”

“So they’ll know how to respond,” she added.

ILRAJ’s legal officer, Mohamed Wurie Bah, told journalists that it is expected that, “at the conclusion of the tribunal, it’s prudent for the public to know what actually happened.”

Otherwise, he added, “it is like watching a football match but you don’t know what the outcome is;  I think, it is very unfair.”

The Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD)’s executive director, Abu Brima said they would continue to do series of engagements constructively on the tribunal’s report to ensure transparency.

He said without making the contents of the tribunal’s report public a lot of questions and issues by citizens would arise, adding concerns might be raised by the international community as well.

“The Audit Service’s situation remains to be contentious. It is not something Sierra Leoneans should be proud of,” he said.

Audit Service Sierra Leone, under the stewardship of Lara Taylor-Pearce, had been in successive governments’ bad book due to its several unfavourable annual reports exposing corrupt government institutions who had been accused of misusing some public funds.