BY: ABDUL MARTINS FODAY AMARA IN KENEMA
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has, in a press release dated 26th January 2024, informed the general public that it has filed an indictment against one Sheku Abdulai Kamara, who serves as an Assistant Finance Officer of the University in Kenema, on Twenty-Six (26) Counts of Misappropriation of Public Revenue, Contrary to Section 36(1) of the Anti-Corruption Act, No 2 of 2008 as amended by the Anti-Corruption (Amendments) Act, 2019.
According to the release, the particulars of various Offences stated that Sheku Abdulai Kamara, on diverse dates between January 2021 and December 2023, at Kenema, in the Eastern Region of the Republic of Sierra Leone, misappropriated public funds amounting to Seventy-Five Million, One Hundred and Sixty-Seven Thousand (Old) Leones (Le 75,167,000) believed to be money received from Twenty-One Students as tuition fees for the Eastern Technical University of Sierra Leone.
The release further stated that the accused, Sheku Abdulai Kamara, is expected to appear in the High Court of Sierra Leone Holden at Kenema on January 30, 2024.
AIM NETWORK NEWS sounded the views of students and other people of Kenema, and some had these to say; "this is a new university in the part of the country. It is very disappointing that some selfish staff had already started diverting tuition fees from poor Sierra Leonean students for their personal use. I want the law to adequately deal with this unfortunate situation so others may learn from it".
"If a lecturer who should be seen as a role model is caught in such an act, only God knows what they are training our children to become in the future, " Mr Kallon, a parent, said.
Madam Victoria Luseni, a petty trader, expressed her dismay at what had happened in the institution before it could gain university status. If this is coming to light now that the University is this young, who knows what has been happening in the days of being a Polytechnic institute? No wonder the lecturers were instituting continuous strike actions due to low salaries and poor service conditions. ACC should set a brighter example so that others will be afraid to embezzle public funds, “she concluded.
A final-year student (name withheld) urged the ACC and other Agencies to apply different strategies to monitor every activity within the University Edifice to unearth corrupt practices. He told this medium that many corrupt practices in and around the premises of ETU-SL need public attention. "ACC staff should be coming to this compound and sometimes lecture rooms unnoticed to weed out corrupt individuals. Such will send a signal that the Commission is serious about the fight against corruption", he concluded.
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