By Kelvin Jay
In a public interview, Hon. Abdul Karim Kamara, a prominent opposition MP, raised serious concerns over what he described as the politicization of the fight against corruption under the current administration of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
According to Hon.Kamara, the ACC’s approach to tackling corruption appears selective and biased, favoring members of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) while targeting opposition figures from the All People’s Congress (APC).
He recalled that during the tenure of former President Ernest Bai Koroma, the ACC under then-Commissioner Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara and Ady Macauley were bold enough to prosecute sitting ministers. However, he contrasted this with the current administration, where he claimed the ACC often cites “evidential threshold constraints” as a reason for not prosecuting certain politically connected individuals—such as Hon. Paran Tarawally, Clerk of Parliament, who was accused of conflict of interest.
The allegation against Hon. Tarawally involved the employment of his wife in Parliament, who was allegedly receiving a salary without ever reporting for work.
Hon. Kamara explained the administrative structure of Parliament, emphasizing that the Clerk of Parliament oversees and approves all departmental staffing, implying that Tarawally would have been fully aware of his wife’s recruitment.
He further challenged the ACC’s apparent reluctance to probe the matter with the same intensity it reserves for opposition figures.
“When it’s an APC member, the ACC is quick to say they have sufficient evidence to press charges. But when it’s an SLPP official, suddenly the evidence isn’t enough,” Kamara stated.
He also criticized the recent Afrobarometer report, which claimed that corruption in SierraLeone had dropped by 40%. Kamara dismissed the report as detached from reality, arguing that the lived experiences of ordinary citizens do not reflect such optimism.
Additionally, he revisited the controversy surrounding the Auditor General’s report that revealed alleged receipt fraud related to presidential expenses at State House. Instead of launching a thorough ACC-led investigation, Kamara noted, the government responded by attacking Auditor General Lara Taylor Pearce and eventually suspending her from office.
“Rather than addressing the corruption flagged in the audit, the government went after the Auditor General who was simply doing her job. That’s a dangerous precedent,” Kamara warned.
The MP concluded by reaffirming his belief that a credible anti-corruption fight must be impartial, transparent, and free from political interference if it is to restore public trust and uphold democratic accountability in SierraLeone.
