The Chief Librarian- Salieu Turay in the extreme right… By Musa Kamara The Sierra Leone Library Board has on Wednesday 17th March 2021, donated a total of 12,020 textbooks to over 20 institutions (both private and public )pre-schools, primary schools, junior and senior secondary schools, and tertiary institutions across the country. The distribution exercise took place at the Headquarters of the Sierra Leone Library Board and accounts for schools representatives from across the country. Deputy Chief Librarian of the SL Library Board, Musa B. Mansaray informed that the donation exercise is an annual event undertaken by the institution, and directed to all schools with libraries, and also disclosing that they are given out as an institution- 12,020 textbooks that caters for elective and core subject areas, with diagram illustrations to the effect and very simple English for comprehension. He went on to say that such donation exercise is made possible by Book Aid International-UK, an acclaimed charity-driven organization that has been a partner to SL Library Board for over 2 decades. He explained that the aim of the donation is to have all libraries fully equipped that would enhance learning for all categories of pupils/students, and he also added that as an institution- SL Library Board is complimenting the effort of President Bio and the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, for every Sierra Leonean child to get education. Furthermore, he pointed out that the SL Library Board has no room for discrimination in the distribution exercises, and that as long as institutions are qualified by meeting the requirements of the Sierra Leone Library Board, then they will be provided with the books in a transparent and accountable means. The Deputy Chief Librarian come out very strong that the Management of SL Library Board has an ‘essential practice’ of monitoring all schools, and with that, he called on school heads to ensure that the books are well utilized and not redistributed to families and friends. He underscored the essential role SL Library Board has been playing over the years, and he proudly admitted that the country can now boast of 56 school libraries- 50 of which he described as ‘Inspiring Libraries’ and the remaining 6 as ‘Explorer Libraries.’ The Deputy Chief Librarian shower praises to the Chief Librarian- Salieu Turay, whom he described as “very energetic and the brain behind the success of SL Library Board.” On the same vein, he lauded the efforts made by David Moinina Sengeh- Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, for adding value to the educational sector. He maintained that Minister Sengeh and his children are frequent visitors to the Sierra Leone Library Board, and interestingly, not to monitor- but to read. Therefore, he remained hopeful that there challenges as an institution, would be looked into. In a nutshell, a quantity of 12,020 textbooks was distributed at a go to 29 institutions inclusive of universities and community libraries.   Former President Koroma Convenes Round Table Discussions on African Peace Engineering Corps After a successful virtual Round Table meeting on the proposed African Peace Engineering Corps (AfPEC) held in October last year, advocate of AfPEC, Fmr President Ernest Bai Koroma, will on the 18th March 2020, convene a second virtual Round Table at the Horasis – USA meeting. With the theme: ‘Building Trust’, the Horasis – US meeting will attract over 700 high level participants to interact with the new US administration in shaping America’s and the world’s agenda. Participants (including several heads of governments and key ministers from some of the US’ key partner countries) will explore the big issues of the day and approaches to promote global recovery. This High Level Roundtable is therefore expected to draw strategic support from both public and private stakeholders in the United States and around the World towards the AfPEC initiative. “I am passionate about this initiative because I have seen first-hand how the military can be of great value in rebuilding a nation, in uniting its people and in giving hope to a traumatised population. Our continent is yet to fully leverage the huge and varied expertise and energy lying fallow within its military which could be critical in adopting a broader continental framework for a formidable African Peace Engineering Corps. I believe it’s now time to tap from the great expertise lying with the military.”, said H.E Ernest Bai Koroma, Fmr President of Sierra Leone. “I am pleased to be part of this discussion because this is an exciting initiative that responds to an important part of Africa’s peace and development aspiration. Critically, it reinforces the African Peace and Security Architecture in many ways which is why I believe it should be given the necessary support”, said H.E Goodluck Jonathan, Fmr President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This year’s High Level Round Table conference will be attended by former President Good luck Jonathan of Nigeria; Russel Feingold, Former Senator and former Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region and the Democratic Republic of Congo; Rtd General William “KIP” Ward, First AFRICOM Commander and Dr Vasu Gounden, Founder of the African Center for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) – the foremost Peace and Security Think Tank in Sub-Sahara Africa.   JULDEH JALLOH LAUNCHES FIRST CONSERVATION TRUST FUND STRATEGIC PLAN The Conversation Trust Fund (CTF) as an institution came in to existence in 2017, with a clear mandate to mobilize Resources for the National Protected Area Authority (NPAA).    The NPAA on the other hand is created to provide oversight function over protected Areas and to Conserve Biodiversity and manage Wildlife. The Conservation Trust Fund in a drive to execute its mandate as stated in the NPAA&CTF Act of 2012, the Board of Trustees and Management decided to develop a Strategic Plan that will set the road map to address the long standing issues regarding Conserving biodiversity and wildlife management. On the 18th March, 2021 the first Strategic Plan of the CTF was launched by the Honorable Vice president Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh. The

By Feima Sesay Orange Money SL has signed bank to wallet partnership agreement with Rokel Commercial Bank Limited in order to put smiles on the faces of the customers and make life easier for them. This event took place at the Rokel Commercial Bank LTD Lumley branch  Freetown.  The product is to enable their customers to transfer money to and from their Orange Money Wallet to their Rokel Commercial Bank Account. Speaking at the Launch, the Chief Executive Officer Orange Money David Mansaray in his statement said he is very much excited to celebrate partnership with Rokel Commercial Bank, though he said it been quite a long journey. Adding that the purpose was to see how they can use both institutions strength in furthering financial inclusion and ensuring that they meet their customer`s needs as they arises. He assures that the bank to wallet service is not going to be the last but that more will come in the feature. CEO Mansaray disclosed that the newly publish report has label Orange SL as the biggest brand in the country whiles RCB happens to be second. “The launch is to harness the strength of Orange Mobile finance and that of Rokel Commercial Bank, I believe this partnership today is going to impact our customers in a diverse ways and create a room for both institution to access more customers, to provide more customers with quality services to ensure that we can prove our bottom line”, he said. He underscores that the bank will gain a lot out of the Partnership, as it help with the bank liquidity in that it comes with fresh funds from the informal sectors to the banking sectors, adding that they are more or less free funds as it helps the bank liquidity funds. He said the service also allows the bank to free it queues in the banking hall. Mr. Mansaray further stated that their company has nine thousand agents across the country most especially the most remote part of the country. ” This means that if a customer want to open an account with Rokel Commercial Bank, he/ she does not to be trouble that they have no commercial bank branch they can service their account through Orange Money agent in that area as it is easy”, he note The CEO said as at the end of December last year they were able to achieve about 1 million customers and that the partnership will give Rokel Commercial Bank access to those 1 million customers who to a larger extent will be willing to open an account with Rokel Commercial Bank, adding these are the benefit the bank is going to 3njoy with the partnership. He added that their company will benefit also. He said the nine thousand agents he spoke about will only be able to do their jobs it they have their liquidity and that is where the bank comes in to provide liquidity for these agents as he said they relied on the bank to manage the company flaws. He said it is a win-win relationship they are developing with the bank as it will not only benefit the company’s but the entire country in terms of financial inclusion. “This relationship will help strengthen financial inclusion for the entire country, adding that the reason why they need financial inclusion to improve in Sierra Leone, the economy will develop. The Managing Director of Rokel Commercial Bank LTD Mr. Walton Ekundayo Gilpin in his statement said it is a significant pleasure for him to be part of the launch. He noted that a journey of a thousand miles start with one step and that they had been in a journey with orange for a while now. He early this year they had promised the country that 2021 is going to be a year of digitalization for Rokel Commercial Bank. The Manager noted that the bank is far better now than the way it was before and that if they continue on that trajectory it will change the  lives of their customers permanently not only for the bank but also for economic fundamental in the country. According to him, the partnership will strengthen financial inclusion that will enable customers to get more access to their finance, taxation,   more revenue and more funds to government in order to implement social development initiative and more time to the public to think about how to get funds to go into business. ” So the circularity of debt and deficit will be broken because will would have the situation where in people will get more access to funds, utilize the funds better and transfer money easier and then that make the whole economy circle better”, he noted. The Managing Director underscores that the situation of queues at the bank will be a thing of the past as it will enable customers get access to their monies through their phones so that it could trigger the activities in other sectors such as Agriculture through funding fertilizer, funding farmers, health care and insurance care. He said the process is going to create a significant impact on the economic growth and help shape the fundamentals of the statistic in Sierra Leone. He said it is time for Sierra Leoneans to say they are tired of being at the bottom among the rest and therefore thank the CEO Orange Money for being patient with them. He assured the company of the bank continuous support in striving towards development. Mr. Buffy Bailor, Chairman Board of Director of Rokel Commercial Bank in his statement said their aim is not only to be the bank of choice or  No1 bank in Sierra Leone but the number one bank in the sub-region as it is the bank vision. He therefore said there is no better example of these than the marriage they are going into with Orange Money because they have been name as the biggest brand in the country. According to the chairman, going to the

Quite recently, the public is aware of the bitter blood that has been brewing between Lara Taylor Pearce the Auditor General and Sahr Jusu the Financial Secretary over allegations of non- deposition of Audit fees into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF). The issue has generated a lot interest from different quarters and Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella commonly called KKY who is the leader of the National Grand Coalition (NGC) in Parliament has waded on the subject matter. Below is an opinion piece written by the Politician on the rancor between the Auditor General and the Financial Secretary.   The Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) must be allowed to function independently Leave Lara Taylor – Pearce alone By Hon Kandeh Yumkella The Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) was created under Chapter VI, Section 119 of the 1991 Constitution to perform one basic function: promote accountability and good governance. However, to effectively “carry out audits on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the audited government entities use their resources in carrying out their responsibilities,” they should be allowed to function as an independent institution. As opposition presidential candidates, the work of ASSL allowed us to challenge the excesses of the previous APC government between 2015 – 2018.  Using evidence from reports produced by the Office of the Auditor-General, current President and former SLPP Presidential Candidate, Julius Maada Bio and I harangued the past government for four years.  Launching his party’s manifesto in Port Loko, President Bio promised to fight corruption and improve accountability and lauded the work of ASSL for “the publication of a series of robust annual audits providing evidence of leakages…” during the previous government. The New Direction Promise For several months now, Sierra Leoneans have watched as the ASSL has come under attack and it’s Auditor General, Lara Taylor-Pearce under siege. The campaign intensified after the release of the 2019 audit report and the Covid-19 special audit. The government used the current audit service and forensic audits reports to substantiate its White Paper. Yet, the same government, six months later, turns around to wage war on the audit service for exposing their own malfeasance. It is hypocrisy, effrontery, and total disregard for the Sierra Leonean people. The fight against corruption, fiscal consolidation and discipline promised us will be meaningless if Sierra Leoneans fail to call out party operatives who are bent on the systematic dismantling of the Audit Service – an institution that has shown exemplary service and resilience for 15 plus years.   As father of the nation, President Bio should lead that call! President Bio promised in his manifesto to “ensure the full implementation of all recommendations in annual audits of the ASSL and of Ministries, Departments and Agencies.” He promised us a New Direction “with a committed political leadership in the fight against corruption” and one that will “ensure the efficient political and economic management of the state and its natural resources to capacitate our country to pay for and finance all our basic and essential services…” The Role of Parliament However, our parliament has an important role to play, too. When it comes to institutionalized corruption, like institutionalized leakages, we, parliamentarians will inadvertently, aid and abet bad behavior by negligence and willful dereliction of responsibility. It is so ironically convenient that we are all painted as personally corrupt just after we call for parliamentary hearings. Will our parliament be used to bully Auditor General Lara Taylor-Pearce? Will we allow Parliament to be used to disparage the Audit Service reports or support the auditee to tell the auditor how to do its work? Unless Parliament says otherwise, the Audit Service’s budget and revenues are managed by the institution itself. By compelling the audit service to surrender its funds to the single treasury account, you are forcing them to receive instructions from (and be controlled by) the government. In other words, the tail will wag the dog; the auditee will tell the auditor when to audit, who to audit, what questions to ask, and what reports to prepare. All the decades of World Bank capacity building for prudent financial management and accountability will be flushed into the cesspit. Silence of Convenience by International agencies and donors The United Nations, the World Bank, and other donors who lecture us about accountability, International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), internal controls, etc.  cannot pretend not to see this drama. If Ms. Taylor-Pearce is harassed enough, she will resign. Then for the first time in two decades, a party loyalist will be quickly railroaded through Parliament.  Where is UNDP-the agency for good governance? All donors know that by IPSAS standards, auditors are independent. By keeping silent, they are aiding and abetting the government to run the Auditor General out of town. Is it not double standards that the fight against corruption is only about the past? Where is UN Women? What happened to all those proclamations about women’s rights and empowerment? Is it not a shame that during the week of the celebrations of international women’s day, Lara Taylor Pearce, the brave and first female auditor general of Sierra Leone, faced the worst barrage of threats and disparaging attacks by the government’s media lackeys? Is it OK for the Chief Fire Officer to become the arsonist? In my earlier professional life, I spent six years working on Minority Affairs and was appointed the first Assistant to the Dean for Minority Affairs in the College of Agriculture, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. We learnt that one way institutionalized racism gets rid of prominent minorities and women is by attrition through racist and sexist innuendoes.  Auditor General Taylor-Pearce should hold on. However, she needs our support. In 2018, the Chief Justice and Governor of the Central Bank all hastily resigned for one reason or the other, even though their offices and tenure are protected under the Constitution. Will Sierra Leoneans sit back and allow the ASSL to be torn down and politicize? Are the District Councils next to be decapitated and made

……..Hands off Our Auditor General Quite recently, the public is aware of the bitter blood that has been brewing between Lara Taylor Pearce the Auditor General and Sahr Jusu the Financial Secretary over allegations of non- deposition of Audit fees into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF). The issue has generated a lot interest from different quarters and Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella commonly called KKY who is the leader of the National Grand Coalition (NGC) in Parliament has waded on the subject matter. Below is an opinion piece written by the Politician on the rancor between the Auditor General and the Financial Secretary.   The Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) must be allowed to function independently Leave Lara Taylor – Pearce alone By Hon Kandeh Yumkella The Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) was created under Chapter VI, Section 119 of the 1991 Constitution to perform one basic function: promote accountability and good governance. However, to effectively “carry out audits on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the audited government entities use their resources in carrying out their responsibilities,” they should be allowed to function as an independent institution. As opposition presidential candidates, the work of ASSL allowed us to challenge the excesses of the previous APC government between 2015 – 2018.  Using evidence from reports produced by the Office of the Auditor-General, current President and former SLPP Presidential Candidate, Julius Maada Bio and I harangued the past government for four years.  Launching his party’s manifesto in Port Loko, President Bio promised to fight corruption and improve accountability and lauded the work of ASSL for “the publication of a series of robust annual audits providing evidence of leakages…” during the previous government. The New Direction Promise For several months now, Sierra Leoneans have watched as the ASSL has come under attack and it’s Auditor General, Lara Taylor-Pearce under siege. The campaign intensified after the release of the 2019 audit report and the Covid-19 special audit. The government used the current audit service and forensic audits reports to substantiate its White Paper. Yet, the same government, six months later, turns around to wage war on the audit service for exposing their own malfeasance. It is hypocrisy, effrontery, and total disregard for the Sierra Leonean people. The fight against corruption, fiscal consolidation and discipline promised us will be meaningless if Sierra Leoneans fail to call out party operatives who are bent on the systematic dismantling of the Audit Service – an institution that has shown exemplary service and resilience for 15 plus years.   As father of the nation, President Bio should lead that call! President Bio promised in his manifesto to “ensure the full implementation of all recommendations in annual audits of the ASSL and of Ministries, Departments and Agencies.” He promised us a New Direction “with a committed political leadership in the fight against corruption” and one that will “ensure the efficient political and economic management of the state and its natural resources to capacitate our country to pay for and finance all our basic and essential services…” The Role of Parliament However, our parliament has an important role to play, too. When it comes to institutionalized corruption, like institutionalized leakages, we, parliamentarians will inadvertently, aid and abet bad behavior by negligence and willful dereliction of responsibility. It is so ironically convenient that we are all painted as personally corrupt just after we call for parliamentary hearings. Will our parliament be used to bully Auditor General Lara Taylor-Pearce? Will we allow Parliament to be used to disparage the Audit Service reports or support the auditee to tell the auditor how to do its work? Unless Parliament says otherwise, the Audit Service’s budget and revenues are managed by the institution itself. By compelling the audit service to surrender its funds to the single treasury account, you are forcing them to receive instructions from (and be controlled by) the government. In other words, the tail will wag the dog; the auditee will tell the auditor when to audit, who to audit, what questions to ask, and what reports to prepare. All the decades of World Bank capacity building for prudent financial management and accountability will be flushed into the cesspit. Silence of Convenience by International agencies and donors The United Nations, the World Bank, and other donors who lecture us about accountability, International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), internal controls, etc.  cannot pretend not to see this drama. If Ms. Taylor-Pearce is harassed enough, she will resign. Then for the first time in two decades, a party loyalist will be quickly railroaded through Parliament.  Where is UNDP-the agency for good governance? All donors know that by IPSAS standards, auditors are independent. By keeping silent, they are aiding and abetting the government to run the Auditor General out of town. Is it not double standards that the fight against corruption is only about the past? Where is UN Women? What happened to all those proclamations about women’s rights and empowerment? Is it not a shame that during the week of the celebrations of international women’s day, Lara Taylor Pearce, the brave and first female auditor general of Sierra Leone, faced the worst barrage of threats and disparaging attacks by the government’s media lackeys? Is it OK for the Chief Fire Officer to become the arsonist? In my earlier professional life, I spent six years working on Minority Affairs and was appointed the first Assistant to the Dean for Minority Affairs in the College of Agriculture, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. We learnt that one way institutionalized racism gets rid of prominent minorities and women is by attrition through racist and sexist innuendoes.  Auditor General Taylor-Pearce should hold on. However, she needs our support. In 2018, the Chief Justice and Governor of the Central Bank all hastily resigned for one reason or the other, even though their offices and tenure are protected under the Constitution. Will Sierra Leoneans sit back and allow the ASSL to be torn down and politicize? Are the District Councils next