Sierra Leone Anti-Corruption Commission in their 2nd Pay No Bribe (PNB)Report has indicated that a whooping amount of 107,781,500 (One Hundred and Seven Million, Seven Hundred Eighty-One Thousand, Five Hundred Leones)was paid as bribe in areas related to education in 2017.
The report which looked at bribe taken by public sector officials and responses in Ministries Department and Agency (MDA’s) from January to June 2017, claimed that the Ministry of Education Science and Technology refused to comment on the issues raised against them in the report.
The commission explained that the complaints received were focused on areas of Admission, Fees, Report Cards, Grades and Exams.
The Commission added that in the period of January to June 2017 a total of 19,437 ‘Pay No Bribe’ complaints were reported, and that 14,696 (76%) of the reports indicated that they ‘Paid a Bribe’ and 3,365 (17%) reported that they ‘Did not Pay a Bribe.’
The Commission also stated that 1,379 (7%) reported that they met an ‘Honest Official’, adding that 41% of the reports was concerned on the Police force with 29% on Health officials and 19% on Education, 4% on electricity and 2% on the Water Sector.
“Though the police tops the chart on bribed received, there has been a percentage improvement of 7.7% down from 48.7% of all reports in Quarter 1,” the release maintained.
The commission also added that there was a progress in the percentage of ‘I did not pay a bribe” on police reports.
The report highlighted a total amount of 33, 566 average value of reported bribery in education with 106,032.
The pay no bribe campaign is a led jointly by the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Office of the Chief of Staff, and was integral to the president’s recovery priories under improving governance in the public sector.
Nabilahi Kamara, Head of Anti Corruption’s National Strategy (NACS) and Programme Manager, Pay No Bribe stated that there is an overall public buy into the pay no bribe platform, and that for the system to become effective against corruption, “more needed to be done to encourage the public to report.”
“PNB is a useful tool to gauge bribery in Sierra Leone and provides firsthand and credible data in relation to bribery incidences in the public sector,” he maintained.
