HON DR KANDEH KOLLEH YUMKELLA WEIGHS IN ON THE ASSASSINATION OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL - MRS LARA TAYLOR-PEARCE AND DR SYLVIA O BLYDEN CORRECT HISTORICAL MISCONCEPTIONS!
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 its 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 monolithic? When will we wake up from our slumber?
Leave Lara Taylor – Pearce alone! Hands off our Audit Service Sierra Leone!
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Commentary: (CULLED) > >Read on!
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| Mrs. Anna Caesar retired in March 2011 |
*Female Auditor Generals and the Duty to accurately carry the Torch for Future Generations of Sierra Leone Women*
By Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden.
One of the saddest outcomes of the RUF rebel war and ensuing civil strife is the re-writing of this country's history. The narratives have been so twisted that I sometimes gasp in horror. Many of those who have pushed themselves to the fore as authorities on Sierra Leone, actually have their knowledge commencing circa the turn of this century which is a mere 21 years ago.
In the process of churning out twisted narratives, they have already shortchanged this generation of young women and future generations from being inspired by greatness of Women of this country that dates over a hundred years.
By cutting out the tremendous successes which Women of Sierra Leone have achieved *since even before Independence,* we are not giving our Girls and Young Ladies, the strength to know they can be greater than they ever imagine. We are denying them the knowledge to know other Women have been great success stories that can inspire them.
Neophytes therefore make it appear as if it is some strange phenomenon to have strong Women on the stage of Sierra Leone life. If these neophytes are not cutting out the strides of strong Women like Constance Cummings-John, Ella Koblo Gulama, Honoria Bailor Caulker and Nancy Steele, they will be pretending as if APC's President Siaka Stevens never appointed women like Shirley Gbujama to be Stevens' female Ambassador to the United Nations.
Then we currently have the horrid portrayal of Madam Femi Claudius Cole as being the first woman to found a political party in the history of Sierra Leone. That totally unforgivable misrepresentation has somehow found its way to Wikipedia with nobody having the required integrity levels to correct that prior to Claudius Cole, there was Madam Jeredine Williams-Sarho who founded the first political party by a woman. Aunty Jeredine, as we all fondly used to call her back then, went on to not only be the first Woman to found a political party named Coalition for Progress Party (CPP) in 1995 but she contested against Tejan Kabbah and others as the first female presidential candidate in Sierra Leone in February 1996. Making the Wikipedia claim even more unforgivable is the fact that even nearer, in 2002, Madam Zainab Hawa Bangura also emulated Jeredine Williams Sarho.
This brings me to the country's female Auditor Generals - past and present.
Let me thank Hon. Dr. Kandeh Yumkella and the myriad others now coming on board to defend and protect the reputation of the country's female Auditor General Lara Taylor-Pearce. Sadly, they are all only coming on board after the lady had been unfairly buffetted and except for a tiny few people like Dr. Sylvia Blyden, Lawrence Williams, Fritong Newspaper and Awareness Times Newspaper, the woman had been left to fight for herself in the initial stages of what was a clearly state-sanctioned character assassination.
This is exactly what happens to many Women in this country when they get State-sanctioned unfair treatment. Everyone conveniently looks the other way; they will even give excuses that the victim deserves the state-sanctioned illegal treatment because she was too outspoken. This current societal make-up sees Women ganged up on by a chauvinistic cadre which thinks nothing is wrong with throwing the worst form of misogynistic attacks on Women.
Outspoken and competent Women are attacked, oppressed and suppressed for seemingly not knowing their places as women are supposed to be silently "in the kitchen", "on the farms" or in "that other room" even when they get to wield authority.
However, despite the patriarchal society, Sierra Leonean Women have proved their mettle over and over again as the decades turn in to centuries. When Britain and America were refusing to allow their women to own property or even vote, Sierra Leone already had the likes of Madam Yoko as Queen of a wide swatch of Kpa Mende territory. This is why I found it most unfortunate for a recent columnist to shine light on "Krio Women" being brave as if other ethnicities do not have brave women who can stand up for themselves.
The reason why Krio women seem to be brave is simply because we belong to a minority grouping that is regularly seen as targets to be bullied in various sectors of life. The Krios are always bullied in this country and so we the Krio Women have had to exert extra energy to face off such bullying. That is all. We have no special DNA difference from other Women of other ethnic groupings. Krios just have to fight HARDER against innate bullying tendencies from those non-Krios; some of whom so automatically detest Krios that they were gleeful when the rebels came to *"burn all den Krio den board house"* in January 1999.
But I digress.
Back to female Auditor Generals.
Let me now gently correct Hon. Kandeh Yumkella over his major error that I believe he made due to his many years of living outside of Sierra Leone. Contrary to Yumkella's claim, Mrs Lara Taylor-Pearce is certainly NOT the very first female Auditor General of Sierra Leone. We had female Auditor-Generals since the sixties starting with the person of Madam Ade Caulker, a Sherbro woman.
Appointment of Women as Auditors, Deputy Auditor Generals and Auditor Generals continued under H.E. Siaka Stevens, H.E. Joseph Saidu Momoh and H.E. Tejan Kabbah and then by H.E. Ernest Koroma who appointed the current Auditor General, Mrs. Lara Taylor-Pearce.
Infact, Lara Taylor Pearce actually took over from another female Auditor General, *Mrs. Anna Caesar,* the wife of the late Master & Registrar of High Court, Lawyer Roland Ade Caesar Esq., of the Gloucester Village Caesar family. Mrs. Anna Caesar had been appointed by H.E. President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.
A news report published by Awareness Times Newspaper some ten years ago, quoted Lara Taylor-Pearce after she took over from Mrs. Anna Caesar in March 2011.
*"Lara Taylor-Pearce described Mrs Anna Caesar as a woman of excellence who had contributed a lot to the Audit Service. She stated that she had learnt a lot during Mrs Caesar’s tenure of office as Auditor General. She also expressed satisfaction over the work done by Mrs Caesar adding that staff of ASSL would always remember her for her immense contribution to the ASSL"* - as published in Awareness Times Newspaper.
So you see; Mrs. Anna Caesar, like Mrs. Lara Taylor-Pearce, served Sierra Leone with impeccable excellence and diligence. Mrs. Anna Caesar retired in March 2011. It was after Mrs. Caeser's tenure that APC Government's instituted transparent measures, started. The steps of the APC commendably ensured ordinary citizens can see and publicly debate Audit Reports. Hence Lara Taylor-Pearce became thrust in to the limelight during such public debates.
She has carried herself well but to describe Lara Taylor-Pearce as the first female Auditor-General is a show of ignorance of our country's History and the strides of Sierra Leone Women.
Infact, Madam Ade Caulker and Madam Anna Caesar, as Auditors General, were not the only outstanding female Auditors. We also had other female Auditors who served Sierra Leone very well just like Lara Taylor-Pearce is now serving us. For example, we had *Madam Daisy Walters* as an outstandingly successful Deputy Auditor-General.
So, let me end by gently correcting Dr. Kandeh Yumkella and the other historical neophytes that they should take note that Sierra Leone's history of Great Women did not start in the 21st Century.
Sierra Leone Women and Sierra Leone Girls have great inspiration to draw from - inspiration dating back over a hundred years. So please don't shortchange us of such an inspirational History of Great female ancestors who served this country so brilliantly well.
Long live our female Auditor General.
Long live Sierra Leone Women making their mark.
Long live Sierra Leone Women choosing to challenge.
*Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden OOR*
Thursday 18th March 2021 -
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FURTHER COMMENTARY BY “ONE DROP”
“KRIO GYLE NOR DE FRADE NATIN!”
Lara Taylor-Pearce Is Unmoved By Media ‘Kamajorism’
By Mohamed Sankoh (One Drop)
I may be wrong. Maybe. Or what I’m about to write might sound, or look, controversially controversial. Professional Krio women, generally, have some traits which you will notice when you work with them in an office or offices. Most of them are easy-going, well-cultured with sound unshakable Christian beliefs, and respectful of work ethics. But one thing that always stands out about them is that when push comes to shove, they are not afraid of rocking boats or ruffling feathers.
Most professional Krio women are not afraid of courting controversies. They do not allow their male counterparts to frighten them into abusive submission.
They show stoicism whenever they are being bullied or harassed in the workplace. They hardly play the Roman fool and die by their own swords. Instead, most professional Krio women will usually take the Claude McKay-ian stance of facing “…the murderous, cowardly pack” with courage and determination. And even when they are “pressed to the wall” they will die “fighting back!” (To borrow from McKay’s poem: “If We Must Die”.)
That brings to mind Lara Taylor-Pearce, the Auditor General at Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL). For the last four months now, she has been a subject of consistent intimidations, harassments, threats, and campaigns of calumny simply because she is doing a thankless nationalistic job. Since the publications of the “Audit Report 2019” and the “Report on the Audit of Funds managed by the National COVID-19 Emergency Response Centre and other Ministries, Departments and Agencies-March to June 2020”; a group of misogynists has made it a duty to attack both the personality and professional efficacy of the Auditor General. They have used every trick in their “Paopagandistic” playbook to get at her. But as expected of her, she has always been unshaken like the Rock of Gibraltar!
Late last week, the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) unleashed its media “Kamajors” just like how a sadist would have thrown a bleeding pregnant woman to starving sharks. Based on a memo supposedly authored by the Solicitor-General dated 22 February 2021 to the Financial Secretary, Sahr Jusu, on the topic “Legal Opinion on the Transfer of Audit Fees by Audit Service Sierra Leone”; the SLPP’s media goons had salivated and gyrated like starved dogs that had suddenly chanced upon fresh meat in a locked cage! Prior to that, Sahr Jusu, whose current status was fathered by the All People’s Congress (APC), had led the pack by trying their first intimidation tactic by asking the Auditor General to transfer to the Consolidated Revenue Fund audit fees collected by ASSL for and on behalf of Government. But again, Lara Taylor-Pearce treated Jusu’s request just like how a well-balanced woman would have done to a man who appeared to be on the formative stages of developing an ailment in the head!
And for having her wits about her, the entire SLPP-dom now seems to be up in arms against Lara Taylor-Pearce, the most revered Auditor General who has been helping President Julius Maada Bio to fight corruption. But what is shockingly shocking, and surprisingly surprising, is the reticence of State House or State Lodge in all of this. If one of President Bio’s 2018 campaign promises was, and still is, to “plug the leakages” in Government spending and make huge savings for the country, and the Auditor General has been identifying those “leakages” for plugging, then I think it should be morally befitting for the Head of State to come out openly in support of her.
In pre-2018 Sierra Leone, when this same Auditor General was picking the same holes in Government spending, those who are now screaming blue murder were gleefully gloating and popularising the Auditor General’s Reports year-in year-out. Now that the SLPP is being asked to account for their financial stewardship, members of the SLPP are now engaged in what I will One Drop-nize as Media Kamajorism! Engaging in character assassination against Lara Taylor-Pearce, for merely doing her job patriotically, is like an undertaker being sentenced to death for simply preparing a corpse for funeral! Or in Mass Communicationsspeak, shooting the messenger because the message is unpalatable!
Methinks the problem which Lara Taylor-Pearce has with senior members of the Bio administration is her doggedness in maintaining her institution’s independence and doing her job professionally. She has repeatedly shown that she is a woman who cannot compromise her professional ethics even if a sword is placed on her throat. And the SLPP chauvinists are not used to seeing a woman who refuses to be bossed around by men wielding political power. And because she has been refusing to budge from her professional uprightness, she is now scaring the “drunkardnomists” and “Paopagandists” out of their wits. And the SLPP Media “Kamajors” now seem to be on the prowl—engaging in character assassinations to the extent that they are appearing to look like assassins-for-hire!
I can understand why the “drunkardnomists” and “Paopagandists” are still unable to gather their wits. Their SLPP government has been able to achieve the unachievable through intimidation and bullying tactics. They did that in both the selections of the Clerk and Speaker of Parliament. They sliced the APC majority in Parliament through judicial sleights of the gavel. They have been wining by-elections through intimidation and bullying tactics. And they have been getting their ways through these same tactics. But with Lara Taylor-Pearce, they seem to have faced a concrete wall because she has refused to be intimidated and bullied.
Since the Media “Kamajorism” started in both the traditional and social media, I have been trying to put a finger on the reasons for these anti-Lara Taylor-Pearce media vigilantisms. And what is beneath the surface is now being scratched by Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, of the Africanist Press, who notes that members of the Bio-led administration “…do not want [her] to preside over the 2020 annual audit exercise and the remaining special audit into the use of coronavirus funds…” So, the “drunkardnomists” have given blunderbusses to their Media Kamajors to engage in voodoo journalism. Yet, the Auditor General is still unmoved. In fact, she is not scared of them because she has refused to be bullied!
It is on that note that I will end today’s One Dropian dropping with a quote from Josh Billings, the pen name of the 19th Century American humourist Henry Wheeler Shaw, that says, “There are people so addicted to exaggeration they can’t tell the truth without lying.” That’s exactly what the “drunkardnomists”, “Paopagandists”, and Media Kamajors are now doing to Lara Taylor-Pearce. But she is that professional Krio woman who is made of steel.
medsankoh@yahoo.com/+232-76-611-986
