The Former Minister of Education Science and Technology Dr. Alpha Wurie has asked, “If the SABABU Project was flawed why did the APC Government continue it, by commissioning over 10 SABABU funded projects in the Eastern Region recently.
The Former Minister made this disclosure to Awoko yesterday at the Miatta Conference Center during a brief interview, after he had learnt that the Commission of Enquiry was not ready for his testimony on the SABAU Project implementation until next Tuesday.
He was shocked, dismayed and disappointed when the Attorney General and Minister of Justice Serry Kamal demanded that he must leave the Enquiry Room with his battery of lawyers and sympathizers, notable amongst them was Roland Wright, Prince Harding, James D Rogers, Kanja Sesay and other close allies.
Alpha Wurie disclosed that, during his tenure of office he did not manage or handle any of the SABABU funds, but however maintained that, there was a system put in place by KPMG headed by David Carew the current Minister of Finance and Economic Development.
He added that, the Ministry of Education in collaboration with funding partners like the World Bank, African Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank agreed to contract KPMG firm to manage the disbursement of all SABABU funds to service providers and contractors to implement projects across the Country.
He stressed that he is always prepared and determined to face the Commission of Enquiry at any time, to make clear the role he played in the Education Ministry during his eleven years of service as Minister.
Meanwhile Sheku Tejan Tamu, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports was led in evidence by the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice Serry Kamal, who read the list of contract agreements of service providers in the Country and tendered the documents to the Commission.
Serry Kamal further questioned the legality of the contract agreements that he signed, as some of the documents tendered had no appendix and details of monies spent on the project, while other contract agreements were duplicated.
Tamu appealed to the Commission to give him time to sort out some of the documents that were reportedly missing from the Contract document; the Commissioners agreed and asked him to report for testimony this week before he lives the Country.
The SABABU Project Director Yvonne Gibril entered the Enquiry Room with cartoons of documents. She also testified to the Commission and was cross examined by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice.
She told the Commission that “most of the projects target dates were not met due to the complexities of the design projects for SABABU; and that most service providers had little or no knowledge of procurement procedures and the requisite capacity to handle projects.”
The Project Director noted that twelve months was spent on training Education Directors, service providers and contractors by the Government of Sierra Leone and funding partners before the commencement of the SABAU project across the Country.
The Commission of Enquiry continues investigations on the misappropriation of Government and donor funds this week.
By Saidu Bah
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