In celebrating the International Day against Corruption the newly appointed commissioner of the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC), Abdul Tejan-Cole, has called on every Sierra Leonean to join the fight against corruption.
The commissioner said, “the campaign against corruption must not be left to the commission alone. It must be the responsibility of every Sierra Leonean to end this menace.”
He stressed that the fight against corruption should begin with each and every one. “We must all play our parts in ending the culture of dishonesty.
We must have courage to say no to corruption when next we are offered a bribe,” he noted.
The commissioner urged all to say “no when next someone solicits a bribe or asks us to launder money.
Our individual actions may seem like acts, but they all make a huge difference.”
Corruption, Mr Tejan-Cole echoed, hurt everyone but it’s affect the poor, vulnerable and marginalized even more than the other.
He stressed that the vices of corruption were diverse as “corruption undermines economic development of the country as this prevents us from achieving the Millennium Development Goals and this keeps us at the bottom of the Human Development Index.”
Continuing on the ills of corruption the commissioner went, “it makes poverty eradication a distant dream and sustainable development an illusion. It undermines democracy, breaks public trust, and leads to brain drain. It kills trust in government, public institutions, and companies. It is the epitome of bad governance. It subverts the transparence, accountability and inclusiveness that mark good decision-making. It effects is corrosive and its undercuts all other achievements of good governance.”
ADVERTISEMENT