The Anti- Corruption Commission (ACC),recently identified lapses in the Sierra Leone Roads Transport Authority (SLRTA).
This is part of its mandate to review systems of different Ministries, Departments and Agencies to look at their strengths, weaknesses, lapses and make recommendations.
Explaining about the report, the Director of Systems and Processes Review Department of the ACC, Maurice Williams, said there were certain findings in the report which included weakness in the secretariat with respect to support for the Board of Directors.
He revealed that there is a lapse in the cash handling in the payment of income tax for license, and that there is no provision in the SLRTA Act about percentage to the Road Maintenance Fund, and there the position of the Deputy Executive Director .
Williams further disclosed that in their review it was discovered that there is proliferation of insurance agents who are also referred to “goats men” as they caused human and traffic congestion. The Director disclosed that there is also no link of the ASYCUDA system with the registration of vehicles as this should be done to avoid face to face contact with clients, and that the printing of number plates do not link with the license system and also printing of number plates is not standardized.
As part of their report, certain recommendations were made, one of which is to have an automated system for verification of vehicles registration, to make provision for income tax with respect of license to vehicle, all number plates to have serial numbers and also for the position of Deputy Executive Director to be advertised.
In his remarks, the Commissioner of ACC Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara said this is not the first time a review has been done as they have conducted reviews in the Ministries of Agriculture, Health and Education and also with University of Sierra Leone and Njala University. And that they did reviews in Customs were they highlighted lapses but the recommendations were not followed “only one year later, we have indicted people at the Customs.”
He said if the recommendations are carefully looked into and implemented by the different stakeholders then corruption will be minimized, since the report makes suggestive actions for the MDA’s. He said also this review will showcase how the systems work.
Commissioner Kamara stated that there is no part in the world where you can separate the fight against corruption and good governance because a country is bound to experience good governance, when there is corruption in the country.
Records management, the Commission stated, is one of the major challenges in the review not only in the SLRTA but the country as a whole, as people fail to keep records because they don’t want to be audited.
The Executive Director of SLRTA Sarah Bendu in receiving the report, said the findings in the report is challenging but they will make sure they implement the recommendations and some of them will be implemented in the shortest possible time.
For vehicle registration, the Director disclosed that they have gone to Ghana and Nigeria to see their best practice and will come with it to the country.
On the issue of the ASYCUDA system, she said NRA and SLRTA will work as in Nigeria where no cash is handled by staff. “We are working on a paperless office and make it into a thorough ICT office.”
She stated that they appreciate the report and hoping to transform the institution into a modern one “and we are ready to stand up to the challenges and where we think it is difficult, we will come back to you.”
By Betty Milton
July 29, 2013
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