News Story

WASHINGTON D.C., USA: NEW PEOPLE CORRESPONDENT: Thoroughly embarrassed after failing to answer questions about the purchase of real property in Bridgewater, Somerset County, NJ, Vice President Sam Sumana tried lending some credence to his US visit by waxing lyrical about a transition report which, according to him, is evidence that the SLPP left the economy in "shambles." He had earlier on tried a series of excuses including the excuse that he had visited the USA to attend a "Miracles Corner of the World" Dinner, a nonprofit organisation housed in a suite (room en pala" office) in New York. When this did not explain his New Jersey visit, he travelled to Washington DC to say the usual partisan inflammatory statements. Little wonder that this is the man behind the virtual internal detention of former government officials. Obviously, the Public Relations Officer of the APC in North America, Foday mansaray, has been left with egg on his face because in spite of all the huff and puff about legal actions, he seems to be aware of the fact now that The New People stands ready to take the next step and display documents regarding the role of a certain real estate mortgage broker in this whole mess.

Cocorioko reports the Vice President's comment thus:

Mr. Sumana said the SLPP government left nothing in the kitty and he said one of the reasons for this was the rampant and wholesale fraud and corruption perpetuated by government officials, as contained in the Transition report .

But the Vice-President said he wanted to assure everybody that the government will go after all those who ate government money and he assured all that the perpetuators will face the full force of the law . He said that they will be forced to put back in the kitty any money they stole from the government. When the VP said that, the whole jampacked hall stood up and cheered Mr. Sam-Sumana for his promise.

First, the visit by the BADEA director and his report to the press that BADEA alone had given the SLPP government more than $40 million in projects which President Koroma has been deceptively claiming credit for makes mockery of Vice President Sumana's statement and supports the claim by the former SLPP finance Minister that in addition to large reserves, SLPP left more than $500 million in funded projects.

What Vice President Sam Sumana did not say is that the so-called "Transition Report" is not a formal document of indictment of former government officials. In fact, it is an embarrassing and incomprehensible catalogue of subjective anecdotes and suspicions. The Anti-Corruption Commissioner, Mr. Abdul Tejan-Cole is reported to have found the document too long on irrelevant and inaccurate detail and very thin on facts and figures. Hence, his office has still not been able to make sense of the document 6 months on.

The New People therefore reproduces the complete transition report here so that readers can decide whether the so-called report substantiates the Vice President's comments. Reading the report provides an objective basis for deciding what the APC's vacuous and senseless obssession with slogans and populist comments may be doing to Sierra Leone's fledgling democracy.