USAID/Sierra Leone: Police Officer Fights Corruption in Rural Sierra Leone

JANUARY 20, 2004

Police Officer Fights Corruption
in Rural Sierra Leone

USAID is working with Sierra Leone's leaders to help them understand the phenomenon of and combat corruption, one of the root causes of the war in Sierra Leone.

When you walk into Local Unit Commander Amadu B. Sesay’s office in the Kabala Police station, the first thing you see is a big sign facing visitors that says: "Corruption -- E Do So!" (in Krio, "Corruption -- Enough is Enough!"). Says Sesay, a well-respected leader in the Koinadugu District, "We have been involved in corruption for so long that, as the slogan says, enough is enough. We must turn the page, and corruption should be minimized."

Fighting corruption is a tall order in Sierra Leone, where law and order broke down completely during the civil war, and traffic and corruption became the modus operandi for a whole decade. Leadership was deemed corrupt and self-enriching, and local community members felt little or no connection to those who were supposed to represent them. As such, the grievances grew.

"Now I have the guts to even tell the highest people in this land the truth. Now I feel I'm serving my community in the right way." -- Amadu B. Sesay, Local Unit Commander of Koinadugu District, Sierra Leone

Determined to be one of the root causes of the war in Sierra Leone, corruption -- in particular, the misuse of public office for private gain--was one of the things that had to be stemmed. In addition, the grievances of the population, particularly those disenfranchised such as women, children and young people, whether perpetrators or victims during the war is one of the questions that must be urgently addressed by the country's leaders in order to prevent Sierra Leone from slipping back into chaos.

Since 2001, a hard-won peace has come to Sierra Leone. USAID has supported the country's efforts to rebuild by working with Sierra Leone's leaders to build responsive and responsible leadership through Nation Building program. The program has since been delivered to a broad swath of leaders in civil society, including men, women and youth to promote peace, healing, reaffirmation of community values, good leadership, conflict management, and the rebuilding of better-run, more transparent government institutions.

Sesay, a participant in the program, says, "I am grateful to the organizers of that program. You know, I'm a Sierra Leonean but I didn't know how to go about things. Before, as police officers we were being manipulated by politicians. If they told us to lock up someone, we would do it. We were also ruling people by fright. Through the Nation Building program, I came to understand how bad this was. None of us understood our rights. In my silent time, I said, 'God, please, I'm sorry because I didn't know what I was doing.

"That program enlightened me in a very great way, which has helped me go about serving the community. I know how to settle disputes, how to talk to people, and to really be a leader. If politicians or others ask me to do certain things with political motives, I will question them, and speak to them frankly. Now I have the guts to even tell the highest people in this land the truth. The program has been an eye-opener for me, and now I feel I'm serving my community in the right way."

Sesay attributes the program as changing many people's attitudes since the end of the war. He has even seen better attitudes among authorities Freetown, with whom he says he can now talk to about matters concerning human rights, child's rights, and corruption, which is making his own work easier in the provinces. Community leaders have formed their own anti-corruption committee in Kabala, of which Sesay is a member. The Community Action on Nation Building, or "CAN" committee, was formed by former participants in both the USAID-sponsored Nation-Building and Education for Peace programs in the Kabala area.

man sitting next to CAN suggestion box, where people can call the community's attention and resolve cases of corruption.

CAN suggestion box ... a discreet way of calling attention to cases of corruption in the community. The CAN committee investigates complaints, and tries to solve matters amicably.

"The committee has been very instrumental in stemming corruption," affirms Sesay. "There are about thirty members, and we speak openly to people in the community about corruption. We presented a play in the town center not long ago about a corrupt school director who was using people's salaries to conduct his own business. So many people came to watch, and there was much discussion about it. We also have an anonymous suggestion box for complaints pertaining to corruption, and the committee follows up on what people write about. This is separate from the police, though -- it's a citizen's committee--although if the case is serious, [the police] will then intervene to resolve the problem."

Sesay is also now preparing his men for the eventual withdrawal of UNAMSIL, the United Nations peacekeepers in Sierra Leone, expected to take place in December, 2004. As a local Unit Commander in charge of Koinadugu, the northernmost province in Sierra Leone which shares a large, porous border with Guinea, Sesay understands that crime doesn't stop at a country's borders.>

Sesay's biggest security concern at present is working to beef up border security to monitor the movement of people and goods across the border between the two countries, and to ensure that the currently peaceful coexistence with Sierra Leone's neighbor to the north, Guinea, continues. Obtaining radios for communication as well as motorcycles for those who patrol the borders is Sesay's current crusade to allow law enforcement officers to respond quickly if problems arise, and to allow his officers to continue to adequately carry out their jobs when the UNAMSIL troops leave.

As part of an international visitors program sponsored by the U.S. State Department, Sesay has recently been chosen to attend a six-week law enforcement training session in the U.S. in March, 2004 called "Combating International Crime through Global Cooperation." The program is designed to give law enforcement officers around the world the skills they need to combat international crime such as terrorism, child trafficking, money laundering, and drug smuggling.

As Sierra Leone slowly rebuilds, the U.S. is continuing to support these efforts through continuing education, training, and cultural exchanges for Sierra Leone's leaders. Other cultural, civic and political leaders and professionals from Sierra Leone will attend U.S.-sponsored training throughout the year on diverse topics such as democracy, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, preserving one's cultural heritage, and leadership development for women.

Story and photo by Laura Lartigue