USAID/Sierra Leone: Anti-Corruption Committee Created in Kabala

FEBRUARY 4, 2004

Anti-Corruption Committee
Created in Kabala

A grass roots community initiative called the C.A.N., or Community Action on Nation Building, born out of the USAID Nation Building intervention for local leaders, is working to fight corruption, and resolve disputes amicably on a case-by-case basis.

Community Action for Nation-Building, or "CAN" as it is known locally in Kabala town, is a volunteer committee formed to fight corruption, and advance reconstruction in the area. Following participation in the USAID Nation Building program in which they learned how corruption is detrimental to development, Kabala community leaders decided that it was important to form a citizen's anti-corruption committee in Kabala.

Haja B. Mandaray participating in an outdoor theater event to promote anti-corruption. Photo provided by C.A.N.

During a theater event staged in Kabala town by the CAN, Haja B. Mansaray emphasizes "the cost of corruption."

Says Foday M. Kuraisy, a former MSI Master Trainer for the Nation Building program and an active member of CAN, "All of the local authorities are involved. We make sure people understand the causes of corruption, and how bad it is for the community."

CAN has used public theater as well as interventions at the village level to convey anti-corruption and human rights messages. "We are working on anything that will help us rebuild the nation," says Kuraisy, "and fighting corruption is part of it."

The CAN grassroots initiative keeps its office open six days a week, with a suggestion box designed to let local citizens call attention to cases of corruption in the community. The committee investigates complaints, and tries to resolve matters peaceably. Many community problems related to corruption or unfair treatment have been resolved amicably by CAN, with only occasional referral of certain cases to local law enforcement officials.

Says Kuraisy, "Yesterday we did a follow-up from a note in our suggestion box about a child who was suspended from school. CAN reps went to the school to talk to the principal about the problem, and managed to resolve it--the sanction was too strong--and now the child is back in school."

C.A.N. committee member Foday M. Kuraisy site next to the suggestion box

The CAN suggestion box allows citizens to "make suggestions," or call attention to cases of corruption in the community in order to resolve problems amicably, and without making a formal legal complaint. Many local problems have been resolved through use of the suggestion box.

Another problem that CAN helped resolve based on a suggestion put into their box involved a Member of Parliament (MP) who asked a number of Kabala locals to repair a stretch of road in the region. The MP had promised again and again to pay the workers but never did. CAN representatives went to Freetown and discussed the situation with the MP, who then came back to Kabala to pay the money he owed to those who did the work.

The organization is now working on the problem of houses in Kabala that were burned down during the war. Since most of the NGOs are working in the rural areas outside of Kabala town, CAN is calling their attention to the problem in town and soliciting their help in reconstruction.

Corruption, or the use of public office for private gain, has long been determined to be one of the root causes of the war in Sierra Leone. As developing countries look to the outside world for development assistance and trade opportunities, they are being made aware that global trading partners have little tolerance for the expense and risk associated with corruption. Both governments and private partners will look to invest in countries where corruption is a crime, and the rule of law is upheld across the board.

four community leaders and Nation Building participants in the Kabala area

Kabala's leaders, young and old...these women were all participants in USAID-sponsored Nation Building program for Sierra Leone's community leaders through MSI. Training has already begun for both Paramount Chiefs and parliamentarians.

USAID realizes that to stop corruption, both institutional and societal reforms are necessary at all levels. In Sierra Leone, USAID facilitates citizen's access to justice through the training of community mediators in dispute settlement, corruption issues, advocacy, coalition-building, and grassroots mobilization and mentoring in the development of stakeholder networks.

USAID activities provide the bottom-up pressure to tackle corruption, complementing the work of both the United Kingdom (DfID) and the European Union, in cooperation with the Sierra Leone National Anti-Corruption Commission.

portrait of Amadu B. Sesay, Local Unit Commander of Koinadugu District

Kabala Police Officer Amadu Sesay is a member of CAN, but says that most corruption cases are resolved by the committee without taking recourse to the formal legal system.

Many grass roots community leaders in the Kabala area, including those who formed the C.A.N., have benefited from USAID-sponsored Nation Building program, carried out by Management Systems International (MSI).

Says Edward Benya, USAID Team Leader for Reintegration, "Nation Building has brought together people from all aspects of life--civil servants, teachers, representatives of civil society groups, labor unions, community leaders, police, women's and youth groups'to convey methods of preparing people to be good citizens, and good community leaders. These people were also consulted on how to facilitate a vigorous process of reconstruction, and the reintegration of ex-combatants into their communities."

Participants in the program found it so beneficial that many strongly suggested that their nation's higher-level leaders, such as the paramount chiefs and parliamentarians, also be offered similar training. USAID follow-on activities in nation building activities are in fact taking the program up the leadership ladder, holding leadership training for both Paramount Chiefs as well as Members of Parliament, from January 19-Feb 27, 2004.

Says Benya, "You cannot talk about development without including the Paramount Chiefs and the parliamentarians in the dialogue. These are the nation's leaders, and they need to understand their representational role. We have trained the middle-level management, and now they must be able to advocate to the Paramount Chiefs and the parliamentarians who represent them in order to affect changes. This is the advocacy link we're trying to strengthen."

Story and photos by Laura Lartigue