By Mohamed Kamara

Six civil society organizations have come under intense criticism and condemnation for releasing a report schemed to emotionally challenge the report of the constitutionally constituted Tribunal on Mrs. Lara Taylor-Pearce and Mr. Tamba Momoh, former auditor-general and deputy auditor-general of Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL).

The interesting reality is that the condemnation is coming from renowned independent human rights organizations which have expressed dismay over the report from the few CSOs.

“The CSO report challenging the unquestionable outcome of the Tribunal lacks evidence and it is a total disregard for the Judicial system. How can you say the Tribunal lacks legitimacy when it was legally and constitutionally established? Does it make sense at all? I am very disappointed, especially when I saw names of some CSOs that I think ought to know better. By arguing that the tribunal report is not legitimate shows the lack of seriousness of the CSO analysis,” a senior human rights lawyer and head of a credible human right pressure group told this reporter.

Another strong civil society voice decried the CSO report, calling it an attempt to influence Parliament to retain Lara amidst her intolerable professional misconduct at the country’s auditing agency.

“Audit Service Sierra Leone is not only there to audit public accounts. It is also expected by all as one of the public authorities that take the lead in ensuring professionalism and embracing ethical principles. The heads of such an institution should embody the legal and moral stamina so as to not go low in blocking staff from auditing certain institutions as against another. Lara blocked staff of Audit Service from auditing the Freetown City Council so as to make the Mayor of Freetown look like a saint. That was a display of nepotism and partisan politics,” a senior activist who works on public budget and finance told this reporter.
It is better that such criticisms are coming from independent human right and development civil society organisations.

Following the trend on the matter, it seems the so-called CSOs got their inspiration from another unprofessional report recently issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sierra Leone, another report that faces widespread condemnation by reputable auditors, legal experts and other professionals for its inconsistencies and weakness.

It could be recalled that, following widespread reports of professional misconducts by Mrs. Taylor-Pearce and her deputy Mr. Tamba Momoh about two years ago, a constitutionally constituted tribunal was set up by the President Julius Maada Bio government to investigate the reported misconducts. After months of investigations and fair hearings, the Tribunal, constituted by high-profile and reputable legal experts, found the two guilty as accused and recommended for their dismissal from Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL).

Organizations and legal experts have called on the judiciary and parliament to rope in persons and entities who are acting with contempt on the said matter as a deterrent to others.