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INTERVIEW WITH THE DEPUTY COMISSIONER OF THE ANTI CORRUPTION COMISSION

In an effort to further strengthen the Anti-Corruption Commission, the organization has recently filled the position of Deputy of Deputy Commissioner. THE CATALYST went along to talk to Andrew Felton, the new Deputy Commissioner.

CATALYST: HOW DID YOU BECOME DEPUTY COMMISSIONER?
DEPUTY COMMISSIONER: I am here on a 2 year contract work for the Department For International Development (DFID). There was an international advert placed on the internet while I was working in Eastern Europe. I was intrigued by the opportunity, so I applied. I was successful and here I am. The reason I wanted to come to Sierra Leone is because my background is in Anti Corruption and I felt it was time to take on a new challenge. Also I met a Sierra Leonean in London who told me so many stories about Sierra Leone and felt I’d better come and have a look for myself.

CATALYST: WHAT INTRIGUED YOU?
It was the contradictions, the western perception about the horrors of the conflict, the violence of the conflict and together with that, the stories this Sierra Leonean told me about the country, about the warmth of the people, which you can feel as you walk around. Here is a country that has so much to offer yet is suffering so terribly. Corruption is one of the major threats of society the world over and in a post-conflict society, it becomes more critical.

CATALYST: WHERE WERE YOU BEFORE YOU CAME HERE?
I was based in Romania but had to work all over Eastern Europe, in the Ukraine, Bulgaria etc, working in Anti Corruption, transparency, accountability, rule of law related issues. I am by background a police officer, so I am a law enforcement officer and I was dealing with organized crime issues all related to anti corruption.

CATALYST: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN SIERRA LEONE AND THOSE PLACES YOU’VE WORKED BEFORE?
That’s what makes it a little bit easier for me to acclimatize, to do my job here, because there are many similarities between here and where I’ve worked before. Government interference in decision-making processes, lack of confidence in the law and in the judiciary, distrust in society and poverty which is more extreme here than in other countries where I have worked. There is the general bureaucratic muddle which seems to make it difficult to do things. And when you peel away the decisions that are made by government departments, parastatals, etc. they tend to do it because they’ve always done it that way. So there are very many similarities the world over.

CATALYST: ARE YOU GOING TO EMPLOY THE SAME STRATEGIES?
Not entirely the same strategy, because that would be fundamentally the wrong thing to do. It’s got to be a Sierra Leone solution to a Sierra Leonean issue. And that means it’s got to be correctly handled in the context and culture of Sierra Leone. It’s important for me to clearly understand how the system works, e.g. how the chiefs operate, how the system of gifts operates and the general level of acceptance by the people; so it’s important to anchor our solutions/suggestions in the context. That having been said, we have fundamental things which are generic the world over, no matter if it’s Eastern Europe or Sierra Leone.

CATAYLST WHAT IS YOUR ROLE AS DEPUTY COMISSIONER?
My role is to support the Commissioner. The Commissioner has been without a deputy for nearly two years. My role is to run the day to day operations and make the day to day decisions of the Commission. So I will be dealing with directing investigation, making sure we’re gathering information to be used, making sure directors are working and on the right issues, etc. I do all this to support the Commissioner.

CATALYST: WHAT IS THE COMMISSION DOING TO PREVENT CORRUPT PRACTICES IN THE SIERRA LEONE COMMUNITY?
First of all, we are a relatively small organization; we can’t be everywhere at the same time as much as we would like it to be so. We’ve got to try to focus on a system which has a multiplier effect. We’ve got to work with an organization and give that organization the encouragement to do anti corruption work. It’s about working with key ministries where traditionally, corruption is most rife. We get information from surveys that have been done and from the reports which are made to us. They involve ministries like Health, Education. If you look at these two ministries, they are ministries that impact most on the lives of ordinary Sierra Leoneans. So by tidying up the activities of these ministries, making sure the opportunities for corruption are reduced, there should be a multiplier effect on the community. The difficulty we face is, we can do the work and make the recommendations but we are depending on those people who have to accept them and make them work.

CATALYST: WHAT ARE THE PRACTICAL STEPS THAT HAVE TO BE PUT IN PLACE?
A large amount of it centers on how they deal with money – how they allocate money and how they procure equipment or goods, because it’s in these fields that opportunities for corruption are most likely.
For example, its about making it less likely that somebody employs a member of his family above somebody else who is better qualified; it’s about making it less likely that a contract will be awarded to a friend and it’s about reducing risk generally.
One of our major thrusts is to sensitize communities, especially communities away from Freetown, about what actually corruption is. In many countries, the tolerance level is very low, in others, it’s very high. My instinctive feeling, supported by some of the survey work done is that the tolerance level or levels of understanding on what corruption is, in many areas in Sierra Leone, are too high and need to be lowered. This is going to be more challenging for councilors, paramount chiefs and other local officials. Because what is currently for many people customary practice is in fact corruption. And so it’s about sensitizing people and lowering people’s tolerance.
The vast majority of Sierra Leoneans live at a standard which needs to be improved, and one of the ways is by Government collecting money that is due to it and utilizing it in an effective and transparent way. One of the responsibilities of this Commission is to make the lives of people better, which is our ultimate goal.

CATALYST: WHAT’S THE LEVEL OF COLABORATION BETWEEN YOUR COMMISSION AND THE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE?
There has been a history between the Anti Corruption Commission and the office of the AG of a tension which has been brought about by the ACC’s frustrations about the AG not making timely decisions about prosecutions. That level of tension is now considerably reduced. I wouldn’t pretend to you that every thing is rosy between this Commission and the AG’s office. There is always going to be tension between Government departments and independent bodies like ours. It’s our job to be challenging, it’s our job to ask difficult questions about Government and Government departments, but we do so in a professional way. I would like all of our prosecutions to be carried out more speedily; I would like the court process to be carried out more speedily and we would continue to press for that. We now have two prosecutors, one from Uganda and one from Ghana and the AG has promised us his support to prosecute our cases.

CATALYST: HAS THE SITUATION IMPROVED NOW THAT THERE’S A SPECIAL JUDGE FOR CORRUPTION CASES?
The existence of Judge Schuster is extremely useful and valuable to this Commission. He brings with him experience and pragmatism which we find valuable. Having said that, we haven’t sent enough cases to him to keep him busy. One of the things I will be doing is to keep him busy, by increasing the number of cases sent to him.

CATALYST: THE COMMISSION ALSO PLANS TO HAVE ITS OWN DETENTION CENTER. WHAT IS THE NEED FOR THAT?
The current Anti Corruption legislation is unclear about how and where we detain our offenders. That is a long term aim of the Commission and it reflects the fact that we anticipate arresting more people. We use the good offices of the police to house our long term prisoners.

CATALYST: THE PUBLIC IS ALWAYS CRITICAL OF THE COMMISSION BECAUSE YOU ARE SEEN TO BE ARRESTING POOR ORDINARY SIERRA LEONEANS, LEAVING THE BIG FISH TO GO FREE.
I think the criticism is unfair. The Commission has arrested/indicted senior members of the Sierra Leone society and currently does have senior members under indictment and in the offices of the AG for consideration.
We can’t like the newspapers, indict a minister over night. If we are to indict a senior public official, we need to gather evidence to the highest evidential standards. We have one particular investigation that has been on going for two years. Economic and financial investigations, which essentially corruption investigations are, is an extremely complex business. Take for example, making a request from the bank for certain documents: we are required to go to the high court and to give detailed information; we are then required to serve a notice on the bank; the bank has to respond and we then have to examine very complex financial data before we can form an opinion. These things take a long period of time. If we want to do the job well, we have to educate people.

CATALYST: HOW EFFECTIVE IS YOUR INVESTIGATION DEPARTMENT?
Not as effective as I would want it to be. It’s a matter of evolution. Until recently, the investigation department received a few seconded police officers and a few locally recruited people. We’ve now just recruited a whole new set of investigators. Because we want people with proven probity, people who won’t be biased by one particular organization, we recruited relatively young, relatively inexperienced investigators, who require some time to acquire the skills of becoming investigators. This process started some time ago and its still on-going.

CATALYST: HOW EFFECTIVE HAVE THE INTEGRITY CLUBS BEEN IN THE SCHOOLS?
They are very effective. If you think about the future of Sierra Leone, it lies in the youth and the Commission has made that clear by engaging them through essay/poetry competitions, encouraging youth comments on society. That is a major thrust of our community and educational program.

CATALYST: AS A COMMISSION, YOUR VISION IS TO SEE A SIERRA LEONE THAT IS FREE FROM ALL FORMS OF CORRUPTION; HOW FAR AWAY ARE WE FROM THAT?
We will never be free from corruption anywhere in the world. What we’ve got to do is to make the public intolerant of corruption and we’re moving close to that, though we realize we have a long way to go.