The opposition, Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) recently revealed how US$ 1.9 million was dipped into the account of the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Cooperation (SLBC) for the purchase of equipment.<\/p>\n
At a press briefing held last week, it was disclosed by officials of SLPP that NATCOM (National Telecommunication Commission) under the guise of corporate social responsibility dished out US$ 1.9 million to the SLBC.<\/p>\n
It is further revealed that the Information and Communication sMinister, I.B Kargbo, devoid of any public ad, awarded the SLBC contract to a Lebanese businessman; an action that contravenes public procurement laws- very big corruption.<\/p>\n
It must be noted that NATCOM, as a corporate body, came into being by an Act of Parliament, and has no liability mandating it to dish out money on grounds of corporate social responsibility.<\/p>\n
The NATCOM Act which was enacted in 2006, and into which are laws defining its functions and responsibilities; to wit its financial mandate in the funding and regulation of the communication industry in Sierra Leone, never at all includes corporate social commitments.<\/p>\n
NATCOM is also legally obliged to pay one third of its economy to government<\/p>\n
NATCOM is virtually not mandated to spend any money outside its legal authorization.<\/p>\n
Intergroup Company, we are told, was paid big dons (US$ 1.9 million) to supply standard and healthier equipment for use at the radio, TV and website of the SLBC.<\/p>\n
It sounds odd noticing that NATCOM dished out a fabulous amount to SLBC, yet the institution lacks \u2018improved\u2019 and \u2018up to date\u2019 equipment for use at its studios and offices.<\/p>\n
It must be noted however that at the SLBC TV studio, there is not a comfortable \u2018table\u2019 for guests at all; slightly a broken white one.<\/p>\n
Unconfirmed information reaching this press states that the US$ 1.9 million submitted to the Information Minister by NATCOM seemed not to be used as intended, but rather deposited into pockets of unscrupulous officials.<\/p>\n
NATCOM public affairs head, in an interview refuted claims made by the SLPP, but admitted that his institution released US$ 1.9 million to the SLBC on loan.<\/p>\n
\u201cSamura, NATCOM does not have any legal mandate to corporate social responsibility. The SLBC requested for loan of US 1 million and we gave same to them. Later, they came back and asked for another US$900 which we did,\u201d Kuyateh said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause we know the SLBC is unable to pay us back, we cleverly informed the government and asked them to balance it from NATCOM\u2019s annual one third payment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Public\u2019s concern however questiones NATCOM\u2019s knowing and willful release of such money to an institution it is aware is unable to refund same.<\/p>\n
It is however believed that the US$ 1.9 million was never used for the purchase of equipment for SLBC but shared from among unscrupulous state officials.<\/p>\n
Read full details next edition.<\/p>\n
Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The opposition, Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) recently revealed how US$ 1.9 million was dipped into the account of the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Cooperation (SLBC) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[671,1],"tags":[880,2215,5492,2067],"class_list":["post-18500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-uncategorized","tag-corruption","tag-natcom","tag-sierra-leone-news","tag-slbc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/75801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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