Sierra Leone's Minister Of Education Drags Schools To ACC

The Minister of Education, Science and Technology Dr. Minkailu Bah during a Parliamentary briefing in the Well of Parliament yesterday, exposed corrupt schools and institutions that have been making the work of the Ministry difficult and even unsuccessful.




Speaking with the authority of the House to name and shame perpetrators, the Minister said that his Ministry has forwarded Albert Academy and Ansarul Islamic Secondary School to the Anti Corruption Commission for investigation as they have been retaining names of staffs who had left those institutions since 2011.
“These schools have been retaining names of former teachers who have left the profession and are now employed by Non Governmental Organizations elsewhere, and their information are now used by other teachers thereby making no room for new recruits,” he said.
The Minister said that payment of ghost teachers has been costing the government Le 43.2 Billion yearly and his dream is to ensure that “all ghosts are buried in their graves,” he said.
The Minister said that when schools were admonished to open bank accounts so that salaries of teachers will be paid timely, some Principals and Head teachers submitted personal bank accounts which brought in some difficulties for the payment of salaries and some teachers submitted an already existing pin code of another staff which is not possible.
Dr. Minkailu Bah said that upon his visit to many schools, he noticed that there is no class registry or data about the total number of students attending those schools and authorities have been dodging to answer queries.
The Minister said that eight lecturers including a Dean of Faculty have been dismissed at the Ernest Bai Koroma University of Science and Technology for lack of competency and professionalism. They are; Joseph S. Kabia, Sorie I.S Turay, David M. Conteh, Peter Mustapha, Mohamed B. Mustapha, Osman A. Kargbo, Sullay Koroma and Laura A. B Tholley.
At Freetown Teachers College, two lecturers Saidu Kabia and Alvin Lappia were also dismissed for professional malpractice.

At Milton Margai College of Education, five lecturers were also dismissed.
The Minster named private and government primary schools that have been performing woefully at the National Primary Selective Entrance in the country which shows that untrained staffs are not only employed by secondary schools but also at the primary level. “Based on stringent measures that people must pass BECE, fraudsters are now engaged in invading the website of the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) which is not well protected to download results and falsify them in their own wish, but I have long lenses to detect any fraud,” he added.
Dr Minkailu Bah said that during the Ebola outbreak the Independent Radio Network (IRN) and other stations were contracted for the Emergency Radio Teaching Program which was costing the government Le 1Billion Leones monthly. Based on that the Ministry through its partners like UNICEF have constructed the state of the earth broadcasting house which will soon be in operation that will be heard all over the country.
The Speaker of The House, Hon. Sheku Bashiru Badara Dumbuya and MPs commended the Minister for taking the bull by the horns and such steps should be copied by other Ministers.


By Lansana Fofanah