It is a bit rich for the Chair of the Campaign for Good Governance (CGG) in Sierra Leone to accuse this editor of having political motives simply because we took up the legitimate complaint of a member of the Sierra Leone public and posted it on this very precious and democratically aware medium – Focus on Sierra Leone. 

This is the same person who claims that she and her organisation know best about accountability and transparency and wish to impart to the rest of us – dumb Sierra Leoneans – the art of running our country's affairs to achieve responsible and responsive government. 

Reading the nonsensical drivel she wrote – her idea of a statement of account -  it is easy to understand how Sierra Leone's affairs have fluctuated frequently between chaos and absolute chaos.

What does Mrs Bangura suggest that we should do when an issue like this one, which we believe and know to be of vital public interest, comes before us? Sit on it? Sweep it under the carpet? Or, sheepishly post it on this site without comment?

Is the chair of the CGG seriously suggesting that Sierra Leoneans who do not share her political views, or who do not belong to her organisation, are not entitled to hold a view about the CGG or to express any contrary opinions about the political, social and economic issues afflicting Sierra Leone?

For Mrs Bangura's information, this editor and the thousands who visit this site belong to what we call Sierra Leone's civil society which she and her organisation claim to represent. We come from different backgrounds and we possess a variety of opinions. But we are all united by the commonality of our nationality which we share with her – we are all Sierra Leoneans. Our politics is therefore irrelevant to the specific issue under discussion.

The CGG's own parent body Transparency International or TI in short, proclaims itself in glowing terms as "a civil society organisation dedicated to curbing both international and national corruption." 

In the current write up about itself, TI says that its National Chapters, like the Campaign for Good Governance in Sierra Leone (headed by Mrs Zainab Bangura)  "… are at the heart of the global anti-corruption movement - they are actively designing national anti-corruption strategies. They do this through an impressive range of activities - by lobbying their governments, by informing the media and bringing together people worried about corruption in their country. National Chapters are financially and institutionally independent but observe our guiding principles of non-investigative work and independence from government, commercial and partisan political interests..."

But then it blandly states that "[National chapters] do their own fund-raising". It seems to us that Mrs Zainab Bangura has taken this literally to mean that because she raises her funds she is therefore not obliged to give account to anyone except her financiers. 

Well it simply will not wash with this paper.

Mrs Bangura and (her) CGG must recognise and accept that, as long as they have and maintain operations in Sierra Leone, they are first and foremost accountable to the people of Sierra Leone, by the very fact that they go around collecting money in our name, purportedly for our own good. 

We are not arguing that collecting money itself is the wrong thing to do especially for a good  and necessary cause like the one she purports to promote, and we in fact acknowledge and applaud her efforts in the search for scarce resources. But we insist that when the funds do roll in, ostensibly for our benefit, as they evidently have in this case, we are at least told so, both about the amounts and to what extent they have been spent or not. Is that too much to ask? And does that then impute political motives to the questioner?

We again refer to another quote from TI:

"Without reliable, authentic documentary evidence, the government cannot demonstrate to society that it has used state resources responsibly and that it has fulfilled its mandate to the people. Well-managed documentary evidence, or records, is the basis for formulating and evaluating policy, preserving the rule of law, managing finance and personnel and protecting the rights of individuals. This is so fundamental to the concept of a democratic society that governments and lending and aid donors organisations have tended to assume that records will be available to underpin constitutional arrangements."

Why is it that the CGG's records of its own activities have to be drummed out of Zainab Bangura, while she kicks and screams to high heavens? Although the quotation above alludes to "government" it is implicit that the principle it enunciates is applicable to organisations like the CGG which tend to act on occasions as quasi-governmental organisations. If it did not, then neither does the CGG have a raison d'être. The CGG must, through its own activities, set the example that should become the beacon to be followed by even the government whose behaviour it wishes to change and those other organisations that are working in our communities to improve conditions for our people.

Focus on Sierra Leone holds tenaciously to the view that Sierra Leone's ability to create a more responsive government system will depend on an informed empowered electorate which must participate in shaping any system or process in operation (including the CGG), hold it accountable for its activities and act as partners in improving its functionality and effectiveness.

Accountability simply means that we expect Zainab Bangura and the CGG to act according to the rules that they themselves preach to others. These rules apply to every one in equal measure and where there are exceptions they should be there for everyone to see. If the CGG does things in the name of the people of Sierra Leone, decency requires that from time to time they will inform us, without prompting.

If CGG receives money or materials on our behalf, we should be told from whom it originates and for what purpose they are given so that we too can express our gratitude not just to the facilitator – that's what the CGG is – but to the donors themselves. Then also the community as a whole can feel confident in giving its fullest co-operation for the attainment of the goals envisaged.

Transparency simply means that all organisations and individuals in positions of trust operate above board -  nothing hidden and nothing left to the imagination. Accountability means that you give account of your stewardship.

Anything less than this pure hypocrisy.

20/3/00