By Amin Kef Sesay
Those calling for the sacking of the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the National Revenue Authority (NRA), Dr. Tuma Adama Gento-Kamara, are not only disingenuous to this nation but are part of a well calculated cabal who are bent on the continued marginalization of prominent women of high integrity and impeccable reputation, occupying sensitive and important public offices, just because they are firmly upholding the truth and more so for their uncompromising stance on certain critical State matters bordering on exposing corruption and bad governance.
The Auditor General of Audit Service Sierra Leone, Lara Taylor- Pearce was suspended from office pending trial by a Tribunal probably because her reports were deemed to be disturbingly exposing grand corrupt practices. For seemingly not supportive of certain financial policies adopted by the Government generally, the former Deputy Minister of Finance 11, Dr Patricia Laverley, had no alternative but to resign her position bordering on individual principle.
Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the National Revenue Authority (NRA), Dr .Tuma Adama Gento-Kamara, seems to be the next target.
Dr .Tuma Adama Gento-Kamara’s only “crime” has been her move to invite certain big business entities to appear before an Investigative Panel that has been established, spearheaded by her, to elucidate on certain issues related to their tax compliance with the Authority.
Her fine initiative seemed not to have go down well with certain individuals chief among them, the current Minister of Finance, Denis Vandi.
Infuriated by the Chairperson’s initiative, the Minister of Finance, Denis Vandi, wasted no time but to swiftly react: “We have no doubt that such action by the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the NRA will result in an unhealthy business environment, impacting on the financial and economic governance of the State.”
He then went on to again state that: “In view of the foregoing, I hereby direct that all the invitations sent for the said investigation to the concerned businesses be rescinded with immediate effect.”
Although it is clearly spelt out in Section 16 of the NRA Act that in the exercise of its functions, the independence of Authority (NRA) shall not be subject to the direction or control of any persona of authority or authority, it is vividly apparent that the Minister of Finance seemingly thinks he is so powerful to such an extent that he can float or disregard a statutory provision with reckless abandon and just act according to his whims and caprices.
As argued by a school of thought, this latest alarming and suspicious move by the Finance Minister smacks of, him, having skeletons in his closet. They maintain that it is unfathomable for a Finance Minister to restrain someone who is trying to fight corruption out of patriotism.
They averred that the action or response of the Finance Minister could only be interpreted along the line that he is frantically trying to protect certain business entities, in which he has vested interest.
According to them, if the Finance Minister has no ulterior motive why should he prevent the Board Chair from going on with her investigation?
In what way would the Board Chair of the NRA initiative result to an unhealthy business environment, impacting on the financial and economic governance of the State as stated by the Finance Minister?
Why is it that the Minister of Finance failed to explain how the setting up of the Investigative Panel will negatively impinge on the financial and economic governance of the State?
A school of thought holds the view that at the end of the day what really matters is for the NRA to mobilize as much revenue as possible in order to meet the specified target or ceiling set up by the Government regardless of whatever means is used to attain such.
When this medium went out and sounded the views of many on this issue the responses were overwhelmingly against the action taken by the Minister of Finance. Majority of them expressed the view that the Board Members of the NRA must tenaciously go on with the probing exercise and must not be deterred in any form in the exercise of their statutory obligation by the Minister of Finance as the initiative is well in place and tends to yield fruitful dividends for the State.
They also categorically stated that if anybody has evidence that the action taken by the NRA Board Chair is as a result of her been bribed to do so then this medium will join other well meaning Sierra Leoneans for those making such an accusation to come up with the evidence to substantiate their claim otherwise it will remain a baseless accusation.
“This country has become one where any upright person who exposes corruption or who is on the verge of doing so is being targeted more especially if such a person is a female,” an Abacha Street trader lamented.
This medium learnt that the Bank of Sierra Leone recently replaced its accredited person from the NRA Board of Directors and it is expected that the Ministry of Finance wants to do same in a desperate bid from making the Investigative Panel powerless. But the question on the lips of many Sierra Leoneans is why such a desperate move now?
The cold war between the Minister of Finance, Denis Vandi and the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the National Revenue Authority (NRA), Dr .Tuma Adama Gento-Kamara is one that should be amicably resolved by the President or any high ranking political functionary.
But as the situation now stands any attempt to remove her from her current position or killing her well acclaimed initiative will not only go down well with many, especially feminine groups in this country.
It is high time for President Julius Maada Bio to protect women of integrity from marginalization, sometimes fuelled by male chauvinism or a bloated sense of superiority. It is important for President Bio to take a decisive and affirmative action on the matter because it was him who stated: “I want to encourage more women to volunteer for leadership regardless of political stripe. On our part as a Government, we will continue working to dismantle institutional, structural, and other barriers to women’s empowerment and advancement.”
