Anti-Corruption Drive Haunts NGOs

Unconfirmed reports that NGOs might be investigated by the Anti-Corruption Commission has sent fears into local NGO staffs.

Three-fourths of local NGOs are filled with family members who do not account to anyone. The most numerous are so-called civil society groups or rights organisations which existed under government patronage during the previous regime.A journalist who innocently bumped into the National Accountability Group office in Freetown (which claims to promote accountability and transparency), to conduct a survey was chased by the staff with boards and metals and weapons the staff could lay hands on.

Their suspicion was that he was trying to elicit information that might incriminate them. A youth who they called"lawyer" led the gang to attack the jouranlist. He also went out of the office and hired hoodlums to attack the journalist. The journalist ended leaving with a fractured hand.It has been suspected that many of the funds got from the donor community are used by individuals for personal aggrandisement. This might apparently sent fears into the staff of NAG who thought the survey had to do with accountability and transparency in local NGOs. After the incident, some journalists vowed to dig into the activities of NAG.

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