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The Chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Board (IPCB), Mr. Richard Freeman has said in Freetown that the Board is underfunded to carry out its mandate according to the Constitutional Instrument.
He said they are receiving a limited budgetary allocation from the Ministry of Finance. He noted that the Ministry of Finance allocated three billion two hundred million Leones but the actual disbursement was one billion two hundred million old Leones.
Mr. Freeman claimed that IPCB officers are expected to receive two gallons of fuel per day but unfortunately they are receiving only one due to the limited disbursement from the Ministry of Finance.
He stressed that the Board is facing serious challenges to carry out its operations including taking care of bills.
He disclosed that they only have one official vehicle used to carry out investigations, adding that the investigators sometimes use their private vehicles to do their work.
“We have limited manpower to carry out investigations across the country,” he stressed.
The IPCB Chairman also explained that the Board has the power to investigate but doesn’t have the power to take action but to recommend according to a constitutional instrument which he said remains a challenge to their operations.
He intimated that the instrument does not compel the Inspector General of Police to respond to the IPCB recommendations. He said they signed MOU with Sierra Leone Police last August and IPCB has to train new police personnel that has been recruited on the mandates of IPCB.
