Barely four years in the position of Director General of Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), Joseph Kapuwa Esq., is busy building mansions with unexplained money while the institution is suffering for want of badly-needed funds to keep it operational.

One of his mansions that has come to the knowledge of the general public is the one he is constructing along Leicester village by Cane Stick, valued at hundreds of millions of Leones.

This is one of the biggest he is said to be constructing. Many tongues are wagging over whether DG Kapuwa Esq. whose institution which is considered a state-owned entity cannot cover presidential programmes while smaller and private television institutions like Africa Young Voices (AYV) has the capacity and manpower to fully cover such events on daily basis.

The SLBC DG according to report is allegedly using the institution to enrich himself, knowing full well that even to pay the salaries of staff at the institution has become very problematic which is causing strife and resentment among staff at the institution.

Related News

While all of this is going on, the SLBC DG who was appointed by President Bio to this position is said to be running the corporation like it his private property and is fast becoming a graveyard despite the fact that the corporation benefitted from huge and expensive television and radio equipment left behind by the UN which had been running the institution for several years before it was transformed into a corporation by the Ministry of Information and Corporation then headed by Alhaji Hon. Ibrahim Ben Kargbo.

Another allegation bordering on unexplained wealth accumulated by the SLBC DG in less than four years, is his appetite for expensive jeeps valued at hundreds of millions of Leones. Reports indicate that he currently has at least three expensive latest model jeeps with Registration numbers JOE 001, JOE 002, JOE 003, one of which he gave to his wife as a birthday gift while the institution cannot boast of any serious vehicles for use to do coverage of government affairs, yet Kapuwa can afford to be cruising around in very expensive cars.

He has clearly demonstrated that he lacks the capacity and experience to manage the SLBC which should be covering news made by President Bio, First Lady Fatima Bio, VP Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh and basically any news coming from the government. However, it is unfortunate that DG Kapuwa instead of putting the SLBC at the forefront of best in terms of news coverage, he outsources this service to private television stations like AYV and Star and then uses their coverage as if it was covered by the SLBC. Shameful!

It is against this background that the general public and interested civil rights organizations are urging the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to look into these allegations with a view to ascertaining the veracity of the claims rather than wait until Kapuwa would have been replaced or dismissed because it is clear to see though a lawyer by profession, he has not and has never sourced the huge amount of money he is currently using to build mansions and buy expensive cars from his law profession. So where is DG Kapuwa Esq. of the SLBC sourcing money to become as wealthy as he is today, is the million dollar question.

Several efforts were made to get his own side to the allegations to no avail as he was said to either be busy or out of his New England Ville office.

See next edition for more details.