The Anti-Corruption Commission Commissioner, Francis Ben Kaifala  has on Monday revealed to the press about investigating the office of the president as one of his Plans of action on the 2020 Auditor General’s Report.

As he set to investigate the office of the president  he reminded members of the press that  the President  is the only sacred Cow with Judicial immunity,.

Section 48 [4] of  the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone state that  ‘‘While  any persons holds  or performs  the functions of  President, no civil or criminal proceedings shall be instituted  or continued against him in respect of anything done  or omitted  to be done in his official or private capacity.

Many Sierra Leoneans are questioning whether our constitution is helpful as gives so much more to the  president. Ironically, in other legislations  like America ”The 2020 court decision Trump Versus Vance held that the President  is subject to Subpoenas  in Criminal Persecutions for personal conduct with the same legal threshold as anyone else”

The commissioner reaffirmed the President’s commitment and support in the fight against corruption, the commissioner is also poised to investigate the office of the president.  There are myriad office of issues relating to  the office of the president surrounding overseas travels expenses, imprest not properly retired, funds utilized for activities that were not properly accounted for. The commissioner further pointed out that he is sure the president would provide all the necessary support for them to look into all these issues

The Commissioner makes clarifications on the distinction between the President and the Presidency. He pointed out that though the president is the head, he is an individual and  there are many workers within the office of the presidency. For instance,  the secretary to the president, Chief of Protocols, finance  persons and they are all not immune from prosecutions.

He clarifies to the Press that the constitution of Sierra Leone Provides immunity for the president as it states that no action whether criminal or civil can be taken against the president. He reaffirmed that he is not a violator of the constitution.

However, he stated that somebody has to explain about the issues flagged by the Auditor’s report for investigation. He stated that his main target for this time are the Finance persons across all institution. He gives grace period till Friday if supporting document and evidences and not produced, Christmas of  alleged perpetrators would not be sweet as they had wanted it.