The All Peoples Congress (APC) party is now in a very embarrassing situation as the APC symbolled Mayor of Freetown, Yvonne Aki Sawyerr, has brought yet another disrepute to the party that has been struggling to re-brand itself. The APC and the Mayor are now caught in between the proverbial rock and a hard place.

Sierra Leone Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has finally closed down their investigation of the Freetown City Council (FCC) insofar as the Auditor General’s Report of 2019 is concerned.

Whilst other issues of corruption around the Mayor are still unresolved as yet, for the 2019 Audit Report, credible sources within the Local Government sector inform Awareness Times that amongst the ACC recommendations are that all the various sums of monies reportedly stolen by the Mayor of Freetown, Yvonne Aki Sawyerr, to buy Air Tickets and give raw cash in foreign exchange to her friend to travel around the world, should be immediately refunded as all such disbursements are considered as unauthorized (i.e.: looted).

According to sources, in the event that Yvonne Aki Sawyerr and/or her friend fails to repay the stolen monies highlighted by the Auditor General, then Mayor Yvonne will be charged to Court and face a trial.

Section 89(1)(b)(i) of the 2008 Anti Corruption Act as amended, provides for the ACC to give such an option to a corrupt person caught stealing public funds.

Meanwhile, contrary to wild claims that went viral in the night of February 1st 2022, the ACC did not single out Yvonne Aki Sawyerr to go to the ACC offices on 2nd February so as to go and arrest and detain her. Instead, a general meeting of all stakeholders in the Local Government sector was summoned by the ACC on 2nd February for a discussion on the issue of corruption as flagged in the 2019 Audit Report of Lara Taylor-Pearce.

Credible sources say that amongst the issues discussed as liable for prosecution of the Freetown Mayor were: 1) Abuse of Office, 2) Abuse of Authority/Power, 3) Misappropriation of Public funds, 4) Misappropriation of Donor Funds and 5) Failure to follow lawful due procedures and processes.

In an Open Letter to Freetownians during the Investigations, the Mayor accepted using FCC money to buy several air tickets for her friend and using council money to get foreign exchange to give to her friend but Mayor Yvonne said she was not the only government official doing such a behaviour so the ACC should turn a blind eye to her actions.

The Mayor was accompanied to ACC by her lawyers including former ACC Boss and senior APC politician Ady Macauley Esq. whilst the Mayor’s friend, who benefited from the plane tickets and cash, was accompanied by Ms. Wara Serry Kamal Esq. as her own lawyer.

The other issues of corruption around Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr are not part of the current ACC’s investigation into the Auditor General’s Report on finances for the year 2019. Freetown pundits have openly asserted that the current Mayor, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr (nee Morgan) has presided over the worst corruption ever seen in the 230 years History of the City of Freetown.