“Poor Representation and Incompetency”
…Debar Correctional Service From UN Missions
By Mohamed Konneh
To debar is to officially bar, ban, or exclude someone from doing something. Debar can also mean to prevent something from happening. If you have a hat club, you can debar anyone who's not wearing one. If someone is barred from entering, they are prevented from entering. This is the current situation the Sierra Leone Correctional Service now finds itself after a very poor selection of Lamin Bangura, Mohamed Opito and three others who were selected to represent the institution in a UN Mission.
According to report by the UN Mission preview to Standard Times Newspaper, the newly appointed Lamin Bangura as Deputy Director General alongside Tommy Bull, performed woefully during the interview pre-test leaving the UN with no alternative but to debar the Sierra Leone Correctional Service from participating in UN Missions.
A correspondence directed to the Sierra Leone Correctional Service (SLCS) stated that the institution lacked the capacity to participate in UN Missions and this was due to the kind of people selected.
The Sierra Leone Correctional Service apart from it Act do not have operational policies or regulation to run the institution.
When it comes to promotion there are not set rules and policies that guides the process and the more reason why selections of personnel to important missions like UN mission is done in this manner.
The recent appointment of Mr. Lamin Bangura and Mr. Tommy Bull as Deputy Directors without using the rightful channel tells how the Sierra Leone Correctional Service has been run over the years.
This singular act undermines President Bio's authority as the Sierra Leone Correctional Service Act 2014 makes provision for only one Deputy.
This act of appointing two deputies has been seen as a succession plan which will be dangerous for the institution.
According to findings, Brigadier Ngaujah the substantive Acting Director General, within the last three years developed a policy and management and functional review in collaboration with the Human Resource Management Office (HRMO) and the Public Sector Reform Unit (PSRU).
Despite having such operational policies that will guide the Sierra Leone correctional services operation, yet some persons within the council have decided to appoint directors without due process.
Another question and concern is why two deputies for the Sierra Leone Correctional Service with less than three Thousand (3,000) personnels.
The Sierra Leone police with fifteen thousand (15,000) personnel has only one deputy but why the Sierra Leone Correctional Service.
The Current Acting Director General, Brigadier General Sulaiman Sheikh Massaquoi is only six months old in that office and has little or no institutional memory of the Sierra Leone Correctional Service.
The Sierra Leone Correctional Service is also debarred from the annual Colorado Correctional Service visit after representatives of the last visit performed poorly. The Sierra Leone Correctional Service from an inside source now have qualified graduates and people of competence but what is happening within is nothing to write home about. More on this to follow.
