Mrs. Abibatu Paran Tarawally, the spouse of the Parliament’s Clerk, has returned almost all of the money she got as wages and perks to the ACC. The ACC is looking into the claim that Mrs. Tarawally was unlawfully hired as a Human Resources Officer in Parliament.
The ACC’s Deputy Director of Public Education and Outreach, Abubakarr Turay, said that the Parliament’s Clerk, Honourable Umarr Paran Tarawally, and his wife are being investigated. They have been cooperative with the ACC, answering their questions, and are out on bail, but they have to report to the ACC when asked.
The issue came up when it was found out that the Parliament’s Clerk gave his wife a job without proper procedures. It was also found out that she did not show up for work but still got a gross salary of Le31,735,839 and other benefits (rent, medical, and utility benefits).
A document with salary information was leaked after about 100 Parliament staff were fired without proper procedures. A Committee, with important people like the Parliament’s Speaker Hon Abass Bundu and the Parliament’s Clerk Hon Umarr Paran Tarawally, was made to look into the issue.
But some people were worried about the Committee’s fairness because the Clerk was on it. The Clerk, to clear things up, gave out a Public Notice and asked for a different committee to look into the issue and tell the Parliament Commission.
Abdul M. Fatorma, the head of CHARDI, was worried about the claimed corruption in the Sierra Leone Parliament. He said that the Parliament should show good ways of handling and being open about public money, and asked the ACC to use the law where they find corruption in public money management.