By Mark Baber
May 14 – The Court of Appeal of Sierra Leone has upheld the conviction of Alimu Bah, former Secretary General of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA).
Bah was charged with the offence of misappropriating donor funds, contrary to section 13 of the Anti-Corruption Act 2000 as amended. The High Court of Sierra Leone found that he was guilty of misappropriating $5,200 donated to the SLFA by the Confederation of African Football. A fine of Le 20 million (£27,000) was imposed and in the alternative, one year prison sentence.
Bah was one of the longest serving football administrators in West Africa, having first joined the SLFA in 1994. Two of Bah’s brothers had played for the national team. He launched a revival in the popularity of Sierra Leone football by rescheduling games so that they did not clash with English Premier League broadcasts.
When the current President of Sierra Leone was elected in 2007, he set up an Anti-Corruption Commission. Unfortunately for Bah, the popularity of football he had helped bring about, became Bah’s undoing as football was targeted by the Commission Head, Abdul Tejan-Cole, who told author Steve Bloomfield: “Football is so important here for people. From the public education point of view, if we target football it sends a message that corruption can be tackled.”
According to a report in the Sierra Express Media (http://www.sierraexpressmedia.com/archives/67297) the judgment is a precedent in so far as it settles the issue that statutory corporations are Public Bodies for the purposes of the Anti-Corruption Act. Meanwhile, the public has been assured by the Commission of its “undeterred and undaunted determination to fearlessly pursue the fight against corruption.”
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