By Brima Sannoh in Pujehun
The Criminal Investigations Department of the Sierra Leone Police in Pujehun, southern Sierra Leone, is currently investigating a case of an alleged “fraudulent conversion” of food items meant for the school meal for the Pujehun District Council (PDC) Primary School in Liya Village.
The suspect, Bockarie Rogers, has served as Head Teacher of the school for nearly six years, according to his employment record accessed by ManoReporters from the Teaching Service Commission of Sierra Leone.
Liya is a fishing community in the Kpaka Chiefdom. It is situated along a part of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Sierra Leone and neighbouring Liberia. The approximately 300 population of the village mainly engaged in fishing as their main source of income.
The community people lodged a formal complaint about this case to the District Education Office in Pujehun on Thursday, June 24, 2024, following suspicion of “a systemic and fraudulent conversion” of the food items supplied by the government.
As in many parts of the country, school meal is a major attraction to school going kids, especially those from deprived background.
Upon receiving the complaint, the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education collaborated with the Teaching Service Commission and the Police to launch an investigation.
Lansana Juana, the District School Feeding Programme Coordinator, told ManoReporters that Mr. Rogers could not account for a huge number of food items including 29 bags of 50kg rice, seven cartons of cooking oil, and a 25kg bag of salt that were supplied to his school in the third quarter of the current academic year.
The reintroduction of the school feeding programme was one of the campaign promises made by President Julius Maada Bio in 2018. His new government, through the World Food Programme and Plan International, officially launched the initiative in June of 2022.
Over two million kids in primary schools across the country are benefitting from the programme which, besides improving children’s nutritional status, also aims to encouraging enrollment and retention of pupils, as well as stimulate local agriculture.
Mr Juana said this incident in Liya is the first reported case of suspected embezzlement of a school meal by any school authority in the district since the programme was launched.
He noted that the case is with the police and so he wouldn’t comment further until investigation is concluded. He expressed hope that it will serve as a lesson to anyone engaged in such act.
“This is going to serve as a deterrent, to stop other school authorities who may want to embezzle food that is meant for the kids. The ministry will stop at nothing in its quest to sanitize the education sector,” he vowed.
The Head of Media and Community Relations Department of the Sierra Leone Police in Pujehun, Assistant Superintendent Kenawa John Squire, told ManoReporters that the investigation was almost at its concluding point.
“It is just a matter of a few more formalities before the file would be sent to State Counsel for the appropriate charges that would be pressed against the suspect, if any at all,” Mr. Squire said.
“The public should always count on the police for the fight against crime in this district,” he said.
