By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman
Bank statements and other official documents on financial operations of the Government of Sierra Leone obtained by the
Africanist Press show precisely how the wife of the president of Sierra Leone, Madam Fatima Jabbe Bio received nearly Le30 billion Leones (almost US$3 million) of government funds in less than three years after the inauguration of her husband, Julius Maada Bio as president of the country in May 2018.
The records on the finances and expenditures of the First Lady’s Office, uncovered by the
Africanist Press, revealed that the organization’s operations received regular budgetary allocations from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) and the Finance Ministry despite the fact that the organization is a non-state institution and, according to the country’s public finance regulations, is not authorized to use state funds in its activities.