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.
By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman
Official correspondences and bank statements on travel expenditures from the Office of the President of Sierra Leone uncovered by Africanist Press reveals shocking details on how the country’s president Julius Maada Bio, and his wife Fatima Bio, spent more than Le5.2 billion (over US$520,000) on travel costs and per diems for the month of December 2020 alone, the highest travel expenditure incurred in a single month by any sitting president of Sierra Leone since independence in 1961.
Documentary evidence, including bank withdrawal notes and financial statements examined by the Africanist Press, show expenses for presidential trips to Gabon, Ivory Coast, and Guinea in early to mid-December 2020, and his visit to Bonthe in southern Sierra Leone for the Christmas holidays. These statements show total costs of Le5,217,538,692.86 charged directly from the country’s Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF). As a low-income country, S