By: Edmond Alim B. Fornah
Part 1
Gender-based bullying is the most common form of violence that women encounter in Sierra Leone in both public and private sector. Gender based bullying is when someone is bullied on the basis of their gender. It is sometimes rooted in sexism.
It is an extremely harmful form of harassment and gender discrimination can lead to gender dysphoria, depression, and other mental health issues in the victim.
Most men normally feel uncomfortable with empowered women taking leadership positions, so their only bet is to intimidate or harass them, most times they will frame up stories against those empowered women in order for the public to believe that those women are incompetent or can’t work under pressure, or it’s only men that can do the job better. What normally pissed me off most is seeing educated and empowered men having the belief that a woman shouldn’t lead where a man is or he will never allow a woman decision over his because he is the man, this is a typical example of Gender Based Bullying.
The ongoing controversy which seems as illegal interference between the Minister of Finance, Dennis Vandy and the Chairperson of the National Revenue Authority (NRA), Mrs. Tuma Adama Gento-Kamara is one clear example of Gender Based Bullying.
The latter, is a renowned lawyer that was called to the Bar eleven years ago with over ten years’ experience in management, and she is also specialized in corporate governance. she was appointed as the First Ever board Chairperson of the Country tax collection Agency based on her qualifications, and experience, she demonstrated that during her first term as board Chairperson, she worked with previous Minister of Finance effectively, transform the agency and generate lot of income for the nation etc., that’s why she was reappointed by His Excellency the President, Brigadier Julius Maada Bio.
The Board of Directors is the GOVERNING BODY of the Authority and subject to the NRA Act 2002, controls and supervises the Authority. Two main function of the Board according to the NRA Act 2002, includes:
Formulating policies for the Authority; but in particular administrative, human resource and operational policies and procedures;
Setting targets and standards including quality and operational output measures for revenue collection. The Board is independent and can’t be controlled by any individual or agency, so for its procedural and unfortunate for the Minister to demand in his letter dated 20th January, 2022 and addressed to the Board Chairperson of the NRA which he instructed the Board Chairperson not to proceed with the Board’s earlier decision to visit and invite businesses for a forensic study on perishable and expired goods stocked in their respective warehouses. I know for sure the Minister is very educated and he is aware that the board is charged with the responsibility to develop policies? How can you develop a policy without vast knowledge or information? The Board decided to invite businesses for a forensic STUDY on perishable and expired goods stocked in their respective warehouses in order for them to develop good policies in the interest of the agency and the public, what’s the big deal about that? That’s part of their mandate, the Ministry is mandated to SUPERVISE not to DICTATE, so the Minister didn’t have the power to instruct the board to carry out its lawful duty.
The Minister in his letter added that, he is putting in place structural and administrative changes at the NRA as well.” did he have that mandate? Another function of the Board is determining the grading, remuneration, recruitment, promotion and training of staff; so what’s our Honorable Minister saying here? Or he is doing this because a woman is at the helm of affairs at NRA?
President Bio once said in his statement at the official opening of the Women in Leadership Conference, I want to encourage more women to volunteer for leadership regardless of political stripe. On our part as a Government, we will continue working to dismantle institutional, structural, and other barriers to women’s empowerment and advancement we trust the President and believe he is taking note of some of the barriers that prevent women from participating in Leadership, the President seems committed but there are people in the corridor of power that are doing all they can to undermine the aspirations of the President.
Boards have a lot of roles to play for the development or under development of any institution. Many are times when investigation comes up they don’t normally investigate the Administrative heads but also the board Chairperson because it’s the Board that approve everything for the smooth running of the institution, that’s why Mrs. Gento Kamara is always working harder to prevent her name and that of the institution from going to the pit. So she needs to be given free hands to carry on her lawful duties.