{"id":4037,"date":"2026-11-02T16:00:56","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T16:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daybreaknewspapersl.com\/?p=4037"},"modified":"2026-11-02T16:00:58","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T16:00:58","slug":"you-will-be-removed-as-mps-if-you-fail-to-declare-your-assets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daybreaknewspapersl.com\/?p=4037","title":{"rendered":"\u2018\u2019You Will Be Removed As MPs If You Fail To Declare Your Assets\u2019\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

-Speaker Thomas Warns MPs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Segepoh Solomon Thomas, has warned all Members of Parliament to urgently declare their income, assets and liabilities to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) or face administrative sanctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing MPs in the well of Parliament yesterday, Speaker Thomas said the ACC has written to Parliament and the letter has been forwarded to all parliamentary groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLeaders of Sierra Leone, political leaders of Sierra Leone to always declare your assets. A letter was sent to me by the ACC and that letter was forwarded to your groups. I hope you saw the letter that was forwarded to me. So please I urge honorable members to quickly declare \u2013 please declare your assets quickly so that you are not sanctioned,\u201d the House Speaker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why MPs Must Declare<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The warning is not new. Under Section 119(1) of the Anti-Corruption Act 2008 as amended by the Anti-Corruption (Amendment) Act 2019, every public officer in the following categories must declare:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Persons holding elective offices (including all 149 MPs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Persons appointed by the President<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Public officers Grade 7 and above<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Any officer below Grade 7 with fiduciary or financial responsibilities<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Paramount Chiefs and Court Chairmen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law requires declaration within 3 months of assuming office, every 2 years thereafter, and within 3 months of leaving office. For 2026, the ACC opened a new digital portal built with DSTI and set the declaration window from 20th April to 20th July 2026, later extended to 21st August 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Failure to declare is a criminal offence under Section 122A (1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Are The Sanctions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to ACC Operations Coordinator Patrick Sandi and ACC Public Notices:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. 14-day Default Notice \u2013 ACC issues a written notice to the defaulter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Salary Withholding \u2013 1-month freeze if you still fail to comply<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Suspension \u2013 3 months suspension without pay<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Dismissal \u2013 Removal from public service after 6 months (for MPs, salary withholding applies continuously as Constitution protects removal, but benefits and privileges can be blocked)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Fine and Jail \u2013 On conviction, fine of not less than Le20 million (old Leones) and\/or not less than 1 year imprisonment, and under the 2019 Amendment, up to 5 years or Le50 million fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, after similar warnings, 1,541 public officers were sanctioned. Compliance later rose from 91.3% to 99.54% by December 2024 after salaries were frozen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the current 2026 exercise, ACC reported as of 18th August 2026, 13,036 out of 16,144 targeted officers (80.7%) had complied across 224 MDAs. The Commission is now pushing for 100%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Speaker\u2019s intervention comes as Parliament faces public scrutiny over absenteeism, with Speaker Thomas recently announcing he will introduce a performance assessment system and send attendance records to political parties to guide award of symbols for 2028.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ACC portal remains assets.anticorruption.gov.sl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

-Speaker Thomas Warns MPs The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Segepoh Solomon Thomas, has warned all Members of Parliament to urgently declare their income, assets and liabilities to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) or face administrative sanctions. Addressing MPs in the well of Parliament yesterday, Speaker Thomas said the ACC has written to Parliament and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t