Honoring Tradition: Community Leaders in Mamboma Increase Transparency

Written by James Gendemeh, Nyagajia Rogers and Hameedatu Turay

Mamboma is a village located in the Peje Bongre Chiefdom of Eastern Sierra Leone’s Kailahun district. It was known for its corruption, embezzlement and unfair treatment of community members by their leaders. After the civil war, the community held elections, but were disappointed with the results; leaders continued to be self-serving. Community meetings were rare and accountability non-existent. Mamboma leaders assessed fines based on personal relationships rather than any objective measure of fairness. Additionally, funds received from those fines, donations, or politicians’ contributions were pocketed by the leaders. Saffa Brima, a current Tribal Authority and the Town Treasurer recalled that “Corruption and embezzlement was a cost to the community that bred constant mismanagement and chaos.” Due to the lack of accountability, community participation in any project was minimal and the community was divided.

In 2015, OneVillage Partners started working with Mamboma and discussed unity, transparency, solidarity, and inclusive leadership in their interactions with the community. OneVillage Partners worked with Mamboma to create a community development account to house community contributions for development projects. This was the turning point for some leaders as they decided to practice transparency themselves based on what they have learned from OneVillage Partners’ community bank account system. The community lobbied to reinstate their Town Treasurer, Saffa, and started giving fines from court cases to him for safe keeping. Saffa encouraged his colleague leaders to be transparent by giving regular updates on community owned income and donations. The community and leaders agreed on monthly meetings to discuss important topics with the whole community. Slowly, Mamboma was putting systems in place to better manage its finances.

At first it was daunting to implement the changes. When community members requested loans from the town coffer, many did not repay the money on time and Saffa had to dip into his own pocket to replenish the fund to avoid embarrassment. He later decided to stop giving loans from the town coffer. Some leaders balked at the new way of doing things. They had long enjoyed the benefits of corruption and were disinclined to give up those advantages. The community, however, thought differently and suspended the corrupt leaders for three months. Following the suspension, the leaders were given some responsibilities to test their commitment to transparency. When they showed that they could comply with the new rules and execute the tasks with integrity, leaders’ previous status was restored. Unfortunately, later on, some of the leaders lapsed back to their former ways and took money earmarked to pay workers building an agriculture infrastructure project. Furious, the workers summoned the leaders to the Paramount Chief who ordered them to return the money. Embarrassed in front of the entire community, Mamboma’s leaders finally understood that the community had gained the courage and the buy-in to hold them accountable. The community learned from these experiences, absorbed the lessons, and remained committed to financial transparency.

Through implementing new systems and having pride in their community development, Mamboma community members are now using their money in ways that benefit the entire community, instead of lining the pockets of a few. For example, they used community funds to rehabilitate an elementary school and provide food for community visitors. Leaders now share feedback on all community activities, especially fund management. They plan with community members how funds should be used and are becoming more active in projects, especially in the area of enforcing by-laws. “Unity and transparency in the community is a very important key in development,” Saffa Brima stated.

“A non-transparent community and it leaders always depend on selfish development. Our forefathers, according to tradition, were always pleased with honest and committed people,” Bockarie F. Boyah, a Quarter Head stated. Once again, those values and traditions are flourishing in the village of Mamboma.