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The debacle in Sierra Leone NASSIT Ferries: What is the responsibility for Damen?
The recent publication of highly condemnable by the Department of Intelligence, Investigations and prosecutions by the Commission for the Fight against Corruption (CAC), in the acquisition of ferries conditions to navigate in poor condition and not by Social Security and National Insurance Trust (NASSIT) dated May 10, 2010, represents only the tip of the iceberg of how management NASSIT and the Board and the Ministry of Labour, and are colluding an unholy alliance to systematically loot the resources of an institution as laudable. The activities and apparent lack of due diligence by Damen Shipyards in the purchase of these ferries also calls for more research on their role in the shearing of the poor Sierra Leone's hard-won workers' contributions to pension funds.
The Labor Ministry, which ultimately leads supervisory responsibility in management and board activities of a trust fund in the nation only workers pensions, has largely done a very poor control of the NASSIT as evidenced by its participation in the decision and purchase of these ferries overcharge. The inclusion of the Minister responsible for the delegation that traveled to the offices NASSIT Damen Shipyard in the Netherlands to inspect the ships and the purchase in June 2008, was a naked attempt by the administration of the Trust to ingratiate have a ministry, which largely lacks the necessary technical and professional expertise in the areas of actuarial risk management, pensions, acquisition ferries and social insurance that effectively contribute to weight problems facing the Trust in their investment strategies.
According to the report external assessment commissioned by the ACC in its investigations, the management led by Edmund Koroma NASSIT incredible amount spent 2,819,122 million pounds (two million eight hundred One hundred nineteen thousand one hundred twenty-two pounds sterling) on 2 ferries inoperable should not have cost more than 500,000.00 pounds (five hundred thousand euros) including repair cost.
Board and the fiduciary responsibility of directors:
If the Board of Trustees, the Board Sub-Committee that authorized the purchase, management and investment of the Trust sub-committees were misled and manipulated by Damen Shipyards, which by its own admission have been shown to have been a very haphazard and unprofessional technical study, or bribes usual corruption that had inflated costs and the estimated overpayment at 1.6 million pounds paid to various officials involved in the purchase of vessels in any way the trust should be made whole by DAMEN and / or recipients of bribes.
While the recommendations of the ACC report are being politicized by some contracted clearly unpatriotic and uninformed editorial writers, it is worth reiterating that the very serious allegations substantiated investigations revealed, as shameless and irresponsible hard-earned income of workers in the country have been subjected to, accelerated implementation of the orders of the recommendations of the report by the Acting Commissioner of the ACC. The performance of ACC Commissioner must give the impression that the amount of the contributions of the participants confidence "in game is really impressive considering poverty in the country and as such every effort should be made to recover all ill-gotten gains of all participants.
If the allegations are subsequently proven in a court of law, this represents the largest fraudulent conversion employee wages and employer contributions in the pension scheme has been registered in Sierra Leone. What must be reiterated and understood here is that the contributions NASSIT are not government revenue Sierra Leone, therefore, why are not part of the general fund of the nation. It's about winning contributions of employees participating in the pension system. The government as well as other employers in the private sector only contributes his legal fee on behalf of their employees, public sector employees and officials public.
Charges in line with Articles 48 and 129 of the ACC Act 2008 and the 2004 Act quickly NPPA should be brought against the perpetrators call namely Edumund Koroma, Mahmoud Idriss, Ibrahim Bah, Gibril Saccoh and Trust Chairman, Jacob Kanu. Contrary to what some writers are applying, the focus here not about personalities, economic and financial magic or political affiliations but what the managers appointed as trustees could not perform. Their actions are equivalent to steal from the pockets of workers in Sierra Leone whose meager monthly salary is deducted and charged to maximize the NASSIT at the time of their retirement future.
DAMEN Shipyard That Smoking Gun Liability Letter:
The Damen Shipyards letter to the Director General NASSIT dated March 24, 2009, reproduced in an article entitled "False Contractor use of CAC to get rid of Edmund Koroma" John Sesay, published in Sierra Express Average June 9, 2010 raises serious questions and requires a thorough analysis beyond the usual rants lack of objectivity in the adulation annoying now shown with this story. The parliamentary monitoring committee responsible for the operations of the NASSIT should also as a matter of public hearings schedule urgency of this issue, mainly because not only are all employees of the contributions involved, but the continued economic viability of the institution and the trust of its Participants need to save.
A couple of fallacies that lead to the elimination of some of the defenders NASSIT writings include, but are not limited to:
1) That while Damen has a worldwide reputation for building boats and ferries in good standing, his contract with the NASSIT not for the purchase of ships or ferries to NASSIT, rather its quality services involved in only one agent for the sale and delivery of a technical study carried in the "COSTAS TH III" ferry.
2) That, based only on the specifications DAMEN email dated July 4, 2008 NASSIT management bought the "COSTAS TH III" (renamed Bai Bureh) without inspections and / or a new survey report of Captain Bloomer, who had previously taken NASSIT to the Netherlands. This lack of due diligence has resulted in the expenditure of approximately 1.3 million pounds which includes compensation from the accounts of the Trust.
3) That several assumptions made by DAMEN in their technical assessments were confirmed as false based on just a cursory review of the situation after damage March 24, 2009 written by DAMEN Africa Regional Office Director, Mr. Joustra. First, that despite a warning of risk by the inspector and the captain of trailer rough weather and strong winds that have some impact on the vessel during the voyage, the risk was dismissed and "not considered a" problem, Damen. Secondly, NASSIT expectations of the passenger areas of the ferry were not met and the general condition of the shuttle "has seriously deteriorated and that no" operational, according own assessments with Damen.
4) The last paragraph of the letter from Mr Joustra is more revealing, and should serve to, if not bury the so-called DAMEN vaunted expertise in comparison with the expert from Sierra Leone of the ACC, but stated clearly that the ferries were not manufactured or sold by Damen, as some authors have argued online. DAMEN states inter alia that "although (Damen) we've been duped by vendors and that mistakes have been made during the towing of Greece to Sierra Leone, is the responsibility of Damen for sure NASSIT gets what he deserves, a ferry and operational security.
5) Despite promises by Damen to repair the ship and "bring back into operation within one (1) month from the date of the letter dated March 24, 2009 is disappointing and a clear contractual breach of writing which, like the ferry is not yet operational.
6) The report by Lloyd's Register survey released in August 2009 ferries the conclusion that "based on a number of shortcomings that prevent the confirmation of the adequacy of security, Masimera is considered unsatisfactory and considered that Bai Bureh (TH COSTAS III) Poor. "
Conclusion:
In a previous article about exorbitant costs Administrative NASSIT, published in 2008 href = "insurance-articles/social-security-administrative-costs-a-receipe-for-collapse-of-sierra-leones-pension-program-571822.html" title = "Social Security administrative costs: a recipe for Collapse of Sierra Leone's Pension Program> http://www.articlesbase.com/insurance-articles/social-security-administrative-costs-a-receipe-for -collapse-of-mountain-lions-pension-program-571 822. html, I have tried to highlight through an analysis of reported and published NASSIT actuarial, investment and financial reporting, both to alert the board directors and participants hoped that the investments were undertaken not actuarially sound and that management costs have expanded to an astronomical rate.
Despite its constitutional obligation to have a second actuarial report of the Trust held in 2008, it is noted that as of this writing, the second actuarial report yet not made or published. In fact a check of the NASSIT website shows no updates to reports in relation to the Trust financial, actuarial and Performance Insurance has been published since 2008. This situation is clearly contrary to the statute establishing the NASSIT and must be examined by Parliament, but only is to ensure an efficient and transparent management of the income of workers and prevent potential catastrophic financial and pensions in the future.
Both for contract and by his own admission, Damen as the technical and technical and NASSIT agent is directly responsible for the debacle of the ferries and should be performed to provide not only the repair of vessels but also to pay for the loss of income from operations of ships and the purchase in 2008. The NASSIT and extent the government should consider instituting a lawsuit against DAMEN for a series of breaches of contract and poor performance, if not fraud in the management of the ferries NASSIT transactions.
While the influence and political trends of the culprits to name perhaps the force that motivates some writers, as a society must do to pursue the corrupt and evil practices wherever they are, because only then can we muster the moral courage to at least minimize corruption our nation is currently fighting.
About the Author
The author, Mr. Kortor Kamara has over 25 years experience in the insurance industry both in Sierra Leone and the United States. He is a Chartered Property & Casualty Insurer and holds the Workers Compensation Claims Professional (WCCP) designation. He is a Member of the Chartered Insurance Institute ( London); Certified Self-Insurance Claims Administrator-State of California; Registered World Bank Consultant and has served as a Consultant on various Insurance initiatives in Sierra Leone, including design of the country’s first Title Insurance Policy. In addition, Mr. Kamara is a graduate of Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, 1978-1981; studied Law at both the Univerisity of West Los Angeles School of Law and the California Southern School of Law in Riverside. He is currently a Doctoral Candidate in Insurance and Risk Management. Through association with Saddleback Re, were he serves as the Regional Manager, Africa Division, Mr. Kamara is intimately involved in the provision of reinsurance coverage, policy design, loss control, training and risk management services to the African Insurance marketplace. Mr. Kamara can be contacted at kortorkamara@yahoo.com.
MT Eden – Sierra Leone – Tokyo bike tour