The
National Accountability Group (NAG) was formed in 2001 after
the Transparency International annual meeting in Prague,
Czech Republic as a coalition of individuals and civil society
dedicated to increasing government accountability and curbing
corruption at local, national, regional and global levels.
While the organisation suffered initially from a lack of
resources, it was revived in 2004 with support from the
Soros Foundation and with the
Aims
and Objectives
To create public awareness on the damaging effects and
extent of corruption in the country.
To advocate for the elimination of the factors that
lead to corruption, impropriety and injustice.
To carry out evidence-based research on the level of
corruption in private, public and civil society institutions.
To ensure that local and national governments and private
and public sectors are accountable to the people.
To assist existing national structures of horizontal
mechanisms of accountability in the elimination of corruption,
impropriety and injustice.
To foster links with national, sub-regional and intergovernmental
NGOs whose aims and objectives are consistent with those
of NAG and TI
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appointment
of a new Executive Director Mrs. Zainab Hawa Bangura, the
former Coordinator of the Campaign for Good Governance.
The new office located at 18 Dundas St. officially opened
its doors on July 1 with an ambitious agenda for confronting
corruption in Sierra Leone.
Partnered with the Transparency International global network,
TIRI of London, and the Anti-Corruption Commission in Sierra
Leone, NAG is the only civil society membership organisation
dedicated to achieving greater accountability, transparency,
and integrity in private and public affairs, curbing corruption,
and holding local and national governments accountable to
the people of Sierra Leone.
The National Accountability Group, while based in Freetown,
operates widely in the Provinces through its monitoring,
surveying and public awareness activities. NAG is also engaged
in building the capacity of an effective civil society,
and is currently focusing on teachers and religious leaders
as a means of reaching the wider community. These activities
are not confined only to Sierra Leone, as its efforts have
reached into Liberia and Guinea in its attempts to develop
a civil society that promotes accountability issues throughout
the Mano River Union to encourage lasting stability.
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Mrs. Zainab Hawa Bangura,
Executive Director of
National Accountability Group
The thrust of NAG’s focus, however, lies in the decentralisation
process that is taking hold in the country, as Local Councils
are being set up nationwide. This presents an important
opportunity for the National Accountability Group and all
of civil society to ensure transparency within this significant
shift in power from the centralised government in Freetown
to the Local Councils. Thus if civil society can effectively
execute its role implied within the 2004 Local Government
Act to oversee and monitor the accounts and activities of
the Local Councils, which are required by law to be made
public, a major source of potential corruption could be
checked.
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