The Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Francis Ben Kaifala Esq. has led one of the most important sessions at the just-concluded 7th Annual General Meeting of the Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities in Africa (AAACA) held in Algiers, Algeria from the 20th to the 22nd July 2025. The meeting took place at the Abdelatif Rahal International Conference Center in Algiers. The session, held on the final day of the event, was meant to determine the applications of the leading government anti-corruption agencies of countries that had applied for admission into the AAACA.
According to the ACC Commissioner, the Agency for the Prevention and Fight Against Corruption of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Commission to Combat Economic, Financial and Tax Delinquency of Niger and the Administrative Control Authority of Libya had applied for admission within the last one year.
Mr Kaifala, who doubles as Executive Member of the AAACA representing the ECOWAS region, asked the heads of each of the agencies applied to explain to the general assembly of the AAACA about the mandate and work of their respective agencies and the reasons for their applications, which the applicants took turns to do.
Mr Kaifala then officially presented their applications to the general membership for admission. After a period of deliberations by the general membership of the AAACA, the agencies of the three countries were admitted into the body.
The representative of the Egyptian Administrative Control Authority who doubles as the President of AAACA, Gnl Khaled Abdelrahman, commended Commissioner Kaifala for his “astute leadership” throughout the admission process of the three new member countries
Also at the Annual General Meeting, the AAACA approved for the launch of the Centre for Anti-Corruption Studies and Research in Africa (CEREAC), which will be located in Kenya. The Centre, which launching will take place during the 8th Annual General Meeting of the AAACA in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, will undertake research geared towards eradicating corruption in Africa and serve as an institute for the training of officers of anti-corruption agencies of member states.
Another resolution is the approval of a project action plan for implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the AAACA and the African Development Bank. The MoU is geared towards developing the capacity of staff of the anti-corruption agencies of member states and providing support for research activities aimed at combating corruption in the African continent.
During the Meeting, there were also experiences shared by Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt centred on the theme “Asset Recovery in Africa: Legal Framework and Best Practices for Achieving Sustainable Development”.
The ACC Commissioner was accompanied to the conference by the Director of Public Education and Outreach Abubakarr Turay.
