By Abubakarr Bah, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
In Part One of my piece ‘President Bio’s Massive Gains in Controlling Corruption, a key MCC Indicator’, which is part of my series, ‘Goodies of the Bio Presidency’, I narrated how the fantastic accomplishments of the youngest ever Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) of Sierra Leone and Africa, Francis Ben Kaifala (FBK) has revolutionized the fight against corruption in Sierra Leone. His tremendous achievements have far surpassed any other leadership at the ACC. These massive gains have enabled the country to progress impressively from the failed score of 49% in 2017 to an average score of 78% from 2018 to 2023, thereby positioning Sierra Leone to win the MCC compact of $480 million.
With the outstanding political and presidential will provided by His Excellency Brig. (Rtd) Dr. Julius Maada Bio, FBK has brought so many laurels to Sierra Leone, thus making our country acclaimed both locally and globally by the international community as well as development partners.
Under FBK as Commissioner of the ACC, by employing the Non-Conviction Asset Based Recovery, the Commission has recovered over Le45,000,000.00 (Forty-Five Million (New) Leones) from 2018-to date. The total cash recovered under FBK in six years is far higher than all recoveries ever made by the ACC in its 18 years of existence before his ascendency into office. In 2019 alone, over Le 11,000,000 (Eleven Million (New) Leones) was recovered; this was more than the total sum ever recovered by the ACC in a single year.
Furthermore, the ACC has recovered Two Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles and returned them to the Ministry of Transport and Aviation, in addition to the recovery of a two-storey building and motorbikes in Koidu City, Kono District in the eastern region of Sierra Leone. The ACC also once recovered 47 laptop computers and returned them to the NaCOVERC together with Two Hundred and Fifty-Two Thousand (New) Leones being funds to buy laptop computers.
The ACC has also on several occasions recovered funds and paid same to the institutions from which the said funds were stolen or misappropriated, including the Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority, the Aberdeen Women’s Centre, the University of Sierra Leone and the National Revenue Authority.
As part of President Bio’s vigorous anti-corruption drive, the Judiciary of Sierra Leone, in 2019, set up a Special Anti-Corruption Court to expedite the trial of ACC cases. As part of that commitment, the Special Division of the High Court, with state-of-the-art paraphernalia and resources, has dedicated judges to hear corruption cases. The result has seen cases that hitherto would take two years to complete, being completed between 3 and 6 months.
Moreover, Ben Kaifala has ensured that the ACC continues to pursue corruption investigations vigorously from 2018 to 2019, thereby ensuring a very high conviction rate of over 90%. The cases cover all spheres of public life with no room for impunity, as investigations and trials include both members of the past government but significantly the current government, including Heads of Departments, top civil servants, permanent secretaries and directors, ministers and the deputy ministers in the current government, the Presidency (including one that was serving as State Chief of Protocol to President Bio), etc.
Commissioner Kaifala has approached the fight against corruption with considerable fairness and courage. Notable prosecutions have led to the conviction of 54 people from 2018–2024 with over Le 800,000.00 (Eight Hundred Thousand (New) Leones) from restitution, and over Le 900,000.00 (Nine Hundred Thousand (New) Leones) as court fines.
In the area of legislative reforms under the Bio presidency, the country has introduced the biggest far-reaching reforms to ensuring accountability in the public service. The new reforms promulgated are believed to eclipse any anti-corruption legislative reforms in Africa. The current progressive and very strong anti-corruption law increases the minimum punishment for major corruption offences to a minimum of five (5) years or a fine of not less than Le50,000.00 (Fifty Thousand (New) Leones), strengthens protection of witnesses, informants and whistleblowers; allows the Commission to either prosecute corrupt public officers or recover from them all monies they misappropriate plus a minimum of 10% interest and a mandatory exclusion from holding public office for not less than 3 years.
There is also a provision that allows the courts to proceed with trial of persons charged with corruption in absentia. Included, also, is the shift of the evidential burden for offences involving offering or receiving an advantage (bribery). The amendment also provides for the Commission to appeal against sentences that are deemed lenient or disproportionate to the offence charged.
In addition to the penalties of fines and imprisonment, the Anti-Corruption (Amendment Act), 2019 provides for administrative sanctions for public officers who fail to submit their asset declaration forms within the time prescribed by the Act, including withholding their salaries, suspension from public service after 3 months and removal from public service after 6 months (the last two do not apply to offices for which removal from office is prescribed by the Constitution).
Today, through the directives of the political leadership of His Excellency President Dr. Julius Maada Bio, Francis Ben Kaifala has led a team that was able to construct and furnish its headquarters office known as the ‘Integrity House’ at Tower Hill in Freetown. This multi-purpose edifice was 100 percent funded by the Government of Sierra Leone through its Ministry of Finance. The structure now creates a conducive and enabling environment for staff to carry out their tasks and responsibilities effectively and efficiently. Additionally, the Commissioner has also established the first Northwest Regional office to cover Port Loko, Kambia, and Karene districts.
The outstanding support President Bio has given to the ACC has enabled the Commission, under the tenure of FBK to win several awards, including the ‘Best Public Sector Institution of the Year 2019’ at the National Development Awards 2018 for ‘Outstanding Commission of the Year’ by the National Youth-led Awards, Diaspora Focus’ National Development Award for ‘Best Public Institution 2020’, etc. FBK’s excellent leadership has also brought him several awards, including ‘International Anti-Corruption Champion’ in 2020 by the US States Department, ‘Best Personality of the Year 2020’ by Sierra Ovation Awards, Women’s Forum Network Awards 2020 for ‘Effort in the Fight Against Corruption’, YEDA-SL Awards 2020 for ‘Outstanding Leadership in the fight against Corruption’, Sierra Ovation Awards as ‘100 Most Outstanding Sierra Leoneans 2020’, Diaspora Focus Award 2020 for ‘Outstanding leadership in the fight against Corruption’, and ‘Obama Africa Leader 2019’, to name but a few.
These unprecedented achievements were attained as a result of His Excellency President Bio’s vision of empowering young people into positions of leadership. Today, the monumental accomplishments of Commissioner Francis Ben Kaifala have defined him as one of the strongest pillars of the Government’s New Direction administration that has brought enormous goodies to the people of Sierra Leone. With FBK and other vibrant players onboard, President Bio’s feet are on the acceleration pedal to continue to move Sierra Leone forward to the state we all desire for us all, including our children yet unborn.
