Members of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) Steering Committee has on 17th February 2022, met at the Office of the Vice President, Tower Hill, Freetown, to discuss issues related to the implementation of the current NACS which runs from 2019 to 2023.

Chairperson of the Steering Committee Francess Alghali, who also doubles as the Minister of State in the Office of the Vice President, expressed satisfaction at the progress made so far by the NACS secretariat in the implementation of the NACS 2019-2023. She singled out the progress made by integrity management committees (IMCs) of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government to curb incidences of corruption. “In the fight against corruption, prevention is key, and it is for this reason the secretariat has been putting in place structures for IMCs in all MDAs, including local government councils, to be very effective and functional,” she said.

Director of the NACS Secretariat at the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Nabilahi-Musa Kamara, while making a statement, highlighted some of the challenges the Secretariat is facing to implement the strategy. “We have never been able to get the required resources to undertake the prescribed activities which include the drafting of the NACS and the monitoring of the implementation of the strategy,” he noted. He therefore suggested for a meeting between the Steering Committee and the ACC Commissioner in a bid to address some of the challenges.

Deputy Director of NACS Secretariat Edita Fofana acknowledged the enormous support from the Steering Committee in meeting the goals of the Strategy but stressed the need for the Chairperson to help in making permanent secretaries and chief administrators sign transparency, accountability and integrity pacts. She also said that one key reason for some MDAs to perform more than others is that the leadership of high performing MDAs often pay a lot of attention to the affairs of their integrity management committees whilst the low performing ones do not.

During the meeting, it was resolved that the Secretariat should be sharing lessons learnt from high performing MDAs, so that best practices can be replicated in low performing MDAs.