By: Alex A. Bah, Ag. Public Relations Officer, ACC
There was a time in Sierra Leone when corruption felt as natural as breath. The popular proverb, “Usai den tie cow, na de e dae eat”, summed up the national mood. Public office was where one went to feed, not serve. Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, and contractors treated government coffers as personal property, and few dared challenge them.
I was born in the late nineties, a period when the country was reeling from war and decades of unchecked corruption. By the time I started school, I had already grown up hearing stories of how graft had plunged the nation into eleven years of misery: hospitals without drugs, teachers unpaid for months, and basic services crumbling as funds vanished along the way.
It was in this transitional moment, when Sierra Leone was learning to stand again, that I became a member of a fledgling school anti-corruption club dubbed the “Integrity Club” at Services Secondary School, Juba. Though young, I was passionate about challenging a culture that had long accepted theft and impunity as normal. We marched with placards, debated honesty in classrooms, and engaged in national conversations on integrity over radio and television. We tried to inspire integrity among our peers, hopeful, yet unsure if anyone powerful was listening.
Tracing the Commission’s origins, on 6th February 2000, President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah launched the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), declaring a new war, this time on corruption itself. He promised that “nobody will be above the law, including myself.” A new chapter had begun, though a rocky one.
THE TOOTHLESS YEARS
The ACC’s arrival gave hope, but little powers. By law, the Commission could investigate, but only the Director of Public Prosecution Office under the Attorney General, had the power to prosecute. Files piled up. Big names slipped away. And soon the public concluded the ACC was merely a barking watchdog, a “toothless bulldog.”
Still, early probes exposed the scale of injustice, where billions meant for schools in post-conflict Sierra Leone were siphoned off, food aid and relief supplies diverted, public assets sold for peanuts. Some officials bowed in shame, but many more smiled away untouched. The cynics said corruption was stronger than the law.
TEACHING THE BULLDOG TO BITE
Pressure mounted from citizens, civil society, and global partners. Hence, in 2008, under Abdul Tejan-Cole, a major breakthrough came: the ACC was strengthened by repealing and replacing its 2000 Act with the 2008 Act, giving the Commission arrest and prosecutorial powers. The leash was loosened. The bulldog could finally bite. Suddenly: 12 Customs officials found themselves in court, Permanent secretaries answered difficult questions and accountability slowly began to take shape. The public mood shifted from suspicion to cautious optimism. The once-mocked anti-corruption agency was growing sharpened teeth.
NO SACRED COWS
In 2018, another turning point marked a new wave of reform. President Julius Maada Bio in his inaugural address declared a democratic war on corruption and appointed 33-year-old Francis Ben Kaifala, a young reform-minded lawyer, as ACC Commissioner. With the guiding principle “No sacred cows”, encapsulated in his mantra of “making corruption a high-risk, low-return venture” and ensuring “no shadow boxing”, the ACC gained a renewed, fearless identity.
Grand corruption cases that previously felt impossible became headlines: Former Vice President Victor Foh charged in a high-profile matter, Heads of governmental institutions, including serving cabinet ministers, investigated for public finance abuses. Recovery of billions of Leones in stolen assets, returned to citizens. Trial efficiency improved dramatically: cases that previously took 3–6 years were now concluded within 3–6 months. A special Anti-Corruption Court was created within the High Court structure, one of the very few in the world. Conviction rates soared to over 90%.
Asset declaration, once symbolic, became practical with over 96% compliance, and the system went fully digital. An Elite Scorpion Squad was formed to carry out sting operations, instilling fear and accountability.
Inside the Commission, professionalism flourished. Case tracking improved. Prevention and public education became aggressive and creative. International reviewers took notice. Sierra Leone began climbing global anti-corruption rankings and restoring donor confidence including the World Bank, UNICEF among others whose reources through Social Safety Nets supported projects the ACC has been monitoring satisfactorily with the Deputy Commissioner Augustine Foday Ngobie squarely providing leadership. The once toothless bulldog became a fighting bulldog, sometimes wounded, but never silent.
A LEAP IN GLOBAL RECOGNITION
The impact was measurable: Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC Scorecard rose from 49% in 2017 to over 70% for eight consecutive years, peaking at 83%, a turnaround that helped unlock eligibility for a grant exceeding US$400 million. Before 2018, the country had failed in 10 of 15 assessments, with its best result only 53%.
Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index climbed 22 places from 2018 whilst the Mo Ibrahim Index recorded a 16% improvement, with Sierra Leone specifically highlighted for progress. Afrobarometer and national corrruption perception surveys showed public confidence in the ACC at 92% in 2019
Sierra Leoneans began believing again that integrity could triumph.
REFLECTION
Looking back, I see how personal this fight has been. That boy in the late nineties and early 2000s did not fully grasp the magnitude of corruption, but he recognized its threat to the nation’s future. I did not know then that the values we promoted in school would one day align with national reform, nor that I would grow up to join the Anti-Corruption Commission, working daily on the frontlines of accountability.
For me, this struggle is not abstract, it shaped my childhood, my identity, and my purpose. This is lived history.
After 25 years of struggle, Sierra Leone can proudly point to a robust law that empowers the ACC to prosecute independently, hundreds of convictions across all sectors, billions of Leones recovered and returned to citizens, independent integrity systems in public service dubbed as “Integrity Management Committees”, strengthened youth movements and civic awareness and a national belief that corruption is no longer “normal”.
The culture has shifted. Accountability is no longer optional. Yet, the war continues. This silver jubilee is not a victory lap, it is a milestone checkpoint. Corruption remains a stubborn enemy: It evolves, it adapts, it hides behind new technologies and alliances.
The ACC remains outnumbered in manpower and resources. Cases can still drag. Some still try to scream “politics!” when accountability and justice knocks. So the question before us is simple: Do we continue fighting, or do we surrender the gains? History has though taught us the cost of silence.
CONCLUSION
As Sierra Leone marks 25 years of the ACC, celebration fittingly aligned with International Anti-Corruption Day, December 9, we are reminded of what is at stake that is our dignity as a nation, our public services and our children’s future
The fight against corruption is not about headlines. It is about hospitals with medicines, teachers paid on time, electricity that stays on, and roads that lead to prosperity instead of dead ends. We have come too far to go back.
So whilst the story is still being written, our national anti-corruption odyssey has shown us the bad: years of plunder and impunity; the ugly: betrayal of public trust; the good: a rising culture of accountability and the best: that is yet to come
From tied cows feeding freely, to a bulldog that now bites fiercely. Sierra Leone’s journey proves one truth: Integrity wins, slowly, painfully, but inevitably.
Every Sierra Leonean has a role in ensuring that never again will a single cow eat where it is tied, while the rest of the nation starves.
