In 2022, the Commission ensured that public offices significantly improve their performance in the area of mainstreaming anti-corruption measures in their work and operations. As such, local councils recorded a significant compliance rate of 89% compared to 59% in 2021, while MDAs achieved a compliance score of 85% as compared to 63% in 2021.
In 2022, the Commission reviewed the Assets Declaration Form and embarked on a nationwide distribution of Assets Declaration Forms. The Commission also reintroduced online declaration of Income, Assets and Liabilities and ensured the training of representatives of public institutions, in a bid to move the declaration process from paper-based to electronic/online. This significantly increased the rate of asset declaration by public officers.
The Commission’s corruption prevention strategy in promoting integrity in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of Government took foothold as systems and processes reviews were conducted in key MDAs, including the Ministry of Water Resources and all Agencies under the Ministry, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and all Agencies under it, the National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM) now National Telecommunications Authority (NaTCA), Ministry of Labour, Road Maintenance Fund Administration (RMFA), among others. The Commission also ensured the monitoring of nine (9) MDAs whose systems were reviewed in the previous years to ensure full compliance with recommendations. Other corruption prevention activities included the review of policy gaps, Ethics and Integrity Training workshops for MDAs, development of Institutional Anti-Corruption policies for MDAs and review and development of Service Charters for MDAs.
In recognition of the marked strides made by the Anti-corruption Commission of Sierra Leone in preventing corruption, the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) requested from the Commission a seven-day corruption risk assessment training for the Education and Prevention Officers at the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC).
As part of the Commission’s mass awareness drive, in 2022, the Commission aired a total of 442 radio programmes on various aspects of the ACC's activities in Freetown and in all regions of the country, and 54 television programmes in the Western Area. A total of 59 community meetings to educate the public on the work of the Commission and to solicit support in the fight against corruption were also conducted across the country. The meetings were also used to propagate the
Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) component of the Social Safety Net (SSN) programme, Skills Development Project, which are coordinated by the ACC and supported by the World Bank and UNICEF.
Analysis of local newspaper coverage on the work and activities of the Commission and corruption issues showed that the Commission had 91 percentage favorable coverage, 5 percent unfavorable coverage and 4 percent ambivalent coverage in 2022.
In educational institutions, the Commission conducted a total of 134 outreach programmes in schools and tertiary institutions in a bid to promote issues of integrity, transparency and accountability among young people.
Consistent with the provisions of the Anti-Corruption Act 2008 as amended in 2019, the Commission continued with its strategy of getting more partners onboard the anti-corruption campaign. The Commission engaged 44 partner organizations and signed memorandum of understanding with 7 others, ranging from civil society groups and good governance institutions.
Remarkably, the Anti-Corruption Commission in 2022, received personnel from The Gambia and Guinea, as they visited to understudy the work of the ACC. This continues to show the admiration sister anti-corruption Agencies in the sub-region have about the ACC.
The Commission ensured stricter enforcement of our anti-corruption laws through investigation and prosecution of persons suspected of committing acts of corruption; as such there were 277 cases, out of which 93 cases were completed. The rigorous work of the prosecution team at the ACC resulted in over 90 percent conviction rate nationwide and a recovery of Three Million, Four Hundred and Seventy-Seven Thousand, One Hundred and Eighty-Three New Leones (NLe 3,477,183).
In 2022, the ACC also received 11 Awards and Recognitions for the good work and the achievements made in the fight against corruption.
Conclusion: 2022 was a great year of success for the ACC as it improved on the gains made in the campaign against corruption, accounting for the favorably rankings in the Global Corruption Perception Index, the Millennium Challenge Corporation Scorecard, many study visits from the Gambia and Guinea Anti-graft Agencies, Convictions, Recoveries and Awards received
