By: Amie Massaquoi, Information Officer, ACC
In a bid to strengthen bilateral relationship and equip employees with the needed-skills required to eradicate corruption in Sierra Leone, two staff of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), together with their counterparts from other African countries, have benefited from a three-day training in Cairo, Egypt, which ran from the 9th- 11th October, 2023. ACC’s Finance Manager, Kinny Alie Brima Walker and Information Officer, Amie Massaquoi, were the two ACC staff that benefited from the training.
The training, which was organised by the Egyptian Anti-Corruption Academy of Administrative Control Authority, covered issues such as corruption prevention, public awareness, assets recovery and money laundering. The Administrative Control Authority (ACA) is Egypt’s lead anti-graft agency. The Egyptian Anti-Corruption Academy of the Administrative Control is the main reference for providing education and training to Egyptians and foreigners, to prevent and combat corruption.
In his welcome address to participants, the Deputy Director, ACA, Major General Abdul Rahman, commended member states of the African Union for their commitment to the fight against corruption. He said ethical, economic, moral and petty corruption, are the types of corruption issues that cut across member states of the African Union. He acknowledged that the African continent has achieved many successes in the fight against corruption but is yet to get rid of the menace.
The Deputy Director highlighted the benefits of the training, which he said is always mutual as countries display ideas, success stories and challenges they encounter in fighting corruption. He added that the training is established to equip countries with strategies to fight corruption, and to also collaborate and create strong bilateral relationship which will bring the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) vision to reality.
The Chairman of the Egyptian Anti-Corruption Academy, Mohamed Salama, in his statement said the training course on combating corruption falls under the directives of the President of the Republic of Egypt to enhance capacities of African states to combat corruption. He urged the 30 cohort of African trainees to use the opportunity to learn from different perspectives. He lectured on the role of the Administrative Control Authority in combating corruption, also focusing on the review of the UNCAC, the method which the Egyptian anti-corruption strategies are developed, implemented and monitored.
Director of International Cooperation Sector, ACA, Dr. Khaled Siad, spoke on corruption risk management, the use of technology, which he said is an incredible tool to combat corruption as it provides little or no window of opportunity to give bribe for service. He said corruption has begun from the beginning of man, traced to ancient Egypt. He added that countering corruption and establishing justice systems can lead the state to positive outcomes. Because of the political will, he said, Egypt has been able to make strides in corruption fight.
The training was climaxed with question-and-answer sessions, and the presentation of Certificate of Completion of the course to the participants.
