2. 2 In his statement, the Governance and Anti - Corruption Adviser of the Co mmonwealth, Dr. Roger Koranteng said , the result s of the fight against corruption in Africa were disappointing, blaming it on the lack of political will, slow implementation and limited skilled personnel. He said that due to corruption, Africa has remained poor regardless of the fact that it is rich in natural resour ces. He said that it is for this reason that the conference was convened so that Commonwealth Africa Anti - Corruption Agencies could learn from each other valuable experiences, challenges and successes. Expert presentations on a number of topics including A nti - Corruption Efforts in the Commonwealth Caribbean, Strategies for Preserving Integrity and Protecting Anti - Corruption Agencies from being Subverted or Discredited, Challenges of Fighting Corruption in Africa and Strategies for Overcoming the Menace form ed part of the sessions. At the end of the conference, a communiqué was issued by Heads of Anti - Corruption Agencies and their representatives, urging among other things their membership to develop strategies for strengthening the Association, negotiate pol itical space for its operation where necessary and to develop and implement meaningful and effective Communication Strategy for the Association.

1. 1 The 6th Annual General Meeting of Heads of Anti - Corruption Agencies in Commonwealth Africa Ends in Namibia . The 6th Annual General Meeting of Heads of Anti - Corruption Agencies in Commonwealth Africa has ended in the Port City of Swakopmund, Namibia with a renewed call for political space for Anti - Corruption Agencies to operate. The conference which was opened by the President of Namibia, His Excellency Hage Geingob on the theme “Partner Exchanges and Peer - to - peer E ngagement in the F ight against Corruption” attracted many anti - corruption practitioners, dignitaries of the Namibian Government, Civil Society and the Press. Presenting the Country Report , the Deputy Commissioner , Anti - Corruption Commission Sierra Leone, Shollay Davies, highlighted the key objec tives , which he said, according to the Commonwealth Secretariat, will be used to identify capacity needs and help the Secretariat to pair developing countries of the Commonwealth with the developed nations to help build their capacity in the fight against graft. The Deputy Commissioner highlight ed the number of country visits undertaken by the ACC to Commonwealth Anti - Corruption Agencies in the past and similar visits made by sister institutions to the ACC. Technical capacity needs of the Commission were al so presented including drafting of regulations in furtherance of Section 140 of the Anti - Corruption Act 2008 to help strengthen the Asset Declaration regime in Sierra Leone. A diagnostic benchmarking assessment exercise for Anti - Corruption Agencies to iden tify agencies ' strengths and gaps was also presented with Sierra Leone meeting most of the requirements on best practice.