By: Alex A. Bah, Public Relations Assistant, ACC
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for joint collaboration with EST Applied Intelligence, which is a private registered company that offers consultancy services on cybersecurity. This signing took place at the Conference Room of the ACC’s Integrity House, Tower Hill, Freetown, on Tuesday 26th September, 2023.
Making his statement at the signing, the Deputy Commissioner Augustine Foday Ngobie expressed his delight for this partnership, noting the importance of advancing knowledge and skills in advanced technology on cybersecurity in the effective performance of the critical work of the ACC. He said it is against this backdrop that the Commission has resolved to forge this partnership.
“The knowledge we are going to acquire from them will help us particularly in the field of Investigation, Audit, Asset Identification and Information Technology. We had observed that the corrupt people that we are chasing are using new techniques and it behooves us to equally capacitate ourselves with modern techniques,” the Deputy Commissioner said. He therefore encouraged staff to learn and acquire these skills in order to strengthen the Commission for improved output.
Executive Director and Lead Consultant of the EST Applied Intelligence, Lawrence McEwen, in his statement, registered his pleasure to collaborate with the ACC. He stated the need for private and public sector institutions to embrace cybersecurity as the befitting 'forward thinking approach', adding the ACC is one 'forward-thinking institution' that is poised to upgrade its capability by forging this partnership.
Mr. McEwen said, in this digital age, we are left with no alternative than to employ robust digital and cybersecurity systems into our work. He emphasized the need for cybersecurity, disclosing that across the world in both the private and public sectors there are daily breaches that are primarily as a result of lack of strategic insight and foresight. “The partnership is to ensure with the dynamic leadership we build a strategic and robust cybersecurity capability to enhance your existing capability,” he noted.
Earlier, Director of the Public Education and External Outreach Department, Patrick Sandi, in his statement as a chairman of the event, welcomed the partnership, noting that the ACC has been doing tremendously well, but equally poised to build on that trajectory. He said this requires forging partnership with institutions and formalizing strategic ones after thorough validations and consultations.
The citation of the MoU by Information Officer, ACC, Amie Massaquoi and the signing of the document by the Deputy Commissioner of the ACC and the Lead Consultant of EST Applied Intelligence climaxed the event.
