By Ishmael Dumbuya
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), in compliance with Section 19(1) of the Anti-Corruption Act of 2008 as amended in 2019, on 18th October, 2022, presented its 2021 Annual Report to President Julius Maada Bio at State House, Freetown.
According to the presser, the ACC Commissioner, Francis Ben-Kaifala Esq., thanked the President for his steadfastness and unflinching commitment to the fight against corruption. “Your Excellency, we continue to do our work for the people of Sierra Leone, irrespective of the daunting nature of the task,” the Commissioner said.
Responding, the President said his Government would continue to give the fight
against corruption the seriousness and attention that it deserves.
President Bio also noted that, the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating of Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Act (No 3) of 2019, which he signed into law, was to give the ACC jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute money laundering and financing of terrorism related offences thereby, extending the prosecutorial mandate of the Commission.
He thanked the ACC Commissioner and his team for their dedication, fortitude and outstanding success in the fight against corruption.
The Annual Report covers the work and activities of the Commission in 2021, in the areas of; public education, prevention, assets declaration, national strategy implementation, grievance redress mechanism, intelligence, investigation and prosecution, administration and finance.
According to the release, the Commission made huge corruption prevention interventions by conducting a number of systems and processes reviews of public institutions, monitored the recommendations emanating from those reviews to ensure compliance and developed policies to guide the conducts of public officials, making public institutions stronger and better resistant to corruption.
The Commission also conducted massive public education and outreach activities across the country. It was a year the country increased its percentage score to 83% in the ‘Control of Corruption’ indicator in the Millennium Challenge Corporation scorecard and ranked 115 out of 180 countries surveyed in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (TI-CPI).
