ACC Publicity Office: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 6 February 2021:
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is pleased to inform the general public that, the African Union (AU) Executive Council has, on 4th February, 2021, elected the Head of the Anti-Corruption Commission of Sierra Leone, Commissioner, Francis Ben Kaifala Esq., to the African Union Advisory Board on Corruption, following his nomination by the Government of His Excellency, President Brig. (Rtd.) Dr. Julius Maada Bio.
The ACC Commissioner led all the rounds of voting, including the fourth and final rounds, where he emerged as the sole candidate for the two-thirds statutory majority vote of 47 (full unanimity).
While responding to his election, Commissioner Kaifala expressed thanks and appreciation to the Government and people of Sierra Leone, especially President Bio, for the confidence reposed in him by nominating and supporting his candidacy.
He also singled out the Minister, Hon. Nabeela Tunis and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Sierra Leone’s Ambassador to Ethiopia, H.E Adekunle J.M King, and his Addis Ababa team for the support given to him during the campaign and electioneering process considering the short period of notice Sierra Leone received. “We know our robust measures in combating corruption in Sierra Leone is making us a model for the fight against corruption in Africa, so I believe this election is a testament to this,” the Commissioner stated.
The mandate of the Advisory Board “is to promote and encourage the adoption of measures and actions by State Parties to prevent, detect, punish and eradicate corruption and related offences in Africa as well as to follow-up on the application of those measures and submit a Report to the Executive Council on a regular basis on the progress made by each State Party in complying with the provisions of the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption”.
Francis Ben Kaifala (Photo) will continue to serve as Commissioner of the ACC, while serving in the African Union Advisory Board on Corruption with its Headquarters in Tanzania.
The Commission wishes to reassure the general public of its determination to ensure that the fight against corruption continues to launder the image of the country and to ensure sincere accountability at all times, in a bid to make Sierra Leone an enviable reference point for the campaign in Africa and the World.
The reality is, the international community which also includes the foreign diplomats residing in Sierra Leone are currently acting as the referees for the activities of the past destructive APC party 11 years misrule and the less than 3 years of the current New Direction government , and they tend to ignore all the noises caused by the both parties members and supporters. Based on the fact that they are back in our country supporting the government financially and morally due to their statements and activities proves that our credibility is at an all time high.
They are not only trusting the words but also the actions of President Bio which is a testament to the approval of the (all the first Sierra Leonean to become) current Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament Honorable Sidi Tunis, Chairman of Bank Governors of ECOWAS Finance Minister Mr. Jacob Jusu Saffa, Judge to the ICC Justice Miatta Samba, nominated as member of FIFA highest board Mrs Isha Johansen,, and now Mr, Francis Ben Kaifala to AU Board on corruption. Personally, it feels WONDERFUL to be a proud and respected Sierra Leonean. May the Almighty continue to bless and protect President Bio because the Krio always states that “Respect pass Belllfull”.
I congratulate my fellow Sierra Leonean brother Mr. Ben Francis Kaifala, this is what we are looking for, and we are proud of you. Good job brother. You will one day become president of Sierra Leone.
This right here amplifies the countless reasons why the African Union should be disbanded without any further dragging of feet, dilly-dallying and delay. I mean seriously, it is crystal clear that the African Union is on a different page with millions of our suffering people; they have been consistently racking up humiliations, failures and defeats, one after another like the wagons of a train being towed and pulled along by a steam engine – they failed miserably in their quest to keep Burundi, Guinea, Uganda and the Ivory Coast as legitimate democratic nations subservient to the will of our poor people and now they are out there again, as clueless as kids with runny noses appointing incompetent corrupt individuals to their advisory board on corruption? Geez! You can’t be serious!(lol)
But Stargazer I am serious, a bale of crooked turtles, that move along crookedly cannot hatch their own kind that crawl in direct and straight lines – the African Union is also corrupt to the bone; Its leaders have been accused of taking bribes behind the scenes and running the organization like a Mafia style cartel – no wonder Mr President was able to pull some strings and get the unscrupulous Ben Kaifala elected to the African Union advisory board on corruption. Answer – how does someone lacking in a good sense of judgement and the ability to remain impartial, logical, empathetic to the feelings of others be elected as an adviser to anyone, or anything? Hey! Because a ruthless hyena has been known to laugh hysterically does not qualify it to be considered as a loving domestic pet.(lol)
The African Union – what were they thinking? They have no credibility whatsoever, and have now totally become the antithesis of what genuine sustainable progress should look like. Goodness gracious! The African story is truly a sad one – for lack of wisdom they have been stupidly appointing wolves to tender to the needs of harmless, fragile vulnerable sheep, awaiting sudden obliteration in the darkness of night.(lol)
Congratulations to Mr Francis Ben Kelfala, for his appointment on his new role in the African Union anti corruption advisory board. Your work is cut out. Because much as we like to say it, corruption has always been the main cause of underdevelopment on our mineral rich continent by a subset of scrupulous politicians that have no interest to use our God given natural resources to lift our people out of poverty. Sani Abacha, Mobutu, Idi Amin Dadah, Emperor Jean-Bedel Bokassa, Seku Turay, Stevens, Doe, Charles Taylor, Paul Biya, Museveni, just to name. Right now in Sierra Leone, the Anti Corruption vehicle has almost ground to a halt, because some politicians in Bio’s government have places a police stinger on the Anti Corruption drive. What a way to divert your attention.
You are in the middle of a fight, and you are picking another one. Ben Kelfala must be a super hero. The ACC anti corruption vehicle is now running on flat tyres. The fact remains that of 180 countries in the world on the recently released report of Transparency International corruption perception index 2020, out of the 54 African countries, only a handful performed well in the survey. Rwanda position 49 and Cape Verde 41 and the Seychelles 27. Sierra leone is tagging at position 117, which to some experts is an improvement. To me, given all the resources in our disposal, with a population that you can fit into few football stadiums, we should be ashamed to be in such diabolical position. Hopefully, we will see the two sides of Ben Kelfala, when he takes up his role with the AU.
Whether his nomination by Bio is a tactical move, to forestall any future investigations on him by the ACC, remains to be seen. Because Ben Kelfafa will always think he owes Bio a favour. So Bio will never be investigated when he leaves office. Bio is a crafty and calculating individual. He sees things before everyone else see things. The removal of Strasser was a case in point. At least Ben Kelfala will still do his job at the ACC with strings attached, at the same time giving the AU advice with no strings attached. Now we can look at him from two different perspectives.