Sierra Leone Telegraph: 21 June 2018:
President Julius Maada Bio has appointed a new head of the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), after revoking the contract of Mr. Ady Macauley as Commissioner with immediate effect.
Macauley was appointed to head the ACC by former president Ernest Bai Koroma in March 2016. Sources close to the newly elected president Bio told the Sierra Leone Telegraph, that “Macauley has been relieved of his duties, so as to make way for a new administration at the ACC”.
His successor is lawyer Francis Ben Kaifala, an experienced counsel and a social and political activist, whose campaign for human rights in Sierra Leone is very well known.
Francis Ben Kaifala, LL.M (Lond.), LLM (Cand – US), LL.B (Hons), B.L is a Senior partner in the Firm Kaifala, Kanneh & Co., which is located at the Top Floor of 81 Pademba Road, Freetown – a law firm he co-founded, which in a short time has captured a huge market and gained reputation for quality service and speedy delivery.
He is a household name at the Sierra Leone Bar and served as the Public Relations Officer and Spokesman of the Sierra Leone Bar Association in 2012-2013.
He is a bilingual Lawyer who writes and speaks French fluently in addition to the English Language. He has vast experience in Corporate/Commercial Litigation and practice in the Superior Courts of Judicature of Sierra Sierra Leone; and has appeared in Several High Profile Cases in the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court where he has left excellent records and performance. He is also very active at the Criminal Bar, having been involved in several high profile criminal cases.
Many who have witnessed his performance in court describe him as an “astute, Superb and brilliant Lawyer”.
He has written several legal, Finance and Economics articles and social Commentaries which have appeared in respected National and international tabloids, magazines and journals and websites, and has participated in various Legal Researches (including the World Bank’s Doing Business Report (A co-publication of the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation) and Women, Business and the Law (another World Bank Flagship Publication) and the anchor for various International Law Research bodies.
He has experience in dealing with general and specialty contracts and has received Continued Professional Development training in various areas of the Law including Arbitration, Mediation, Oil and Gas, International Human Rights Law, Advanced business transactions, investment, etc.
Francis is a product of the Sierra Leone Grammar School and his academic excellence began since school days where he took 1st Position in every class throughout Primary and Secondary Schools and passed the WASCCE Exams as the Top Arts Student of his generation (2002) with 5 A’s and 3 B’s to enter and study law straight after High School at the Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone.
He graduated from Fourah Bay College among the very top in his class and won the Attorney- General Eke Ahmed Holloway Award from the University of Sierra Leone in recognition of his outstanding performance in his Undergraduate studies in 2006.
He then went on to graduate at the Sierra Leone Law School in 2007 as the “Star Pupil” (Best Student) and Valedictorian and won several awards that year, including the Chief Justice Ade Renner-Thomas Prize for Best Student, The Prof. Alghali Prize for best All-rounder, the C.P Foray Prize for best student Equity and Trust, the Justice George Gelaga-King Prize for Best student in Construction of Legal Documents and Drafting, etc. and remains the last Star Pupil to do so with a Second Class Upper Degree since 2007 to date.
Francis Ben Kaifala Esq., after 7 years of continued legal practice with Wright & Co (Solicitors), proceeded to the United Kingdom, where he obtained a Master’s Degree in Law and Economics.
He holds the interdisciplinary LLM (Master of Laws) in Law and Economics jointly awarded by the School of Law and the School of Economics and Finance at Queen Mary, University of London, United Kingdom.
His Master’s thesis on Sovereign Debt Restructuring was graded “Distinction” for the Award. His areas of expertise covers Legal aspects of International Finance, International Economic Law, Private International Law, Regulation of Financial markets, Corporate Finance, Structured and Secured Finance, Banking Law, Central Banking and Regulation, International Financial Law, International Investment Law, International Trade Law, Climate Change and Energy, Term Loans and Syndicated Lending, Sovereign Finance and Public Debt Management, Sovereign Debt Restructuring, Project Finance, the Law of the World Trade Organization, International Financial Institutions (the IMF and World Bank), Arbitration and Mediation in International Trade and Investment Disputes (ICSID, UNCITRAL, etc.), Corporate Insolvency and Reorganization, Derivatives Contracts and Law, Competition and Anti-Trust Laws, Islamic Finance Law, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Political and Constitutional Economics, Economic Analysis of Law, Behavioural Economics and Critical Thinking and Writing for Lawyers.
Francis is a current recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship in 2017 by the US Embassy in Freetown and the US Department of State for Education. He is pursuing the LL.M (Master of Laws) in Comparative Constitutional Law, Administrative Law and International Human Rights at the University of Texas at Austin, in the United States of America as a Fulbright Scholar.
He is also a Human Rights Scholar (Fall) with the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Centre for Human Rights and Justice in Austin Texas.
Francis has won several Awards including Ecomedia Award for Excellence in Professional service 2018, Council of Chief Executive Officers and Business Executives’ Professional of the Year 2017, National Leadership Awards’ Emerging Leader of the Year 2017, Lawyer of the Year 2016, Young Lawyer of the Year 2015, Auradicals Awards 2011 and 2016 for Exemplary Service to Humanity.
He has earned various national recognitions including Ovation Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential Sierra Leoneans 2016, Institute of Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Development’s Top 50 Most Influential Young Sierra Leoneans 2017 , Salone Times Newspaper Top 10 Sierra Leoneans 2016, and has been nominated for the African Young Achievers Awards 2017.
On the International Scene, Francis Ben Kaifala was recently recruited by the United Nation’s Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) on the Young Africa Lawyers (YAL) Programme, as one of the Trained and Specialist Climate Change Negotiators who represent Africa in Global Climate change and related Negotiations.
Despite all of these achievements, which are a testament of Francis’ continued quest for excellence and dedication to hard work, Francis remains humble.
He conducts himself with absolute humility and utmost respect for all who meet him. He softens hearts and wins souls on his way, with his trademark smile and bushy, but well-kept dark hair.
Francis Ben Kaifala, who is a Renaissance Leader of the Renaissance Movement, has emerged as one of the Country’s very strong advocates for social justice and Human Rights and is very vocal on socio-political and legal reform.
In addition to his work as a corporate/commercial lawyer representing a huge local and global clientele, he has stood out as a vibrant defender of those whose human rights are challenged by the “powerful” in society. His fearless defense and astute legal tenacity has made him one of the most popular lawyers in Sierra Leone.
His success in criminal and civil matters in court are outstanding and is rated among the very top lawyers of Sierra Leone.
He is a devout Roman Catholic, plays squash well, loves good music, supports Manchester United and enjoys clean parties. Even though a workaholic, Francis says that he finds time to watch movies, spends time with friends and family, and engages in philanthropy in his community and beyond. Francis loves a good life but he neither smokes cigarette nor drinks alcohol.
Responding to his appointment on social media, this is what Francis Ben Kaifala said:
Thank to our president for the best choice in young people. This actually shows that, there’s a New Direction of great change and growth of leadership.