By: Alex A. Bah, Public Relations Assistant, ACC
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has on Tuesday, 29th April 2025, hosted representatives from the Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL) who are working with the Ministry of Communication, Technology and Innovation (MoCTI), as part of a national stakeholder engagement on Sierra Leone’s National Data Strategy.
The engagement, which was held at the Commission’s Integrity House, Tower Hill, Freetown, forms part of a broader government effort to develop a harmonized and inclusive data governance framework aimed at improving public service delivery, transparency, and accountability.
Welcoming the delegation, the Deputy Commissioner of the ACC, Augustine Foday Ngobie, provided a comprehensive overview of the Commission’s work, its mandate, and the rationale behind its formation. He assured the delegation of the Commission's full support in providing relevant data and insights to inform the National Data Strategy.
Highlighting the Commission's data-driven approach, Mr. Ngobie explained that the ACC’s Prevention Department conducts corruption risk assessments to determine areas that require heightened anti-corruption efforts.
He noted that reports from the Commission’s Report Center also help identify patterns and focal points of public grievances. “We use such data to inform us which areas we should focus on to minimize corruption,” he emphasized.
Coordinator of Operations, ACC, Patrick Sandi, reaffirmed the Commission’s commitment to its broad mandate under Section 7 of the Anti-Corruption Act of 2008 as amended in 2019. He said that the Commission and its leadership often adopt strategic approaches beyond the confines of the Act to effectively combat corruption in all its forms.
Speaking on behalf of DIAL, Talla Ndiaye, Senior Manager and Technical Lead, said that data plays a vital role in enhancing institutional performance. He highlighted DIAL’s goal of engaging key stakeholders in the data ecosystem to formulate legal and technical policies that are responsive and inclusive.
Mr. Ndiaye inquired into the ACC’s data-sharing mechanisms with other state institutions and the analytical tools employed to process such data, questions that were duly addressed by the ACC Management during the session.
Diana Sang, Africa Director at DIAL, emphasized the purpose of the engagement, noting that institutions like the ACC which collect, use, and manage vast amounts of information are pivotal to the success of the National Data Strategy. “We all experience data in different ways as we interact with data differently. There is also a legal aspect in data sharing, and all will form part of our engagement,” she said.
Ms. Sang added that the process will culminate in a validation exercise to ensure that the strategy reflects stakeholder inputs and national realities.
The engagement also featured presentations by ACC’s Director of Asset Declaration, Edita Fofana, who took the team through the Commission’s data-driven assets declaration process. The Commission’s Deputy Director of Corruption Prevention, Samuel Muti Marah, also elaborated on his department’s mandate and data application practices.
This stakeholder interview is part of a series of targeted discussions MoCTI is conducting in collaboration with DIAL, with over 100 stakeholders, including government agencies, civil society organisations, academic institutions, and the private sector. The goal is to gather insights to shape a robust and inclusive National Data Strategy for Sierra Leone.
