2024

ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION OF SIERRA LEONE

An independent institution established for the prevention, investigation, prosecution and punishment of corruption, corrupt practices and to provide for other related matters. 

Contact us on: +23278832131 or info@anticorruption.gov.sl
Address:  Integrity House, Tower Hill, Freetown Sierra Leone, West Africa.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF COMMISSIONER FRANCIS BEN KAIFALA.

ARTICLE

 By: Margaret Jones, Snr. Communications Officer, ACC

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) since its establishment in 2000 has employed women who have been playing critical roles in the fight against corruption. These women occupied strategic positions which enabled them to stand tall in their various lines of duties.

Over the last ten years, the women of the Commission have exhibited professionalism, dedication to duty and commitment in the execution of their various tasks as they are by nature well organized and meticulous.

In recognition of their hard work and dedication to duty, women have been empowered and made to take center stage in the fight under the leadership of Commissioner Francis Ben Kaifala Esq. The number of female staff recruited into the Commission increased from forty-two (42) in 2017 to sixty-eight (68) in 2018, when Commissioner Francis Ben Kaifala Esq. assumed office, with an increase of twenty-six (26).

Out of this number, he promoted twenty-two (22) female staff to various positions in 2021, with four (4) women in senior management positions as compared to three (3) who were occupying these positions up to 2017. Though there was a decrease in the number of women in the middle management level by three (3), with six (6) up to 2017 to three (3) in 2021, those promoted to the senior cadre level increased by six (6) rising from two (2) up to 2017 to eight (8) in 2021. More importantly, two (2) of the Commission’s Regional Offices have women as Managers-North East and Kono offices.

It is under the leadership of Commissioner Francis Ben Kaifala Esq. that such a massive promotion of female staff of the Commission has taken place. This is because he believes in the empowerment of dedicated and hard-working women and is poised in giving them equal opportunities enabling them to compete equally with their male counterparts. This has yielded good dividend as the women he has empowered are living up to the tasks. It is hoped that these good legacies of Commissioner Francis Ben Kaifala Esq. in just four (4) years in office will go a long way in breaking new grounds within the Commission, as the more hard-working and dedicated women attain higher positions, the more the Commission will become productive and result-oriented, as women are deemed to be game-changers wherever they find themselves.