By Alex A. Bah, Public Relations Officer, ACC
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has drawn a clear line on its role in Sierra Leone’s examination crisis, insisting that the fight against examination malpractice cannot be outsourced to the anti-graft body while institutions legally responsible for the conduct and integrity of public examinations stand aside.
ACC Commissioner Francis Ben Kaifala made the declaration on Wednesday, 26 August 2026, at the Government’s Special Civic Town Hall anchored on addressing the threats to quality education in Sierra Leone, held at the Miatta Civic Centre in Freetown.
Speaking as one of the keynote speakers, Commissioner Kaifala said the ACC has signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with almost all sectors within education and has consistently provided support to strengthen integrity across the sector. But he cautioned against creating the impression that the Commission is responsible for invigilating public examinations. “We are not examination invigilators. It is not our responsibility to invigilate public exams.”
The Commissioner explained that the ACC’s unusually forceful intervention in examinations was born out of necessity, following repeated warnings that the scale of malpractice had become a threat to the country’s future. “We basically militarized the process because at the time nobody was willing to listen to us."
He said the Commission had recognised early that examination malpractice was no longer simply a matter of individual students cheating, but a growing threat capable of undermining the entire education system if decisive action was not taken. That intervention, he noted, was necessary at the time because the seriousness of the situation demanded an immediate response.
However, Commissioner Kaifala said the ACC has since deliberately recalibrated its approach, particularly following the Cotton Tree incident, choosing to allow institutions with specific mandates to take ownership of their responsibilities while the Commission provides support and intervenes where its statutory mandate is triggered. “After the Cotton Tree incident, we have taken a back seat. Not that we are not involved, but we prefer the mandated institutions, including CSOs, to refer to us for any intervention.”
He stressed that stepping back does not mean stepping away. “Sometimes we also go ahead and check what is going on, as that is our role. But to say we have to take charge of exams, no. That is not our role. We only provide support.”, he emphasized
The Commissioner also rejected the suggestion that dissatisfaction with teachers’ wages could, by itself, explain the erosion of examination integrity. While acknowledging that teachers have faced remuneration challenges both in the past and present, he argued that such difficulties did not historically translate into compromising the credibility of the examination system.
He consequently urged stakeholders to look beyond remuneration and examine deeper structural weaknesses, including recruitment and professional standards, particularly concerns about admitting persons of questionable character into a profession entrusted with educating and shaping the nation’s children.
Commissioner Kaifala’s intervention ultimately placed the examination crisis where he believes it belongs as a national institutional responsibility, not an ACC responsibility.
The ACC, he made clear, will continue to investigate, prevent corruption and support integrity efforts within its mandate. But the credibility of Sierra Leone’s examinations he averred, cannot depend on the presence of the anti-corruption body in every examination hall, but the institutions entrusted with examinations must own the responsibility of protecting them.
