June 21, 2018
By Mohamed Massaquoi
Meet the new ACC Commissioner, Francis Ben Kaifala
Freetown based lawyer, Francis Ben Kaifala, was yesterday appointed Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission, according to a press release from the Office of the President at State House in Freetown.
The youngest commissioner since the establishment of the ACC in 2004, Kaifala replaces Ady Macauley, whose appointment was yesterday ‘revoked’, according to a leaked letter revealed to this medium.
The reason for the revocation of Mr. Macauley’s tenure as ACC boss by the new administration is yet unknown, but the leaked letter disclosed that he should vacate his office with immediate effect.
Macauley was sent on a ‘special leave’ just last week.
He was appointed by former President Ernest Koroma in March 2016 to head the country’s anti-graft agency and spearhead the fight to eradicate endemic corruption.
However, since he assumed office barely two years ago, the anti-graft czar paid more attention to chasing those involved in petty corruption instead of going after the ‘big fish’.
Public opinion of his style of fighting corruption is less than impressive, with many saying that like his immediate predecessor and mentor, Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara, he didn’t do enough to fight graft.
The Anti-Corruption Act of 2008 stipulates that the commissioner may be removed for ‘inability to perform the functions of his office, whether arising from infirmity of the body or mind or for stated misconduct.’
His immediate predecessor, Joseph Kamara, did not complete his second term, albeit he was appointed Attorney-General and Minister of Justice by the erstwhile president.