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Reading: Sierra Leone’s Francis Ben Kaifala named among “100 Most Influential Leaders in Africa”
Reading: Sierra Leone’s Francis Ben Kaifala named among “100 Most Influential Leaders in Africa”

Sierra Leone’s Francis Ben Kaifala named among “100 Most Influential Leaders in Africa”

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Sallu Kamuskay
By Sallu Kamuskay 297 Views 7 Min Read
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Francis Ben Kaifala
Francis Ben Kaifala

Head of the Anti-Corruption in Sierra Leone, Francis Ben Kaifala has been named among “100 Most Influential Leaders in Africa”

Taking to his Twitter after the recognition, he said, Quite honour to be named among “100 Most Influential Leaders in Africa”.

 

 

The Pan African Youth Leadership Foundation in partnership with Luminous Hills Investment Limited will host the Fifth Edition of the 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL LEADERS IN AFRICA on the 14th of April 2023.
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The company is driven by its mantra: Seamless Investments, through its commitment to providing solutions to the housing deficit problems faced by Nigerians, empowering Nigerian youths through human capital development.
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As a corporate firm, Luminous Hills Investment Limited is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria.

Francis Ben Kaifala is the current Commissioner (Head) of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) of the Republic of Sierra Leone. He is the President of the Network of Anti-Corruption Institutions in West Africa (NACIWA) and an elected Board Member of the African Union Advisory Board on Corruption (AUABC). He lectures part-time Commercial Law at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone.

The young Commissioner came into office in June, 2018 with a solid academic and professional background as a lawyer, and promised a robust fight against corruption. True to his promise, immediate steps were taken aimed at fulfilling the above promise and the results have been remarkable and exceptional. At the time he took over, Sierra Leone was performing very badly in all global indexes on corruption. For instance, Sierra Leone was in a failing position of 49% in the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Control of Corruption Scorecard. Under his leadership, the country moved to a respectable pass of 71% in 2018, a further 79% in 2019, 81% in 2020 and an excellent 83% in 2021. This has made Sierra Leone pass that Scorecard four years back-to-back for the first time in its history and has been selected for the Multi-Million Dollar US Government’s Compact award. Today, Sierra Leone is one of the top ten performers in the Lower Income countries – a sign of commitment to controlling corruption over a period of four years since he became commissioner.

Moreover, Sierra Leone has registered its highest ever scores since the establishment of the Transparency International Corruption Perception Survey – Sierra Leone scored thirty-four (34) – compared to the country’s stagnant score of thirty (30) points in the preceding three years to his appointment (2016, 2017, and 2018); and jumped 15 places upward from 130 in 2017 to 129 in 2018, 119 in 2019, 117 in 2020, and now ranks 115 in 2022 in the TI’s Global Country Rankings. The country’s latest scores in the last two years eclipsed the average scores for sub-Saharan Africa for two years in a row for the first time ever.

Similarly, according to the Afro Barometer survey 2020, corruption prevalence in Sierra Leone has reduced from 70% in 2015 to 40% in 2020.

Commissioner Francis Ben Kaifala has introduced far-reaching reforms in ensuring accountability in public life. The new reforms he promulgated and spearheaded are believed to be among the strongest anti-corruption legislative reforms in Africa.

Under the Non-Conviction Based Asset Recovery, the Anti-Corruption Commission has recovered over Le35,000,000,000.00 (Thirty-Five Billion Leones) in than 3 years – which represents more than twice all recoveries ever made by the ACC in its 18 years prior existence combined before his ascendency into office. He has also introduced the Special Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court, with state-of-the-art paraphernalia and resources to exclusively try corruption cases which has resulted in a very high rate of convictions for corruption. He also introduced the Fourth Generational National Anti-Corruption Strategy which is rated “very strong” and is believed to have the right blueprint for effective corruption control in Sierra Leone.

Francis Ben Kaifala’s model for the fight against corruption, his fearlessness, tenacity and bold approaches have helped position the country on the firm path to consistently and sustainably control corruption; and sets a new trajectory for accountability, effective service delivery, democratic good governance and transformative development. This exceptional leadership and results have brought him multiple local and international awards or recognition including being honored by the Department of State of the United State of America as one of 12 “International Anti-corruption Champions” in February, 2021. He was also named in 2021 as one of “100 Most Influential People of African Descent” by the UN/MIPAD Initiative among dozens of others.

Francis Ben Kaifala holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone and was called to the Sierra Leone Bar in 2007 having passed the Sierra Leone Law School Bar Examinations as the “Star Pupil”. Francis holds the LLM in Law and Economics from Queen Mary University of London. He is also alumnus of the prestigious Fulbright Program and graduated with the LLM in Comparative Constitutional Law and International Human Rights at the University of Texas at Austin in the US. He was Human Rights Scholar at the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Centre for Human Rights and Justice in Austin, Texas and an Obama Fellow

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Sallu Kamuskay is a Sierra Leonean communication strategist, fixer, blogger, youth organiser, event manager, spokesperson, and public relations expert. His work has been regularly referenced and published by national and international media and public policy institutions. Sallu Kamuskay was a child during the brutal war in Sierra Leone. Growing up in the midst of conflict, Sallu witnessed unimaginable abuse of children and gross violations of human rights. The horrors he witnessed during the Civil War had a terrible impact on him at a very tender age. But despite the shock of the war, Sallu never lost hope. He started on a journey of recovery, studying, and working for a better future. At age 15, Sallu entered into the world of activism and advocacy. Sallu Kamuskay was the Vice President of the Young Leaders Organisation, a member of the National Youth Council. The Young Leaders is one of the oldest youth-led organisations in West Africa. The organisation was formed by a group of young leaders, and launched by the then Head of State/President of Sierra Leone. Sallu was part of the group of young leaders who participated in and contributed to the establishment of the National Youth Council. The Commonwealth supported the training for trainers programme with line ministries and youth stakeholders in which key, representatives of youth council, student union and civil society/private sector youth platforms were engaged and empowered in the effective engagement and inclusion of youth. Sallu is co-founder and Executive Director of the Salone Messenger, a global multimedia and public relations firm based In Sierra Leone. Sallu has worked on various developmental and policy issues such as Poverty, Climate Change, Human rights, Child Rights, Education, Health, Gender Equality, Civic Engagement, Government policies, Information Communication Technology for Development and the Sustainable Development Goals, and has also been contributing to various global events and advocacy campaigns. Sallu Kamuskay is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Salone Messenger, a global Multimedia and Public Relations Firm based in Sierra Leone with the latest news and information, on top stories, business, politics, entertainment, and more. Sallu is working with a leading technology company in Africa, Techfrica, that has recently developed and launched a social media, messaging Supfrica with over 150,000 downloads on the Google play store in less than 4 days. He is the Adviser and Media coordinator for the App to give people the platform to connect and communicate to help shape their future with a very fast internet that allows users that live in deprived and hard-to-reach areas with poor internet facility to be able to communicate as it allows and stronger on 2 and 3 G network reception. Sallu has over 9 years of experience in youth engagement, inclusion, and coordination both at local and global levels, giving voice to young people and engaging young people to build a better world. He has served as coordinator for the Wave Alliance which brought together youth-led organisations who attended an international training in South Africa organized by the International Organization – Waves for Change. Sallu is working with the MLT, Waves For Change, and the Government to develop safe spaces for young people, with a view to contributing to the overall development goals of young people including health, as well as to community rebuilding. Sallu is currently the Programme Director for the Wave Alliance, which is a coalition of youth-led and community-based organisations that have successfully introduced evidence-based Surf Therapy programs to young people in communities, with a focus on mental health, peace building and sustainable development. Sallu is currently the focal point and face of Africa’s Faces Social media platform which is a global Social media platform that brings together people from across the world to share their moments, connect, share videos, and interact with friends giving more preference to excluded continents like Africa. Sallu Kamuskay has devoted his time to working for or contributing to a number of national and international organizations and companies, including the Techfrica Technology Company, United Nations, ECOWAS, European Union, Commonwealth Africa Initiatives. This work has led him to travel to a number of countries to contribute to global youth platforms. Sallu is the lead Coordinator for Peace Tour programme, an initiative supported by the European Union, Africa Union, ECOWAS focusing on uniting and empowering young people and local communities. Over the years, Sallu Kamuskay has been using his Techno phone to be able to tell stories, the phone he used to tell the story of Gbessay during Ebola who was admitted at one of the Ebola treatment centers after rumors that she had Ebola when the actual sickness was ulcer, she was almost abandoned at the treatment canter with no medication provided to her. She could have died. Sallu told the story via social media and was able to secure funding from the United Sierra Leone to buy her medication and advocated for her. She was later discharged and taken home, He did the same to a patient that died and was abandoned in the street, Sallu Kamuskay used his phone and shared the message across, the corps was later taken and buried. It could have been more disaster without his voice. The story of late America Stress 3-year-old daughter. The hero’s daughter was abandon after his father's death. He shared her sad story and was able to get a sister who has taken the child as her own and is currently providing her with educational support. The article of America Stress can be read on the link below http://ayvnewspaper.com/index.php/k2-categories/item/7350-america-stress-a-hero-to-recognize. Sallu Kamuskay feels the stories of Gbessay, America stress and that of many others need to be told. The media house we have cannot better tell these stories, they are better reporters than telling human interest stories. He created the Salone Messenger platform and brought together passionate storytellers to be able to tell these compelling stories.