Francis Ben Kaifala
Sierra Leone
Occupational Information
Job Title: The Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission of Sierra Leone
Professional History
Francis Ben Kaifala is the head of the Anti-Corruption Commission of Sierra Leone, working within the government of the country, a position he has held since July 2018. In this role, he is responsible for leading the national campaign against corruption, which has four main areas: prevention, investigation, prosecution, and public education. Francis works with a team of about 500 staff country-wide to combat corruption. He manages the Commission and its areas of focus. He also manages, oversees, directs and supervises investigations of instances of corruption. Francis examines the practices and processes of government ministries, departments and agencies, and provides preventive codes and practices. He also helps people and authorities on ways to reduce or eliminate corrupt practices. He also has a public-facing role as far as educating the public on the evils of corruption to foster public support in combating corruption. Once a year, Francis reports to the President, Parliament and the people on how the fight against corruption is faring.
Since he took the position, Francis has introduced far-reaching reforms aimed at providing greater accountability to the public that he says are among the most significant and far reaching anti-corruption legislative reforms ever in Africa. Aside from the impact in public service in the country, the measures have improved Sierra Leone's standing with Global Development Indexes. When Francis took the role in 2018, Sierra Leone was in a failing position of 49% in the Millennium Challenge Corruption Scorecard; in 2021, it scored at 83%.
Prior to this role, Francis was a lecturer in the Department of Law at the University of Sierra Leone and a Senior Managing Partner at Kaifala, Kanneh and Co, in Freetown and has served as a lawyer at other firms. He has also served as a Board Member to the African Union Advisory Board on Corruption, and as the President of the Network of Anti-Corruption Institutions in West Africa.
Francis was an Obama Africa Leaders Fellow in the Programme on Global Leadership and Values; a Fulbright Scholar, provided by the Embassy of the United States, and a Human Rights Scholar at the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights in Texas. He is currently a PhD in Law student via Distant Learning with the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom.
Francis has won several Awards including US State Departments’ International Anti-Corruption Champion, 50 Influential Young Global Leaders by the Global Initiative for Good Leadership, Obama Africa Leader 2019 by the Obama Foundation, West Africa’s Young person of the Year 2019 by Confederation of West African Youths; Sierra Leone’s Public Servant of the Year 2019 by the AWOL (National Achievement Awards).
Qualifications
Bachelor of Laws with Honors at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone
Master of Laws in Law & Economics at Queen Mary University of London
Sierra Leone Law (Bar) School (Sierra Leone) - Utter Barrister (Bar Final Examinations Certificate)
LL.M (Master of Laws) in Comparative Constitutional Law, Administrative Law and International Human Rights Law at The University of Texas at Austin (Fulbright Scholar)
Programs
2022 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow
