October 20, 2021
BY MOHAMED M. SESAY
The just published Anti-Corruption Commission Annual Report of 2020 has revealed that the Commission collected 25,913 Asset Declaration Forms in 2020 as compared to 17,212 forms collected from public officials in 2019 which represents a 48% increase in the declaration exercise.
“The year 2020 witnessed remarkable transformation in the asset declaration regime. With the amendment of the Anti-Corruption Act, No 12 of 2008, the pool of declarants has been adjusted to Grade 7 upwards with a mandatory declaration of Incomes, assets and liabilities of public officers within three months on assuming office and three months upon leaving office”, the report states.
The 2020 Report further justifies that the Anti-Corruption Commission has maintained a steady cumulative progress in the fight against corruption over the years.
Taking the center stage in the socio-economic transformation of Sierra
Leone in tandem with the New Direction Agenda of His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio, the report also states that the year 2020 was a year the Commission performed even better in both international and local rankings, and toppled the 2019 report.
It adds that the 2020 success made by the commission has contributed to Sierra Leone becoming compact eligible with an 81% score in the MCC control of Corruption Score Card.
The Report continues that the Commission’s collective effort now ranks the country at 117 in the Corruption Perception Index in the Transparency International survey. It also reiterates that the year under review equally saw an increase in the non-conviction-based asset recoveries; prevention, investigations and public education drive; all of which have led to favorable public perception in the fight against corruption with more than 90% approval of the commission’s work in the Public Financial Management Consortium survey report released April, 2020.
The Report also reminds that the introduction of the Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court has made prosecution to be speedier; which has earned the Commission high Conviction rates.
In 2020, the report states that the Prosecution Department witnessed the consolidation of the “fast track” system introduced in 2019 in order to expedite the completion of trials in corruption cases filed in the Anti-Corruption Division Registry. “It is noteworthy that the Judiciary has been very cooperative in ensuring that criminal trials brought by the ACC are expeditiously tried and concluded”.
Within the context of very steep obstacles and unavoidable drawbacks in the year that Covid-19 brought the World to a standstill, the Annual Report further explains that the Commission nonetheless achieved considerable success and attained increased milestones and hopes.
The year under review with continued unflinching support from His Excellency President Brig. (Rtd.) Dr. Julius Maada Bio, public servants in MDAs, the dedicated and resilient team at the ACC, the international and local partners and the enduring support of the people of Sierra Leone, the Commission assures that there is hope to build on the considerable progress made so far in 2021.