Being compliant with the strategy on the prevention of corruption, the Parliament of Sierra Leone on Wednesday 14/12/2022 received an outstanding award from the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in a ceremony held at its headquarters, Cathedral House in Freetown.

The Certificate of Award was given to the Parliament of Sierra Leone in recognition of fully compliant with the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy spanning 2019 to 2023 (3rd and 4th Quarters of 2021 Monitoring). The certificate of award was as a result of the excellence performance of ACC’s Integrity Management Committee in Parliament constituted by Staff of Parliament. An internal mechanism to help in the prevention and fight against corruption under the supervision of ACC in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government.

In his statement, the ACC Commissioner, Francis Ben Kaifala said the fight against corruption should not be a fire brigade thing, but the stick and carrot approach were also useful in the fight against corruption. According to the Commissioner, the strategy was intending to put the MDAs on their guard to prevent the negative impacts of corruption. He reiterated that the award is a reward for those who have taken stringent measures to prevent corruption in their various institutions. “There is a reward for doing things that are right”, he stressed and went on to say that they appreciate the Members of Staff of those institutions that were being awarded for being fully compliant in the prevention and the fight against corruption in the country. The Parliament of Sierra Leone was among those MDAs who received the awards of recognition from the country’s anti-graft commission led by its youthful commissioner, Francis Ben Kaifala.

In spite of unsubstantiated claims of corruption against the Parliament of Sierra Leone over the years both internally and externally, the Parliament of Sierra Leone was not found culpable and this award again was a testament that corruption has no place in the Parliament of Sierra Leone. In the last and current Parliament assembled, following unproven claims of corruption, the Parliament of Sierra Leone had been investigated twice by the country’s anti-graft commission and both reports made public by the country’s anti-corruption commission did not find Parliament guilty of those wild and unsubstantiated allegations of corruption.

The Deputy Clerk of Parliament, Mr. Mohamed Lebbie and the Focal Person of the Integrity Management Committee (IMC) and Principal Clerk of Committees in the Parliament of Sierra Leone, Augustine Sesay received the Certificate of Award on behalf of the Parliament of Sierra Leone.