Paynesville – The fight against corruption in West Africa may be entering a new phase of cross-border cooperation, as the head of Sierra Leone’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Francis Ben Kaifala, has called for deeper collaboration with Liberia’s Asset Recovery and Property Retrieval Taskforce (AREPT), emphasizing that asset recovery remains central to anti-graft efforts.
Kaifala made the remarks during a courtesy visit to AREPT’s offices in Monrovia, where he underscored the need for regional coordination, political will, and shared expertise in tackling corruption and recovering stolen public assets.
“I am here principally for us to work on how we can rekindle our cooperation in the fight against corruption,” Kaifala said. “How we can support each other in the fight against corruption, and benefit from the expertise that we have collectively.”
He stressed that institutions like AREPT, though relatively young compared to Sierra Leone’s ACC, could become “significant partners” in the regional anti-corruption architecture if properly supported and strengthened.
“Asset recovery is the act in the fight against corruption; there is no point in fighting corruption without recovering the assets,” Kaifala noted, adding that West African countries must align their efforts within existing anti-corruption frameworks to improve recovery outcomes.
He further revealed plans for a formalized partnership between the two institutions, including a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at expanding cooperation beyond national borders.
“We are going to work on an MoU with his institution where we make things a little bit borderless,” he said. “We will also invite them to our trainings because capacity building is very key for people who work in such capacity.”
Responding, AREPT Chairperson, Cllr. Edwin Kla Martin described Kaifala’s visit as the beginning of a strengthened regional alliance against corruption and illicit asset flows.
“I think this is the commencement of our collaboration,” Cllr. Martin said. “His presence here further gives us the boost to see if we can reinvent the wheel in jointly combating corruption in the West African basin.”
He emphasized that joint action among anti-corruption bodies in the sub-region is critical to ensuring that stolen assets are tracked, recovered, and returned to their rightful owners, the citizens.
“We hope we can work jointly with him and his institution,” Martin added. “By and large, we can work with the anti-corruption bodies in West Africa to make sure that Liberia regains its position in ensuring that all stolen assets we have in West Africa, and those transferred outside Africa, we can amalgamate forces to retrieve them and give them back to our people and government.”
Activists say the engagement signals a growing push for regional cooperation in asset recovery and anti-corruption enforcement, as West African institutions increasingly recognize the transnational nature of illicit financial flows.
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