Francis Ben Kaifala
Francis Ben Kaifala is the Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission of the Republic of Sierra Leone. He is also the immediate past 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.
As Head of the Anti-Corruption Commission of Sierra Leone, his result-oriented leadership has favorably led that institution to remarkable successes in the fight against corruption with record improvements in all global and local indexes, surveys and reports.
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’s Bar Examinations as the "Star Pupil". Francis holds the LL.M in Law and Economics from Queen Mary University of London. He is also alumnus of the prestigious Fulbright Program and graduated with the LL.M in Comparative Constitutional Law and International Human Rights at the University of Texas at Austin. He was Human Rights Scholar at the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Centre for Human Rights and Justice in Texas. He is Obama Africa Leadership Fellow 2019 and Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellow 2022.
His exceptional leadership and results have brought him multiple local and international awards including being honored by the Department of State of the United States of America as one of 12 Global “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. He was recently awarded Alumnus of the Year by the Center for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary University of London.
Phone: +23279606399
Address: Freetown, Sierra Leone
As Head of the Anti-Corruption Commission of Sierra Leone, his result-oriented leadership has favorably led that institution to remarkable successes in the fight against corruption with record improvements in all global and local indexes, surveys and reports.
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’s Bar Examinations as the "Star Pupil". Francis holds the LL.M in Law and Economics from Queen Mary University of London. He is also alumnus of the prestigious Fulbright Program and graduated with the LL.M in Comparative Constitutional Law and International Human Rights at the University of Texas at Austin. He was Human Rights Scholar at the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Centre for Human Rights and Justice in Texas. He is Obama Africa Leadership Fellow 2019 and Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellow 2022.
His exceptional leadership and results have brought him multiple local and international awards including being honored by the Department of State of the United States of America as one of 12 Global “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. He was recently awarded Alumnus of the Year by the Center for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary University of London.
Phone: +23279606399
Address: Freetown, Sierra Leone
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Papers by Francis Ben Kaifala
BY: FRANCIS BEN KAIFALA
ABSTRACT
This paper challenges the notion that the main reason for Africa’s under-development is failure of political leadership. It argues that historically, good individual leaders emerged and put in conscientious efforts to develop and transform their countries but their good efforts were often betrayed by either an unsupportive people and/or the unavailability of resources to achieve their vision and mission. Leadership provides the pathway; but the people must provide leadership support to achieve progress and development - all of which have to be underlain by the availability of resources.
The paper draws insights from Psychology and Behavioral Economics researches and further argues that a key challenge to leadership are numerous behavioral problems among the people which inhibit leadership success and often undermine even genuine socio-political agendas; key among them is Societal cynicism which discounts even the best efforts of others (mostly social or political leaders) and has stunted Africa’s growth because of its mass prevalence. It argues that the only way Africa can succeed is that a critical mass of its people has to become leaders in their own right and they do not leave everything to political leadership but lead themselves and others in a shared vision provided and guided by political leadership.
The paper also posits that the first factor that has to change to overcome chronic societal cynicism and accelerate leadership change in Africa is that Africa’s view about leadership itself has to change from over reliance on political leadership – where citizens look up to what the government can/should do/provide for citizens. While leadership from political actors is critical, it certainly cannot be the panacea for solving all Africa’s problems. Therefore, this dependency on political leadership has to change and be substituted by a critical mass of people-leaders (“Peopleship”) in various walks of life who positively work individually and/or together to stimulate change and achieve a more collective progress and development agenda for African countries.
The concluding thesis of the paper is that for any African national transformation agenda to take effect in a sustainable manner, we need three factors to be present and interplay: 1. Leadership (mostly political); 2. A critical mass of Peopleship (responsible, responsive and active citizenship who are leaders in their own right in various walks of life); and 3. Resources (human resources, wealth, cooperation (local and international), good laws (including an encouraging environment)). The positive interplay between these three factors is critical for any country’s transformation. Therefore, it argues that good leaders without resources will fail; good leaders without the support of their people (peopleship) will fail; and good people with bad leaders will similarly fail. The concept of leadership therefore needs to be more broadly understood used to be inclusive of citizens and their role.
BY: FRANCIS BEN KAIFALA
ABSTRACT
This paper challenges the notion that the main reason for Africa’s under-development is failure of political leadership. It argues that historically, good individual leaders emerged and put in conscientious efforts to develop and transform their countries but their good efforts were often betrayed by either an unsupportive people and/or the unavailability of resources to achieve their vision and mission. Leadership provides the pathway; but the people must provide leadership support to achieve progress and development - all of which have to be underlain by the availability of resources.
The paper draws insights from Psychology and Behavioral Economics researches and further argues that a key challenge to leadership are numerous behavioral problems among the people which inhibit leadership success and often undermine even genuine socio-political agendas; key among them is Societal cynicism which discounts even the best efforts of others (mostly social or political leaders) and has stunted Africa’s growth because of its mass prevalence. It argues that the only way Africa can succeed is that a critical mass of its people has to become leaders in their own right and they do not leave everything to political leadership but lead themselves and others in a shared vision provided and guided by political leadership.
The paper also posits that the first factor that has to change to overcome chronic societal cynicism and accelerate leadership change in Africa is that Africa’s view about leadership itself has to change from over reliance on political leadership – where citizens look up to what the government can/should do/provide for citizens. While leadership from political actors is critical, it certainly cannot be the panacea for solving all Africa’s problems. Therefore, this dependency on political leadership has to change and be substituted by a critical mass of people-leaders (“Peopleship”) in various walks of life who positively work individually and/or together to stimulate change and achieve a more collective progress and development agenda for African countries.
The concluding thesis of the paper is that for any African national transformation agenda to take effect in a sustainable manner, we need three factors to be present and interplay: 1. Leadership (mostly political); 2. A critical mass of Peopleship (responsible, responsive and active citizenship who are leaders in their own right in various walks of life); and 3. Resources (human resources, wealth, cooperation (local and international), good laws (including an encouraging environment)). The positive interplay between these three factors is critical for any country’s transformation. Therefore, it argues that good leaders without resources will fail; good leaders without the support of their people (peopleship) will fail; and good people with bad leaders will similarly fail. The concept of leadership therefore needs to be more broadly understood used to be inclusive of citizens and their role.