by Fatima Babih, EdD
Corruption in Sierra Leone no longer hides in back rooms. It poses for photos. It jokes in Facebook posts. It campaigns in plain sight even though it is not yet campaign season.
And worst of all, it is protected by the very institution meant to stop it.
At the center of this unfolding scandal is Francis Ben Kelfala, the Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). Rather than acting as an independent custodian of the law, Ben Kelfala has openly aligned himself, politically, publicly, and personally, with Fatima Jabbie Bio, whose political ambitions and financial misconduct raise some of the most serious corruption red flags in Sierra Leone today.
This is no longer speculation. It is documented behavior.
ACC Chief Declares Loyalty
In a widely circulated interview on Radio Democracy 98.1, Ben Kelfala was asked directly whether he was aligned with Fatima Bio’s Ebema faction within the SLPP, which is widely understood as Fatima Bio’s emerging power base within the SLPP ahead of the 2028 elections.
His response was extraordinary and damning:
Me and the First Lady have a very good relationship.
She is my big sister. I support the aspirations and aims within the framework of the First Lady… I work within the framework of what President Bio wants for this country, and his wife is part of that agenda.
This was not a slip of the tongue. It was a bold, unflinching declaration of allegiance.
The head of Sierra Leone’s Anti-Corruption Commission publicly aligned himself with the political ambitions of the First Lady, a woman who, by virtue of proximity to power, should be subject to heightened scrutiny, not fraternal loyalty.
Kelfala’s brazen proclamation of loyalty to Fatima Bio did not merely crack Institutional independence but collapsed it.
Recently, Ben Kelfala posted multiple photographs of himself with Fatima Bio, taken at what appears to be the Presidential Lodge or her office. The images show the ACC Chief and the First Lady in relaxed, playful poses, laughing, embracing, and clearly at ease.
His caption, written in Krio, mocked the people of Sierra Leone:
U sabi di Mammie?” (Do you know the lady?)
Una want know wetin we bin dae laugh so?” (Do you all want to know what we were laughing at?)
Anyways, my Big Sister is phenomenal… One thing I know, she knows how to make big boys cry.
That last part sounds almost sexual, and this mockery was not a private moment leaked to the public. No! Ben Kelfala deliberately posted these photos and messages on Facebook for all and sundry to see, with full awareness of his responsibility as the nation’s chief anti-corruption officer.
At a time when Sierra Leoneans are demanding answers about Fatima Bio’s abuse of power, unexplained wealth, and political interference, the ACC Chief chose laughter over law.
Campaign Privileges
Although the official campaign season for the 2028 elections has not yet been declared, Fatima Bio, who is not controlled by any laws, rules, or regulations, has already moved decisively into campaign mode. Images and videos now circulating on social media show her:
- Addressing large political gatherings
- Being introduced as “CEO of EBEMA GBI”
- Publicly announcing that 620 delegates have pledged to vote her as the next SLPP flagbearer
- Promising 250 million old leones to women’s councils in Kailahun and Kenema
These are not charitable gestures. They are corrupt political transactions. Yet the ACC has raised no questions about Fatima Bio’s
- Abuse of incumbency
- Use of influence and state resources for partisan mobilization
- The source of funds used in politically strategic “donations.”
Silence, in this context, is not neutral. It is outright protection of blatant corruption.
The Law ACC Ignores
The Anti-Corruption Act of 2000, enacted in the aftermath of Sierra Leone’s civil war, and strengthened in 2008, was designed precisely to prevent political elite capture of the state, which was identified as a leading cause of the war.
Two provisions are particularly relevant in relation to Fatima Bio’s activities:
Unexplained Wealth (Section 27)
This section criminalizes maintaining assets or a lifestyle grossly disproportionate to known income.
In 2025, international investigative journalists from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) reported that since becoming First Lady, Fatima Bio, who was impoverished and living in government housing in the UK at the time her husband became president, had acquired:
- Multiple luxury properties in The Gambia
- Mansions for herself, her mother, and her extended family
- A 70-room hotel, collectively valued in the multi-million-dollar range
The ACC has never opened a public investigation into these findings.
No explanation.
No rebuttal.
No action.
Impeding Investment (Section 38)
This provision criminalizes interference that forces investors to abandon lawful projects.
In 2025, Fatima Bio openly interfered in the labor dispute involving Koidu Holdings, a major investor in Kono District. Her actions contributed to:
- The shutdown of operations
- The loss of livelihoods for over 1,000 workers
- Deaths linked to the economic fallout
- Severe damage to the regional economy
Instead of investigating the First Lady’s unlawful role, Ben Kelfala used his office to further harass and obstruct the investor.
That was not law enforcement. It was political service to Fatima Bio, a corrupt First Lady.
“A Dangerously Educated Man”
Francis Ben Kelfala frequently describes himself, with pride, as a dangerously educated man. On its face, the phrase may sound self-deprecating or clever. But in the context of his conduct as Sierra Leone’s Anti-Corruption Commissioner, this description is chillingly accurate.
Without speculating on what Ben Kelfala personally means by the phrase, the public record allows for a sober conclusion: he is an educated man who knowingly uses his institutional knowledge and constitutional authority to shield corruption at the highest levels of power
This weaponization of knowledge indeed makes Ben Kelfala a dangerously educated man.
Dangerous not because he lacks understanding, but because of his full understanding of:
- how the Anti-Corruption Act works,
- how to abuse discretion under the guise of “procedural judgment,”
- how silence and inaction can be more effective than outright refusal, and
- how loyalty to political power can be disguised as institutional alignment.
Ben Kelfala is not an uninformed official stumbling through complex governance. He is allegedly a legally trained professional. He is a political actor who knows precisely when to act, when to delay, and when to look away.
When credible allegations of unexplained wealth implicate the First Lady, Ben Kelfala knows Section 27 applies but chooses not to take action.
When Fatima Bio’s political interference drives away investors and devastates communities, Ben Kelfala knows Section 38 applies but chooses obstruction.
When asked publicly about his political alignment with Fatima Bio, he knows the conflict of interest and embraces it anyway.
That is what makes Francis Ben Kelfala a dangerously educated man in Sierra Leone.
Not ignorance.
Not incompetence.
But calculated misuse of education and office in the service of Julius Maada Bio’s regime, where loyalty has replaced legality, and institutions are bent to serve and protect corruption.
A dangerously educated man is not one who asks hard questions. It is one who knows the answers and buries them.
In Sierra Leone today, corruption is not merely enabled by the uneducated or the desperate. It is enabled by those who are entrusted to protect the nation, but choose power anyway.
That is the real danger Ben Kelfala poses to the people of Sierra Leone.
When an anti-corruption chief publicly pledges loyalty to the First Lady’s political agenda, corruption is no longer a hidden disease. It has become state practice.
Francis Ben Kelfala has transformed the ACC from a watchdog into a protective shield, one that guards power rather than the public interest.
Sierra Leone did not emerge from a brutal civil war to inherit an anti-corruption system that plays with the powerful while democracy bleeds.
The law is clear.
The evidence is public.
The silence is intentional.
MAMA SALONE ~ Lioness of the West Coast 