ACC calls on all public institutions to conduct academic verification amidst fake degree wahala

The Anti Corruption Commission of Sierra Leone (ACC) has on Tuesday, April 19, 2022, called on all public sector institutions to conduct an immediate academic credential verification for all staff members. 

This comes after a Sierra Leonean researcher, Dr. John Idris Lahai, led a campaign to name and shame public officials who he claims received academic certification like Masters, Doctorate, and Ph.D. from the African Graduate university and Dominion Christian University. 

The country’s Tertiary Education Commission has in a press statement clearly stated that the institutions mentioned above are not accredited by the government of Sierra Leone and the certificates they have been issuing over the years are declared fake. 

According to the press release issued by ACC, the verification process will assess the certificates of workers in government ministries, departments & agencies used to gain employment, promotions, and other benefits within their respective institutions. 

The release further states that outcomes from the verification process will be referred to the ACC, as they have set up a task force, that comprises investigators and prevention officers who led the credential integrity review for public officers with the mandate to look into employment, promotions of persons within the broad spectrum of the Civil and Public Service, who would have willfully and knowingly used or submitted what would amount to fake Certificates/Degrees to confer Advantage on themselves as the conduct, once established may constitute a corruption offense as stipulated in Section 128(3) of the Anti-Corruption Act 2008 as amended in 2019. 

ACC finally assures the general public of its resolve to consistently fight acts of corruption at all levels in Sierra Leone, especially in public sector institutions.