By Elkass Sannoh
Francis Ben Kaifala, LL.M (Lond.), LL.M (UT-USA), LL.B (Hons) -USL, B.L* is the third child to Mr. Ben Kaifala (late) and Mrs. Tawa Kaifala. He is still under 35 years old.
Until his appointment as ACC Commissioner, Francis Ben Kaifala was the Senior/Managing partner in the Firm Kaifala, Kanneh & Co. situated at Top Floor, 81 Pademba Road, Freetown. – a law firm he co-founded in 2014 and is Head of. He is a household name at the Sierra Leone Bar and had served as a Public Relations Officer and Spokesman of the Sierra Leone Bar Association in the year 2012-2013.
He is a bilingual Lawyer who writes and speaks French fluently in addition to the English Language. He has vast experience in Corporate/Commercial Litigation and practice in the Superior Courts of Judicature of Sierra Leone and he has appeared in Several High-Profile Cases in the High Court, the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court where he has left excellent records and performance.
He is also very active at the Criminal Law Bar and has been successfully involved in white collar crime cases including prosecution on behalf of the state for murder, criminal defence of felonies and anti-corruption offences and general criminal practice at all levels. Many who have witnessed his performance in court describe him as an “astute, Superb and brilliant Lawyer”.
He is also known for his revolutionary thinking on Constitutional issues and peovides trusted ground- breaking opinions that have won the heart and admiration of the public and his colleagues at the Bar. He has written several legal, Finance and Economics articles and social Commentaries which have appeared in respected National and international tabloids, magazines, journals and websites, and has participated in various Legal Researches (including the World Bank’s Doing Business Report (A co-publication of the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation) and Women, Business and the Law (another World Bank Flagship Publication) and the anchor for various International Law Research bodies and groups.
He has experience in dealing with general and specialty contracts and has received Continued Professional Development training in various areas of the Law including Arbitration, Mediation, Oil and Gas, International Human Rights Law, Advanced business transactions, Corruption Strategy and Clean-ups, International Investment, sustainable development etc.
Francis is a product of the Sierra Leone Grammar School and his academic excellence began since school days where he took 1st Position in every class throughout Primary and Secondary Schools; and passed the WASCCE Exams as the Top Arts Student of his generation (2002) with 5 A’s and 3 B’s to enter and study law straight after High School at the Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone.
He graduated from Fourah Bay College among the very top in his class and won the Attorney- General Eke Ahmed Holloway Award from the University of Sierra Leone in recognition of his outstanding performance in his Undergraduate studies in 2006. He thereafter enrolled in and graduated from the Sierra Leone Law School in 2007 as the “Star Pupil” (Best Student) and Valedictorian.
At the Sierra Leone Law School, he won several awards that year, including the Chief Justice Ade Renner-Thomas Prize for Best Student, The Prof. Alghali Prize for best All-rounder, the C.P Foray Prize for best student Equity and Trust, the Justice George Gelaga-King Prize for Best student in Construction of Legal Documents and Drafting, etc. and remains the last Star Pupil to do so with a Second Class Upper Degree since 2007 to date.
Francis Ben Kaifala Esq., after 7 years of continued legal practice with Wright & Co (Solicitors) decided in 2013 to proceeded to the United Kingdom to further his studies.
He graduated and obtained the Full Time interdisciplinary LL.M (Master of Laws) in Law and Economics jointly awarded by the School of Law and the School of Economics and Finance at Queen Mary, University of London, in London, United Kingdom. His Master’s thesis on “Sovereign Debt Restructuring” was graded “Distinction” for the Award. His areas of expertise cover Legal aspects of International Finance, International Economic Law, Private International Law, Regulation of Financial markets, Corporate Finance, Structured and Secured Finance, Banking Law, Central Banking and Regulation, International Financial Law, International Investment Law, International Trade Law, Climate Change and Energy, Term Loans and Syndicated Lending, Sovereign Finance and Public Debt Management, Sovereign Debt Restructuring, Project Finance, the Law of the World Trade Organization, International Financial Institutions (the IMF and World Bank), Arbitration and Mediation in International Trade and Investment Disputes (ICSID, UNCITRAL, etc.), Corporate Insolvency and Reorganization, Derivatives Contracts and Law, Competition and Anti-Trust Laws, Islamic Finance Law, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Political and Constitutional Economics, Economic Analysis of Law, Behavioural Economics and Critical Thinking and Writing for Lawyers.
Francis also pursued postgraduate studies in the United States of America and is a proud alumnus of the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship 2017/2018 which was granted to him by the US Embassy in Freetown and the US Department of State for Education pursuant to which,
he has recently completed and graduated Summa Cum Laude with the LL.M (Master of Laws) in Comparative Constitutional Law, Administrative Law and International Human Rights Law at the University of Texas at Austin, in the United States of America as a Fulbright Scholar. This three-in-one course extensively covered Comparative Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Labour, Equality and International Human Rights, Comparative Judicial Politics, Global Constitutionalism, Corruption in Africa, Constitutional Design, Constitutional Interpretation, Explorations in Global Constitutional Law and Politics, and Human Rights Law in Africa.
While in the US, he was also a prestigious Human Rights Scholar with the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Centre for Human Rights and Justice in Austin Texas where he engaged in enriching human rights work, international experience, and training in that prestigious institution.
Francis has won several Awards including Ecomedia Award for “Excellence in Professional service 2018”, “Professional of the Year 2018”, Council of Chief Executive Officers and Business Executives’ “Professional of the Year 2017”, National Leadership Awards’ “Emerging Leader of the Year 2017”, NEXTE “Lawyer of the Year 2016”, “Young Lawyer of the Year 2015”, “Auradicals Awards 2011 and 2016 for Exemplary Service to Humanity”; and he has received various Recognitions including ILEAD’s “50 Most Influential Young Sierra Leoneans 2018”, Ovation Magazine’s “Top 100 Most Influential Sierra Leoneans 2016”, Institute of Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Development’s “50 Most Influential Young Sierra Leoneans 2017” , Salone Times Newspaper “Top 10 Sierra Leoneans 2016”, etc. and has been nominated for the African Young Achievers Awards 2017.
On the International Scene, Francis Ben Kaifala was recently recruited by the United Nation’s Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) on the Young Africa Lawyers (YAL) Programme as one of the Trained and Specialist Climate Change Negotiators who represent Africa in Global Climate change and related Negotiations.
Francis is the former Chairman of the Renaissance Movement and remains influential in that fire-brand patriotic movement that has become a respected source of voice on behalf of the masses of Sierra Leone. He is a devout Roman Catholic and married to a beautiful young Lawyer called Dunia Dalanda Kaifala.
Francis is a professional to behold – and we wish him well in this new position given to him by His Excellency, President Julius Maada Bio in fulfilment of his promise to rely on competent young people to move Sierra Leone Forward in the New Direction.