<PAGE>



                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.1

                                  CERTIFICATION
                                  -------------

I, Thomas H. Siemers, certify that:

        1.      I have reviewed this Quarterly Report of Form 10-QSB of First
                Franklin Corporation;

        2.     Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
               statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
               necessary to make the statements made, in light of the
               circumstances under which such statements were made, not
               misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

        3.     Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other
               financial information included in this report, fairly present in
               all material respects the financial condition, results of
               operations and cash flows of the small business issuer as of, and
               for, the periods presented in this report;

        4      The small business issuer's other certifying officer(s) and I are
               responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls
               and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and
               15d-15(e)) for the small business issuer and have:

                      (a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or
                      caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be
                      designed under our supervision, to ensure that material
                      information relating to the small business issuer,
                      including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to
                      us by others within those entities, particularly during
                      the period in which this report is being prepared;

                      (b) Evaluated the effectiveness of the small business
                      issuer's disclosure controls and procedures and presented
                      in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of
                      the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of
                      the period covered by this report based on such
                      evaluation; and

                      (c) Disclosed in this report any change in the small
                      business issuer's internal control over financial
                      reporting that occurred during the small business issuer's
                      most recent fiscal quarter (the small business issuer's
                      fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report)
                      that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to
                      materially affect, the small business issuer's internal
                      control over financial reporting; and

        5.     The small business issuer's other certifying officer(s) and I
               have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal
               control over financial reporting, to the small business issuer's
               auditors and the audit committee of the small business issuer's
               board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent
               functions):

                      (a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses
                      in the design or operation of internal control over
                      financial reporting which are reasonably likely to
                      adversely affect the small business issuer's ability to
                      record, process, summarize and report financial
                      information; and

                      (b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves
                      management or other employees who have a significant role
                      in the small business issuer's internal control over
                      financial reporting.


Date: August 14, 2003               /s/ Thomas H. Siemers
                                    -----------------------------
                                    Thomas H. Siemers
                                    President and Chief Executive Officer