By Bill W. Cooper
President George M. Weah has finally signed into law the new Liberia Anti-corruption Commission (LACC) amended Act of 2022.
The new Act is now titled “An Act Amending and Restating an Act to Establish the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) now grants the anti-graph institution persecutory powers.”
The new Act will would now see the establishment of a new LACC with abridged powers as well as calls for the replacement of the Commissioners at the LACC, something which critics believed will undermined the country’s fight against corruption.
Part XVI of the restated LACC act, titled Transitional Provision, states that all “commissioners now serving the LACC shall remain in office after the enactment of this new law until their successors are appointed, but each is eligible to apply and be subjected to the appointment procedure provided for this law.”
Additionally, under the transitional provision of the Act, Commissioners now serving the LACC shall remain in office after the enactment of this new law until their successors are appointed, “but each is eligible to apply and be subjected to the appointment procedure provided for by this law.”
The dissolution of the LACC leadership may now lead to the immediate resignation of Cllr. Edwin K. Martin, and other Commissioners, with subsequent reapplication of those wishing to reoccupy the positions.
Recently, the National Legislature during the course of its July 26 break passed the new amended LACC Act of 2022 following a request from President Weah in 2021 that the legislature adopt a ‘minor adjustment’ to the act to give the commission direct power to prosecute.
The Legislature joint conference committee comprising both the House of Representatives and Liberian Senate also recommends the setting up of a vetting committee comprising the Press Union of Liberia, General Auditing Commission, and the Governance Commission, among others.
The vetting committee will now vet and submit 14 names to President George Weah for nomination, as the Commission will now have seven commissioners rather than the previous five commissioners.
But in respond to the passage of the Act, the Chairperson of the LACC, Cllr. Edwin Kla Martin in a conversation with Voice of America (VOA) said the new legislation is purposely intended to weaken the fight against corruption which his administration has been very committed to.
“We’re taken aback that the Commission in order to ensure that we have independence to establish our prosecutorial powers, the Legislature has established an Act to create a new Commission that has usurp the function and will respectfully dissolve the administration of the present Commission with the sole intent of defeating the purpose of combatting corruption in the country,” he said.
The LACC chairperson lamented that the new act calls for the appointment of new Commissioners to be appointed by the President, and thereby wondered whether he would continue going after corrupt government officials in the wake of the new Act.
Cllr. Martin said, “This is a clever attempt to abolish the fight against corruption in Liberia. The Act of the National Legislature is purely intended to make sure that this Commission does not exist. The Commission was established to ensure that we prosecute corrupt officials consistent with the law in a certain time frame if the Ministry of Justice fails.”
He stated the powers of the would-be Commission are vague and the fight against corruption would not be fully achieved, noting that he is considering challenging the new Act at the Supreme Court.
He further alleged that under the rule of law, the Legislature is in error by amending, creating and dissolving a tenure position. “Our laws are progressive, they’re not retroactive so to do what they did is a clever attempt to witch hunt current administration.”
He added that despite the “witch-hunting” he would not relent in ensuring that corrupt officials in government are brought to justice.
“We will fight this to the letter, we’ll not relent. The Liberian people will not relent. What we did, we did it in the interest of the Liberian people. We will make sure that resources and conduct of the Liberia people are fully protected,” he vowed.
As a result, the LACC chairman further told the VOA that the current nature of his security is unknown as he has on many occasions requested the Minister of Justice to beef up his security, but to no avail.
According to him, he is only assigned a police officer who he believes is not sufficient to ensure his safety due to the nature of work where his colleagues who are involved in corrupt practices in government are investigated and prosecuted if probable cause is established.
Cllr. Martin said his whereabouts is unknown to the public because his life is insecure at the moment due to the intensity of investigation his administration at the LACC is undertaking to ensure that corrupt officials are government are brought to book in keeping with the law.
