By Laurina B Lormia
The Center for The Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL) has ended a one-day Anti-Corruption and Integrity Building Training for employees of the Liberia Electricity Cooperation (LEC).
The training session brought together LEC employees to engage in comprehensive discussions and activities designed to enhance their understanding of integrity, transparency, and accountability in their professional roles.
The program was held on Tuesday June 25, 2024 in Mamba Point, to strengthen anti-corruption mechanisms within public institutions and deter corrupt practices, with a particular focus on the LEC.
Giving an overview of the program, the Executive Director, Anderson D. Miamen emphasized the critical importance of this training, noting that corruption remains a significant challenge in Liberia’s public sector.
According to him, empowering public servants with the skills to identify and combat corrupt practices is essential for building a more transparent and accountable governance system.
This comes about because CENTAL is in the business of fighting corruption and promoting the culture of accountability, transparency and integrity in working with different players, stakeholders, the government, private sectors, the media, ordinary citizens and development partners.
“LEC has been in the media for some good and bad reasons, with a lot of issues surrounding illegal connections and workers being caught in the wrong acts by defaulting the system which is causing a lot of setbacks for the institution,” he noted.
“This engagement came about as a result of interacting with the management of LEC in recent times which expressed the urgent need for this training to be held because the institution is losing a lot of resources due to people by-passing the system and meters,” he narrated.
“There are many more workshops we intend to have, not just with stakeholders at the national level but those at the local level that are providing services especially public service workers,” he explained.
He added that CENTAL has a platform regarding reporting corruption noting, ‘We will avail that platform to LEC so that people who access the services can call if they come across any corruption within the system.”
Making remarks, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of LEC, Monie Captan, said corruption is far from harmless and victimless and it takes a significant toll on society by depriving them of critical development opportunities.
According to him, due to corruption, Liberia lacks good schools, reliable roads, and adequate healthcare, and everyone is affected in some way because what they supposed to be receiving is being withheld explaining, “Currently, 83 percent of our budget is consumed by recurrent expenditures, leaving only 17 percent for development, this financial strain significantly impacts the Liberia Electricity Corporation.”
“When revenue is deprived, the LEC struggles to deliver services effectively. Customers calling for services often find that we lack the necessary materials or vehicles to address their issues promptly. Consequently, they resort to community members to fix their electrical problems, which leads to a doubling of our losses,” he stressed.
“Despite these challenges, we are making progress. In the past, working for LEC would invite insults, but as CEO, I promise to continue building your skills and fostering your development. The insights gained from this workshop should not remain here. Let them influence your behavior and be shared with others. When you see wrongdoing, guide others onto the right path,” he intoned.
