The Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL) has expressed its disappointment over President George Manneh Weah’s inability to fight corruption and wants timely and concrete actions taken against those Investigated for corruption.
Addressing the press over the weekend in Sinkor, CENTAL’s Executive Director Anderson Miamen mentioned that it has been more words from the President than concrete actions to support public integrity institutions morally, financially, and logistically to play their respective roles.
According to him, it has been words in terms of the presidency having concrete and genuine discussions with integrity institutions to identify and make genuine attempts at addressing their logistical, staffing, and other needs to give his government the necessary reputation to engage with partners and mobilize resources from traditional and non-traditional sources to fund key interventions in the country.
“He cannot continue to love his officials more than the majority of the Liberians, as his stance against corruption has been extremely weak and disappointing; we call on President Weah to suspend all officials implicated in recent investigative reports released by the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission,” he said.
Director Miamen emphasized that the inaction by the President makes them wonder as to which side he really stands: whether with the majority of the Liberian People and ordinary citizens or some of his officials who have proven to be embarrassment to the country, his government, and the overall growth and development of the country.
“The state and quality of governance in Liberia continues to decline due to the failure of the most critical players to engender necessary reforms that will make Liberia a transformed, developed, more livable, and prosperous society for all,” he stated.
He stated further that the actions needed to prevent and arrest the situation and bring the perpetrators to book have not been full and complete, especially from the end of the Presidency.
Director Miamen maintained that if the President insists on taking no actions on those investigated until the outcome of a court trial, such would be a huge blow to anti-corruption efforts.
“On 22 June 2022, President Weah appeared on a local radio station and intimated to the Liberian public that adhering to the democratic process and human rights norms mean that provisional administrative sanctions cannot be taken against officials investigated by the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) and forwarded to the Ministry of Justice for prosecution, and that the investigations involved corruption scandals at the Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo-Information Services, Ministry of Agriculture, Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation, among others,” he said.
CENTAL boss reminded the President of action taken to suspend Ma-Tenneh L. Keita, Coordinator of Presidential Special Projects at the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs, and Duannah Siryon, Tugbe C. Tugbe, and Isaac Roberts of the National Housing Authority (NHA), while they are undergoing investigation respectively.
Meanwhile, they are calling on the media, civil society, and ordinary citizens to remain vocal and unrelenting in highlighting societal ills and demanding accountability of their leaders, while also denouncing corruption themselves, adding that the new Liberia they collectively seek will not arrive in the midst of rampant corruption and other forms of bad governance.
He expressed his gratitude to the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Liberia Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI) and other public integrity institutions that are working under difficult conditions, including but not limited extremely limited budget and logistics from national government.
