By Alex Yomah
A Civil Society Organization, dubbed “Integrity Watch of Liberia” launched platform intended to buttress the effort of Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) in the fight against national threat.
The program was successful through the financial supports from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP.
The platform, “Let’s Talky,” enables one to report issues of corruption across different sectors in all of the sub-division of the country through text messages or social media platform.
Making the disclosure, the Executive Director, Harold Marvin Aidoo, disclosed that the initiative aims to involve citizens in the fight against corruption.
Aidoo informs that the platform will enable citizens to report any form of corruption so as to aid the LACC in its endeavour to fight.
“It’s time that we join the fight of corruption. We will make progress when we put citizens in the centre of the fight. The text message and mobile app will help to report corruption in real time,” Aidoo pointed out.
“The CSO and media will be able to use it as an advocacy tool to help the LACC for prompt response,” he added.
The Chairperson of the LACC, Cllr. Edwin K. Martin, welcomed the platform noting that it is of great significance because it is in line with the decentralization mechanism of the Commission.
“The significance and the essence of this program is in line with our decentralization programs, LACC in which we are given the statutory mandate to ensure that the presence of LACC is felt in all political sub-divisions in our country and we believe that this program is in full support of that initiative,” LACC Boss stated.
“Citizen’s involvement in reporting of corruption is no exception- it is a worldwide initiative that borders also on our sub-regional effort in combating corruption,” LACC Boss said.
Adding, “We will step up our system and work with the platform. Corruption is a nationwide initiative that everyone must get involved. It undermines the intent of any country to get developed. Corruption is dangerous; it’s not the responsibility of the LACC or our partners but every citizen,” he said.
For his part, UNPD’s Deputy Representative for Operations, Thabani Mabodoko, in a written statement, the establishment of an online electronic platform that enables the anonymous reporting of corruption cases to relevant government institutions and departments, noting that the tracking of follow-up actions add to the much-needed innovation to the fight against corruption but urged that should also provide the basis for transparency and accountability in the corruption response.
The UN official mentioned that the use of innovation and digital tools form the core of partnership between the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) and the civil society to enhance the national response and public demand for accountability and reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms.
“As a development agency, UNDP places the fight against corruption squarely and prominently at the centre of its programming. The worrying state of corruption and the great extent to which it undermines the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) creates an interest in analyzing the phenomenon and the diverse forms that it assumes specifically in developing countries such as Liberia, he explained.”
He further intimated that the level and rate of development of any society and its chances of attaining the SDGs are influenced by corruption adding, “Therefore, national, and international partners cannot hold back or downplay the need to shore up our energies and resources to confront the issue.”
“We call on the public to use the platform as corruption affects the lives of all Liberians and forms an obstacle to national development. We would like to recognize the support of SIDA, a traditional partner of UNDP, for contributing funds and express hope that this project can be expanded,” UNDP Deputy for Operations said.
