By Bill W. Cooper
The Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) is calling on all outgoing public officials in the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) government to declare their assets prior to their departure in January of 2024.
The LACC, at the same time, cautioned the officials to ensure that all of their assets are declared on or before December 12, 2023, disclosing that it can be done by filing an Asset Declaration form with the Commission.
The Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) is a national autonomous commission with mandate to create awareness, investigate, and prosecute acts of corruption involving public officials and resources.
The Code of Conduct of 2014, and amended in 2022, mandates that prior to or before taking public office, all public officials shall declare and publish their ‘Assets and Liabilities.’
The Code of Conduct also mandates that all public officials shall declare and publish their ‘Assets and Liabilities’ before or when leaving public office, as well as after every three years in office.
The pronouncement by the LACC followed days after it was reported that some officials of the CDC-led government were involved in the clearing of their various offices, taking away government’s office utensils.
It also follows amidst huge calls from the citizenry, calling President and Vice president-elect, Joseph Boakai and Jeremiah Koung, to ensure the auditing of the outgoing CDC administration, ensuring high standards of transparency and accountability.
Making the disclosure Tuesday, November 28, 2023 at a news conference in Monrovia, LACC Chairperson, Cllr. Alexandria Zoe, said the objective of the declaration is intended to buttress the creation of a culture of integrity within the public space.
Cllr. Zoe stressed, “This assets declaration notice is a vital step in ensuring that transparency and accountability by outgoing officials of government is adhered to and it is important that everyone complies.”
According to her, the exit declaration of assets also serves as a fundamental practice to demonstrate the commitment of outgoing officials to ethical conduct and integrity throughout their incumbency.
She maintained that the open disclosure of the outgoing officials’ financial interests, contributes to the promotion of a fair, just, and corruption-free system, emphasizing, “The United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), UNODC 2009, as her reliance.”
The convention states, “As a general principle, public bodies need to create a climate where the public service provision is transparent and impartial, where it is known that the offering and acceptance of gifts and hospitality is not encouraged, and where personal and other interests should not appear to influence official actions and decisions.”
It further noted that Section 5.2, “O” of the amended and restated Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) Act enshrines the responsibility of the LACC in executing Liberia’s Asset Declaration and Verification Regime.
The LACC Chairperson further mentioned that the LACC Act defines the function of the LACC for asset declaration, and asserted, “To institute and operate the assets declaration and verification regimes of the Government of Liberia, pursuant to the Code of Conduct Act of 2014.”
She also said the Board of Commissioners, constituting seven persons, including other senior staffs, will engage various media outlets, to include radio stations, newspapers among others.
“We are hoping that the outgoing public officials comply with the December 12 deadline because we have observed that officials of this government did not declare their assets since we took over in September of this 2023,” Cllr. Zoe added.
She then warned that failure on the parts of outgoing officials to declare their assets could be dealt with in accordance with the law of the Commission, and warned, “The LACC is blessed that it currently has the prosecutorial power to ensure that each outgoing official of government complies with the institution.”
