The Officer In-Charge, Governance (GC), Elizabeth W. Dorkin, has expressed frustrations stating that up to date, some Public Officials have not declared their assets since they were employed in government roughly three years go.
The Governance Commission Acting Head made the statement to a team of reporters when she returned from the United Kingdom on Friday.
Madam Dorkin told newsmen that the head of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) told her during a discussion that those public officials who have “declared their assets are very low”.
Commissioner Dorkin frowned on would-be public officials who are involved in such non-compliance posture, have the penchant to undercut transparency, accountability and worst of it, it creates speculations for systemic corruptions.
“I held a discussion with the head of the LACC and he said not many appointees have declared their assets,” Commissioner Dorkin stated.
In an unfriendly mood with the LACC’s report, Dorkin accentuated, “The GC takes the Code of Conduct implementation seriously and is urging public institutions who have not declare their assets, to do so now.”
She added, “All political appointees including myself have declared our assets. I want to encourage those of you who haven’t done so, to do likewise.”
She also mentioned that the GC will shortly embark on an effort to popularize the Code of Conduct in its entirety.
“This is so, because the Code of Conduct is one of the GC’s priorities as an integrity institution and we are going to ensure that all officials that are appointed prioritize popularizing the code of conduct,” she explained to newsmen at her 9th street office last Friday.
The Governance Commission through the Executive is clothed with the mandate to write all policies of government sent to the Executive for onward submission to the Legislature for passage and subsequently send back to the Executive for implementation.
Meanwhile, the GC has also announced that she has completed and submitted to the Executive, the Ministry of Local Governance Bill; the power sharing bill; and others for onward submission to the Legislature.
The Ministry of Local Governance bill (MLG), when passed into law, will replace the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
When asked to differentiate between the act that created the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the proposed Ministry of Local Government Bill, Madam Dorkin explained that the Ministry of Internal Affairs was established to implement decentralized form of governance, while the Ministry of Local Governance Bill is proposed to implement the local government act of 2018.
She explained further that its intent is to promote a decentralized form of governance saying, ‘If this Ministry of Local Government bill is passed into law; it will replace the Ministry of Internal Affairs.’
It can be recalled that President George Manneh Weah instructed all of his officials of government to declare their assets during entrance and exit in line with the Code of Conduct when he declared his assets as President of the Republic of Liberia.
The Code of Conduct law, among other things, demands, mandates all public officials including elected officials to declare their assets while coming and exiting government.
This means, since the commencement of the Weah-Taylor led government, bulk of the public officials employed and working in government have consciously disagreed to declare their assets.