By Laurina B. Lormia
The Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL) is urging President Joseph Boakai to lead by example and set very high standards for others to follow.
Addressing the press as Liberia joins the global community to commemorate International Anti-Corruption Day, CENTAL’s Executive Director Anderson Miamen emphasized that, Liberia’s score on the Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International is 25/100.
According to Miamen, while leadership from lawmakers and other actors in government is important, President Boakai has the greatest power and responsibility to shape the country’s fight against corruption in the right direction.
He added that there have been welcoming efforts to track, investigate, and prosecute a few corruption cases and even suspend and dismiss public officials and others at the center of corruption allegations and other abuses.
He noted that President Boakai has not raised the anti-corruption, transparency, and accountability standards very high, as he is still pampering his officials, including those in gross violation of the Code of Conduct for Public Officials, especially the component on asset declaration.
“The biggest threat and missing link of the country’s anti-corruption drive is the government’s gross failure to end the culture of impunity for corruption, heavily fueled by inadequate funding of public integrity institutions and limited presidential and legislative will powers,” he mentioned.
“This means that the Liberian public sector is at its lowest level in terms of being corrupt. While a challenge, it presents an opportunity for the President and his government to boldly lead the country in ways that help to reverse this negative trend,” he stressed.
He added that the Government’s efforts have not been good enough to send a very strong message to the corrupt and deter others from feasting on public resources and assets adding, that the President must suspend and dismiss those at the center of corruption and violators of the code of conduct and other related laws.
However, he called on the Government to provide adequate financial and logistical support to the Liberia Anti-corruption Commission and other public integrity institutions as well as respect their independence and financial autonomy.
“Adequate financial and logistical support to these institutions will enable them to fully execute their mandates by identifying, investigating, and prosecuting corruption cases involving current and past public officials. This will go a long way in ending the culture of impunity for corruption and other abuses in Liberia,” he stressed.
LACC, GAC, and other public integrity institutions must be robust, more engaging, innovative, and result-driven in their work.
LACC now has enormous assets declaration information and corruption cases. They must move to make the most of these cases asset declarations and other vital information in their possession.
“Civil society and the media should continue to raise consciousness regarding the dangers of corruption and rally citizens to take decisive actions against those engaging in corruption and those whose inactions lead corruption to flourish,” he lamented.
“The government must timely investigate and prosecute current and former government officials sanctioned by the US Government for public sector corruption. While the public fully supports anti-graft institutions, they must do enough to continue enjoying the support and confidence of the public,” he concluded.
