Monrovia – The United States Agency For International Development advisor for legal professional development and anti-corruption program says large government size is one of the root causes of corruption.
Report by Kennedy L. Yangian, [email protected]
Scott Collins was speaking when USAID conducted training on reporting anti-corruption for over 30 judicial reporters from various media institutions in the country.
The training, held on March 31 in Mamba Point, is the first of the quarterly workshop that the USAID has promised to offer judicial reporters.
LPAC’s Chief of Party in Liberia, Gerald Meyerman, during the opening ceremony of the training, emphasized that corruption was a bad act that retards the development of any nation and there was a need to discourage it for the betterment of any country and its people.
“Corruption harms any nation’s development therefore mechanism must be put into place to address it from taking place,” said Meyerman, who added that LPAC program is in the country for the next five years.
The program is in the country to strengthen the country’s legal system by providing logistical support and the building those institutions human capacity by providing training through local and international experts, he said.
He said LPAC has also extended its assistance to students of the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law at the University of Liberia, providing scholarships for deserving students who are desirous of performing public service.
During the training program, reporters’ skills about reporting corruption were broadened, and they learned individuals in the public and private sectors behave corrupt during the discharge of their respective duties.
“More causes of corruption were large ethic divisions and government size, high level of in-group, favoritism, gender inequality, low degree of integration in world economy, low level of government decentralization and that corruption causes resource of wealth, poverty, political instability, weak property rights, low level of education and low internet access,” said Collins.
Collins indicated that what can be done to curb corruption is education, exposure, prevention, investigation and prosecution.