Monrovia – Information Culture and Tourism Minister Lenn Eugene Nagbe has shared Liberia’s experience in curbing corruption with the Global Governance & Fight Against Corruption at the Crans Montana Forum in Brussels, Belgium.
According to him, Liberia sees the dialogue as very strategic, especially because of the country’s recent history and the current heart-breaking rise of terrorism in the region.
“Liberia and its neighbors have experienced first-hand how corruption, abuse of public resources and economic crimes in general can fuel wars, undermine state authority and human security,” he said.
Min. Nagbe said Liberia has seen corrupt logging deals and mining concession deals that paid for the purchases of illegal weapons which were used to “pursue “violence up and down our region- the so-called blood diamonds and timbers are apt reminders of this reality.
In Monrovia we take the view that international security is national security and so we have demonstrated a real commitment to working with other players in the international community to create the legal and governance systems necessary to foster international peace and security.”
He noted that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf took over a country that had been decimated by civil war, with all the apparatuses of the state crumpled.
“The country was on its knees. We had experienced the greatest economic breakdown any nation had since World War II.
President Sirleaf inherited not a government to administer, but a failed state to rebuild. As onerous as the task was to bring back Liberia from the brink, the President did not for a minute believe that the fight against corruption, the prime culprit which had fuelled the war in the first place, should be left to wait.
The fight to tackle the corruption menace was therefore carried out in concomitance with the even more herculean task of nation rebuilding,” he recalled.
He said in the face of zero accountability, President Sirleaf’s approach was to first build the institutional infrastructure to support a robust fight against corruption through prevention and prosecution.
“Toward this end the Public Procurement and Concession Commission (PPCC), General Auditing Commission (GAC), Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) and Liberia Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (LEITI) were all established or re-organized within the first term of this government.
Our Government under the Leadership of President Sirleaf has leveraged these institutions, with marked progress, to prevent public sector corruption, waste and abuse.
The GAC is equipped to perform audits of the system to unearth any weaknesses, supply evidence that could be used by the LACC to prosecute those who violate the public trust,” he noted.
Minister Nagbe averred that the gains made in the fight against corruption by President Sirleaf in the past 12 years are “strong and foundational.”
He boasted of Liberia having strong anti-corruption laws and institutions that can be used as springboard for greater success in the fight against corruption, if additional investments and reforms are made.
Min. Nagbe: “The Sirleaf led administration will bequeath to its successor, functional anti- corruption and transparency agencies that have benefited from years of experience and boast of improved investigatory and prosecution capacity.”
He added that Liberia has also joined the world in the fight against corruption through the establishment of institutions like the Open Government Partnership, Financial Intelligence Unit and Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative. This, according to him, has further consolidated transparency in the private sector.
Minister Nagbe, however, admitted that fight against corruption has not been an easy one for President Sirleaf’s government.
He said despite strong political will to fight corruption expressed by concrete actions such as indictment of high profile government officials and even ruling party’s executive amongst others, progress in the fight against corruption has been slowed by an opaque Judiciary and a push-back in the National legislature.
“Vested interest by the powerful in the political class has also hindered the anti-corruption battle,” he said.
According to him, to consolidate the gains, the next government will need to deepen judicial reform efforts, form an effective partnership with domestic civil society to pressure elected officers into supporting ant-corruption policies and legislation.
He added that budgetary constraints and human resource gaps needed to be addressed over the medium to long-term period if Liberia is to see significant consolidation of the gains made over the last 12 years.
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