Monrovia – It appears that things are falling apart in the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC)-led government of President George Manneh Weah. Government officials continue to tender in their resignation one after the other in a short period of time.
“I have never had this experience in my professional life and never am I prepared to endure this nonsense. I cannot and will not never work without pay.”
J. Bernard Nagbe, Comptroller at the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC)
The latest to resign from the government is J. Bernard Nagbe, Comptroller at the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC).
The LACC was established in 2008 by an Act passed by the National Legislature as an independent organization to investigate, prosecute and prevent acts of corruption of public officials in Liberia.
In a rather harsh worded letter of resignation dated November 25, and addressed to the LACC Board, Mr. Nagbe cited delays in the payment of his just salaries and benefits as reasons responsible for his resignation.
In the letter, which has now been dubbed “resignation letter of year” as a result of the strong wordings, Nagbe said, “I am constrained to tender my resignation on grounds of uncertainty with my salary and benefits. I am not receiving my remuneration on time and my service to the government and the people of Liberia is not for free. I owe my life, career and service to my country, but ultimately my family comes first,” he stated.
Nagbe continued: “I have never had this experience in my professional life and never am I prepared to endure this nonsense. I cannot and will not never work without pay.”
He noted that he can no longer continue to make “useless sacrifice to the LACC, the Liberian people and the government,” and therefore, he’s not “willing to negotiate a second of my time serving without pay.”
According to him, the prolonged delay in the payment of his salary and benefits is ‘unbearable’.
“This is unbearable and I can no more tolerate the difficulty associated with caring for my family I love so much. It’s better I have no job than have a job and appear irresponsible to everyone I have business relationship. I owe almost everyone in Liberia, and I can no more endure this degree of difficulty,” Nagbe maintained.
When Nagbe was called to confirm the authenticity of the letter, he told FrontPageAfrica, “My brother those words are my exact words; that is my feeling. That is who I am.”
Someone who knows Nagbe very well described him as a “No non-sense Kru man, who can be very abrasive and straight forward in his communications.” This gentleman, who asked for anonymity further told this newspaper that the Comptroller is a very good Accountant, who has been with the anti-graft body from the very beginning; adding: “He started with Cllr. Frances Johnson Allison, the LACC’s first Executive Chairperson.
Resignation wahala
Nagbe’s resignation brings to three the number of high profile officials who have resigned from the Weah-government in less than a week.
He joins the former Director-General of the National Bureau of Concessions (NBC), Mr. Gregory O.W. Coleman, and former Deputy Managing Director for Technical Services at the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC), Dan T. Saryee, who have all parted company with the government in recent times.
Mr. Coleman resigned over the weekend, stating: “My time as head of the NBC was filled with challenges and rewards. It is time that I become a private citizen.”
On Monday, President Weah accepted Mr. Coleman’s resignation with immediate effect and appointed Daddy Gibson to act as Director-General of the NBC, pending the appointment of a proper Director-General.
Daddy Gibson is the current Deputy Director for Administration at the NBC.
He was suspended along with Deputy Director of NBC, Nathaniel Bracewell for gross insubordination to Coleman back in August.
The pair was reinstated by the Liberian Chief Executive over the weekend.
For Mr. Saryee, he parted ways with the government on November 18, 2019, few hours after aggrieved workers of the LWSC staged a protest demanding the payment of their five-month salary arrears, and seven-month transportation allowances.
While attending a meeting with partners at a local hotel in Monrovia, Mr. Saryee’s assigned vehicle was forcibly taken away from him by two staff of the corporation, few hours after his resignation was accepted by the President, though he requested to depart government on November 30.
Delay in salaries payment
“This is unbearable and I can no more tolerate the difficulty associated with caring for my family I love so much. It’s better I have no job than have a job and appear irresponsible to everyone I have business relationship. I owe almost everyone in Liberia, and I can no more endure this degree of difficulty.”
J. Bernard Nagbe, Comptroller at the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC)
The delay in the payment of salaries to civil servants and public officials remains the order of the day under the administration of President George Manneh Weah.
Representatives, Senators, civil servants and other government officials have not taken pay for between three to four months respectively.
In most instances, civil servants including professional health workers and teachers were constrained to stage separate protests, paralyzing normal health care delivery, and teaching activities, before one month of their several months’ salary arrears were disbursed to various commercial banks by authorities of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
Students from the Monrovia Consolidated School System (MCSS) took to the streets and blocked the Presidential Motorcade after their teachers had abandoned the classrooms in demand of the payment of their three to four-month salary arrears owed them by government.
Another planned protest from legislative staff were called off after government intervened and paid them one month each.
The delay in the payment of salaries to government employees working at integrity institutions including the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), General Auditing Commission (GAC), and the Internal Audit Agency (IAA) has the propensity to compromise the professional works of these institutions to combat against waste, fraud and abuse of public resources.