The Dance of Words in Liberia’s Corruption Fight

Monrovia, 17 September 2015

Not too long ago President Sirleaf described corruption as a ‘Vampire’. This is a legacy defining description of a national problem. Implicit in this description is a connection made with the Ebola virus disease and corruption. This disease ravaged Liberia killing hundreds. The awareness messages about the virus disease went like this: ‘Ebola is Real, Ebola kills’. Perhaps too, ‘Corruption is Real, Corruption kills’. Corruption as ‘vampire’ thus has the same bloodletting characteristics as the Ebola virus disease. This new description of corruption as a vampire by the President represents an elevation from her previous description of corruption as ‘public enemy number one’.Yet words and name calling alone cannot safeguard a true legacy in corruption’s fight – actions and more actions are needed to follow these words.

Taking cue from the President’s firm words on corruption, the Liberia Council of Churches in its ‘Ecumenical Greetings[i]’ this month drew attention to what it terms ‘key issues that need immediate attention by the government to improve the livelihoods of the citizens’. The correlation between corruption and the improvement of the living situation of ordinary people is made. The Liberian Council of Churches indicated that ‘people continue to suffer from the ills of rampant corruption’ and asked for ‘stern and tougher actions’.

The ink on the Council’s greetings have not dried when the Director General of the General Services Agency, the entity charged with the responsibility to safeguard Liberia’s assets alarmed about vanished vehicles donated to fight Ebola. ‘Wegave out 317 vehicles but the audit report from the Internal Audit Agency shows a little over 200 vehicles are available, we are still looking for the rest of the vehicles[ii].”Vehicles are not too small to be hidden. Hopefully they will be found and the matter will be put to rest. If not, it will be another confirmation of the uncanny diabolical union that corruption has with Ebola. Resources used in the Ebola fight disappeared under the weight of the corruption problem.

The Government’s official reaction to the Council’s greetings was to attack the messenger – take the speck out of your own eyes first. In its response, the Government described the Council’s call for stern and tougher actions against rampant corruption as ‘public posturing’ done in ‘obvious disregard to the available objective evidence’ to ‘publicly undermine the ongoing fight against corruption.’ The statement charged that if corruption allegation is true, the Council must accept responsibility because ‘today, many public officials are members of various churches in the country’ and fall under ‘the moral and spiritual guidance of their clerics[iii]’.

The Council’s words against corruption have drawn official words from the Government that says it too must take responsibility. That the Council can and should take responsibility in the fight against corruption does not take away the truth of its observations about corruption. The Council’s greetings should not have been met with disdain and counter accusations.Both the Government’s official position and the claims of the Liberia Council of Churches seem to converge on similar conclusions: corruption exists, it hurts society and more actions should be taken not only by the Government but also the Churches and by extension society at large.

The ‘vampire’ that is corruption can be reduced with concerted efforts from broad layers of society. The legacy of communities’ resilience through their mobilization and actions to tackle the Ebola virus disease can also be the game changing catalysts needed to advance the fight against corruption. Yet community mobilization in the fight against Ebola was a complementary response to the Government interventions. This same collaborative relationship between the Government and the rest of society must be the mantra moving forward in the corruption fight. 

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[i]The Inquirer, Wednesday, September 16, 2015 pg 4 ’Liberian Council of Churches Ecumenical Greetings’

[ii] Front Page Africa ’Vanishing Act: Several Vehicles Donated to Fight Ebola Gone’ September 16, 2015 http://www.frontpageafricaonline.com/index.php/news/6275-vanishing-act-several-vehicles-donated-to-fight-ebola-gone

[iii] Allafrica.com ’Liberia: Official Response of the Government of Liberia to the Recent Ecumenical Letter of the Liberian Council of Churches’ September 15, 2015