1. 06-07-2009 10:53

FYI

Liberia Drops 11 Points in World Bank Institute’s Ranking; MCC Quest in Jeopardy 
07/06/09 - Rodney D. Sieh, rsieh@FrontPageafrica  
 
Liberia’s ranking on the “Control of Corruption” indicator took a nose dive this year from 44 percentile in 2007 to 33 percentile in 2008, a decrease of about 11 percentage points. This means that Liberia is back to its 2006 ranking in the 33 percentile.  
 
Monrovia –  
 
Liberia’s quest to follow the footsteps of Tanzania, Cape Verde, Ghana and other 13 developing countries in securing millions of dollars in the Millennium Challenge Corporation funding is in jeopardy after the post-war West African nation took a nose dive in the latest World Bank Institute report on governance indicators for 212 countries released this week. 
 
The report regarded as one of the most comprehensive cross-country sets of governance indicators currently available, highlights the serious challenges that remain for rich and poor countries alike, and draws attention to the well-established link between better governance and improved development results. 
 
11 percent tumble on corruption fight  
 
World Bank’s reports rank Liberia in the 33 percentile on Voice & Accountability in 2008 which means there was no change from the 2007 ranking. While Liberia improved up 7 percentage points in “Political Stability & Absence of Violence. 
 
Liberia’s ranking on the “Control of Corruption” indicator took a nose dive this year from 44 percentile in 2007 to 33 percentile in 2008, a decrease of about 11 percentage points. This means that Liberia is back to its 2006 ranking in the 33 percentile.  
 
The report also reveals that the country failed to make improvements in Rule of Law and Government Effectiveness. 
 
The report has no doubt prompted some concerns from Liberia’s international partners and comes as Liberia was making some strides in fulfilling the requirements for the MCC as well as the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC).  
 
Similar efforts by Ghana and Tanzania reaped millions in aid and have proven vital to addressing poverty reduction strategy in those countries. For example, in August 2006, the Millennium Challenge Corporation signed a five-year $547 million Compact with the Republic of Ghana aimed at reducing poverty by raising farmer incomes through private sector-led and agribusiness development. MCC investments are intended to increase the production and productivity of high-value cash and food staple crops in some of the poorest regions and to enhance the competitiveness of Ghana’s agricultural products in regional and international markets. The MCC Compact in Ghana entered into force (EIF) in February 2007, formally initiating the 5-year timeline for project implementation. In Tanzania, a five-year $698 million MCC agreement has been instrumental in reducing poverty and stimulating economic growth.  
 
Recycling Corrupt Not Sitting well with Donors 
 
Complicating the grim news of the World Bank Institute reports are concerns among international partners that the Unity Party-led government has been consistently recycling corrupt officials from one institution or government agency to the next. 
 
A foreign diplomat in Monrovia, who asked anonymity for this report cited several instances where officials were let go from one government job for corruption only to be transferred to another. “This is troubling development for a Government that has claimed enormous international attention and support because the President declared zero tolerance on corruption and public enemy number one,” the diplomat maintained.  
 
A recent example is the case of Gama Roberts, a website designer who returned from the U.S.. Mr. Roberts was dismissed from the Liberia Reconstruction for Development Committee (LRDC) over allegations that he and another close Sirleaf aide, Natty B. Davis had set up a bogus company, TrueMedium and listed among its clientele the National Investment Commission (NIC); the National Port Authority(NPA) and the Liberian Telecommunications Corporation(LTC). The website for the company truemedium.com was shut down after the European Union, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the American Government and other western diplomats who participate in LRDC raised conflict of interest concerns and urged the government to give Roberts the boot.  
 
However, Roberts recently resurfaced when he was named as one of four new members of the reconstituted board of NASSCORP. The other members include: Cllr. Mulbah Daku; Oscar J. Quiah; and Norwood Hoff. Sending Roberts to serve on the NASSCORP raises the age old problem of recycling corruption within the Government of Liberia.  
 
Sirleaf reportedly asked Davis to dismiss Roberts but Davis was reluctant and Sirleaf was forced to take the action herself. Besides serving on the board of the National Social Security & Welfare Corporation (NAASCORP), Roberts also works as a consultant at the LTC.  
 
A senior Executive Mansion source confided to FPA that even after Roberts was removed from the LRDC, Davis reportedly prevailed on Sirleaf to give Roberts a lower-level job against the earlier concerns expressed by international partners. Besides his business deals with Davis, Roberts, 31, who managed the LRDC account prior to being fired, was charged in 2007 for illegal possession of a firearm. 
 
A second incident turning international partners’ head is the slap on the wrist given to former Agriculture Minister Dr. J. Chris Toe. Toe reportedly sought to solicit payments from Sithe Global, an international development company engaged in the development, construction, acquisition and operation of electric generation facilities in attractive markets around the world. The company reportedly reported the incident to international partners who prevailed on Sirleaf to rid her government of Toe. Sithe Global has since taken its business to neighboring Ghana. In the aftermath of Toe’s departure from the government, FPA has been informed that international partners remain baffled that Toe is still being offered government contracts to the dismay of donors unhappy that corrupt officials continue to be rewarded by the Sirleaf administration. 
 
Diplomats and Liberians have also frowned on the removal of former Public Works Minister Loseni Donzo and his placement in the Executive Mansion, as an advisor on infrastructure to the President.  
 
 
Former Agriculture Minister Dr. J. Chris Toe.  
More recently at the Liberian Petroleum Refinery Corporation (LPRC) an accountant at LPRC, Faustina Merchant was dismissed by Managing Director Harry Greaves only to resurface on the board of directors of LPRC. FPA has since learned that Merchant was quietly removed from the LPRC board after protest from Greaves. 
 
Liberians and international partners are concerned that the age of problems of recycling corrupt politicians within the Government is back and giving a boost to impunity. Some are even concerned that the likes of former Deputy Minister of Expenditure at Finance and also former Deputy Minister of Administration at Public Works Roderick Smith will one day be recycled in the system. Others from the Ministry of Finance including Elizabeth Martu Tubman and Althea Browne, all former officials of the Expenditure Department of the Ministry of Finance will also be recycled.  
 
Others are likely to be placed at the Executive Mansion as advisors to the President, as was the case with Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor Governments.  
 
Doe, Taylor remnants pose challenges 
 
Former Presidents Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor were noted of firing corrupt officials at 2 PM and then placing them into other positions within Government. For instance, a Liberian retorted that Mr. Morris Saytumah was dismissed by Charles Taylor at the Ministry of Finance for alleged corruption but was subsequently appointed as Minister of State for Finance and Legal Affairs in Taylor’s mansion. He currently holds the same position under the Sirleaf led Government.  
 
Another challenge noted is that so many of the people in the Government of Samuel Doe, Charles Taylor and Charles Gyude Bryant are also highly placed in the Government of President Sirleaf. Nearly all the key players in the Taylor Government are today sitting at the left hand corners of President Sirleaf including former Taylor’s pyschiarist Edward McClain (now Minister of State), Morris Saytumah, Natty B. Davis etc. A highly placed cabinet member indicated to FPA that unless the Executive Mansion is cleaned up, corruption will continue in Liberia forever because the “fish rots from the top.” If the Mansion is viewed as corrupt, everything is likely to be corrupted.  
 
Furthermore, there has been a growing list of corruption reports within the Government to the point that the President is now complaining that it is eroding her hard-earned integrity she has built over 40 years. She made her displeasure known in a recent memo to the Cabinet, a memo that is now posted on the walls of the Ministry of Finance reminding workers and Liberians of President Sirleaf professed anger against the escalating corruption in Government. However, so many including the Chair of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Frances Johnson-Morris has argued that the Government should must the political will to fight corruption, a sober reminder that the political will has been lacking on the part of the Government. In the June 2007 Report of the Panel of Experts, it was reported that the zero tolerance on corruption was nothing but a window dressed position by the President. The Panel was concerned about the lack of political will on the part of the President to execute the asset freeze and also to take a tough stand on corruption.  
 
No action on audits, Knuckles-Gate probe 
 
During a recent discussion between the MCC and the Government, it was also reported that the US Government is concerned about the lack of political will to fight corruption. They cited the failure to implement the Dunn Commission report, the various audit reports produced by the General Auditing Commission, and various reports cited by the President. The United Nations-backed International Contact Group on Liberia also called on the Government to implement the recommendations contained in the GAC 14 audit reports, at the time when the GAC has produced that number. In reviewing the website of the GAC, it has produced 21 audit reports and so far no action has been taken. When pressured, the President indicated that she will act after the Legislature had debated the audit reports, a clear sign of shifting the burden on the Legislature. When the Legislature debated NASSCORP, she again contended that there is nothing in the audit report or the Legislative report that call for prosecution. Instead she chose to appoint members of the Board including Mr. Roberts who she sacked for corruption.  
 
The President indicated that she had submitted more than 50 corruption cases at the Justice Ministry, but critics say, since then much has not been heard about them. It appears that these are corruption cases affecting lower level officials and employees.  
 
As a result of Liberia’s recent slip on the WGI ranking, FrontPageAfrica has learned that the United States government through USAID, though troubled by the government’s reluctance to take its corruption war more seriously, have been pleading with the MCC to keep Liberia in the hunt for Millennium Challenge Corporation’s funding. Liberia was recently admitted into the MCC Threshold and promised US$11 million to begin the process of reforming and fighting corruption in order to meet the Compact as it is the case of Ghana and Tanzania. The precipitous drop in the control over corruption by a multiple of 11 times indicate that the war on corruption is being lost, and this could affect Liberia’s chances of even going beyond the threshold category under the MCC, much less to meet the Compact to receive about US$500 million.  
 
Liberia’s inability therefore to fight corruption in a serious fair and transparent manner is costing the Nation an opportunity loss of nearly US$500 million - a huge price for corruption for a nation needing a lot of financial capital to reconstruct and transform a battered economy and make a meaningful change in the lives of ordinary Liberians.

2. 08-07-2009 21:48

dr.pellar

dr.pellar if you have posted your comments as article on the main slot or front page you would have scored good points, for it is too long. 
 
Or you don't want to move from behind your pen name? 
 
Written By Dr. Pellar not too bad.