By Civil Society Organizations on the ECOWAS Parliament Summit in Liberia 

We, Naymote Partners for Democratic Development, Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia, Integrity Watch Liberia, Institute for Research and Democratic Development, Accountability Lab Liberia and the National Civil Society Council of Liberia welcome the hosting of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) Fifth Legislative Parliamentary Seminar and First Extraordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament for the year 2022 in Liberia.

As leaders of civil society organizations in Liberia, we are deeply concerned that 22 years since the inauguration of the First Legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament, the parliament has made little impact in the lives of ECOWAS citizens due to its failure to hold member states accountable for corrupt and anti-democratic practices. While it was meant to be a platform for dialogue for ECOWAS citizens and foster integration, it has been hijacked by politicians who have neglected the core challenges facing the people of the ECOWAS region.

In Liberia, little is known about the work of the Liberian delegation to the Parliament, and Liberians have no means of holding their delegates accountable for what they do at the regional body. The delegation makes no efforts at engaging with the public on their work at the Parliament — laws and policies adopted and their ramifications for member states and if these laws are domesticated in-country. To date the Liberian delegation over the years have failed to 'inform and sensitize the population on issues of integration'. This is counterproductive to the common interest of the ECOWAS citizens, whose taxes are used to finance and sustain the Parliament through the financial contributions made by the member states.

The increasing wave of political instability and coup d'état in the sub-region, especially in Guinea, Mali and declining trust in democracy due to the failure of governments across the ECOWAS region to meet up to the challenges of unemployment, rising cost of living, insecurity, human rights violations, widespread corruption and poor governance bring into question the role, relevance and impact of the ECOWAS Parliament in advancing democracy and social prosperity in the region.

We believe it is high time the ECOWAS Parliament became proactive and robust in engaging with the economic and political challenges of the region and delivering the much-needed inclusive and sustainable reforms needed to advance democracy, regional integration, and prosperity in the region. This includes, but not limited to genuinely taking practical actions against corruption, rape and other sexual and gender-based offences, supporting member states in eliminating trade barriers, reducing and ending unemployment, human trafficking, insecurity, drugs abuse, money laundering and illicit financial flows, and imposing sanctions against leaders who undermine constitutional democracy and abuse human rights in their countries.   

We demand that the ECOWAS Parliament lays out clear mechanisms that make its processes accessible, responsive, and accountable to the citizens of the 15 member states and ensures that proposed laws and policies benefit from broader consultations with the people of the region, before being adopted and domesticated. Finally, we strongly encourage the body to engage more with civil society and create greater visibility for its work, at regional and national levels.

Citizens Demand Openness in CSDF Expenditures

Monrovia, Tuesday, 22 February 2022 - Openness and accountability in budget and expenditure processes foster trust in government as it ensures citizens’ views and interests are respected and public resources are used for the public good.

Even though laws exist to promote transparency and accountability, as well as to prevent corruption in the expenditure of public resources including the County Social Development Fund (CSDF), the conduct of the custodians of these resources continue to fall short of meeting minimum benchmarks of transparency, accountability and anti-corruption. Citizens continue to decry lack of participation, transparency, and accountability. Even worse is the fact that many are convinced that corruption is the ultimate rationale for their exclusion. Participants of the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL)’s Open Expenditure Forums (OEFs) held recently in Bong, Nimba, Rivercess, and Grand Bassa counties have re-echoed this point. However, there are other shining examples of participation worth noting.

“Construction works for persons with disabilities (PWDs) require lots of technical things to allow easy access for all persons with disabilities. So, it cannot be done by just anybody (engineer), the person must either be guided or knowledgeable of PWDs,” said Arthur Bondo, representative of the National Union of Organizations with Disabilities (NUOD) and Chairman of the Bong County Disable Community.

Bondo said members of the disable community in Bong County were never part of any discussion leading to, or involved with any process that led to the renovation of their headquarters in the county. According to him, the US$10,000.00 spent by the county to renovate the structure cannot accommodate the current one hundred and thirty-nine (139) persons with disabilities in Gbarnga City alone, but they are disappointingly managing it.

Like in Bong County, the Nimba County disable community was never involved with process leading to the construction of their headquarters in Sanniquellie City. Abestine Tozay, President of the group said they were excluded from the decision-making and the contractor who was hired to do the construction said he wasn’t answerable to them.   Meanwhile, in Rivercess County, people with disabilities equally feel marginalized and excluded from all decision-making and developmental initiatives of the county.

Mr. Samuel Outland, head of the Organization of Persons with Disabilities in the county said people with special needs are surviving under extreme conditions and the county leadership care less about their wellbeing. The situation of persons with disabilities seem dreadfully similar across the counties. Peter Jimmy of the Group of 77 in Grand Bassa County also shared the same story. Mr. Jimmy frowned on the local authorities, especially members of the Project Management Committee (PMC) for the lack of inclusion of persons with disabilities in activities in the County.  

But unlike the Disable Community in Bong, the Bong County Women Organization was involved throughout the implementation of their project. They were constructively engaged with most of the processes leading to the construction of the Bong Women Center. She stated that as a result of their robust monitoring of the construction process, they were able to identify and demand the change of a design that was not submitted by the women.  

Sadly, this is not the case in Nimba.  Women complain they are yet to be included on the County Council Sitting Resolution despite all efforts exerted so far. “County Sittings have been held in Nimba, but we (women of Nimba) have not even served as observers, except on one occasion,” said Madam Yah Belleh Suah, County Coordinator, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. 

She stated that until that lone occasion where she was reluctantly considered to serve as observer at the County Sittings, the Ministry nor the women of the County were never part of the process; but, Nimba County Assistant Superintendent for Development said the selection of delegates to the County Sitting is beyond the scope of the County leadership. 

The Project Management Committees (PMCs) are charged with the responsibility of implementing projects.

In Bong County, the PMC received US$1.7 million out of the budgeted US$2.9 million in the 2018/2019 County Council Sitting to implement 30 projects, out of which 12 have so far been completed and dedicated, while in Nimba, of the US$2.8 million budgeted in the 2021 County Council Sitting, US$2.7 million was received to implement forty-six (46) projects in the county out of which twenty (20) have been completed so far.

The essence of the Forum is to promote openness and accountability in the public space through access to information that is very critical to the consolidation of the Country’s democracy. It provides the space for citizens to interact with government officials and voice concerns about the effectiveness and efficiency of resources expended and or projects and activities undertaken by public officials by and through their resources, especially the County Social Development Funds.

The Open Expenditure Forum also sought to provide stakeholders with information on broad and specific national efforts in fighting against Corruption and efforts to promote the culture of accountability and transparency in Liberia.

It’s part of activities under CENTAL’s National Integrity Building and Anti-Corruption (NIBA) Program targeting seven counties – Montserrado, Bong, Nimba, Grand Bassa, Rivercess, Bomi and Gbarpolu. It’s funded by the Government of Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). 

Monrovia, Tuesday, 25 January 2022

As the national chapter of Transparency International in Liberia, the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL) is pleased to release findings of Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2021. Since 1995, the Corruption Perception Index has been scoring and ranking countries based on how corrupt their public sectors are perceived, according to experts and business executives. The score ranges from 0 to 100, where 0 equals the highest level of perceived public sector corruption and 100 equals lowest level of perceived public sector corruption. 180 Countries were targeted in 2021 as in 2020 and 2019.

The CPI draws upon 13 data sources, which captured the assessment of experts and business executives on a number of corrupt behaviors in the public sector, including bribery, diversion of public funds and supplies, use of public office for private gain, procurement irregularities, and nepotism in the civil service. Some of the sources also looked at frameworks/mechanisms available to prevent and address corruption in a country, such as: the government’s ability to enforce integrity mechanisms; independence of anti-graft institutions; the effective prosecution of corrupt officials; conflict of interest prevention; access to information; freedom of speech and the media, and legal protection for whistleblowers, witnesses, journalists, and investigators.

Global Highlights:

CPI 2021 reveals that the fight against corruption has stagnated worldwide at a time when human rights and democracy are also under attack. This is no coincidence. Corruption enables human rights abuses. Conversely, ensuring basic rights and freedoms means there is less space for corruption to go unchallenged. The global average remains unchanged at a score of 43 out of 100 for the tenth year running. The top countries are Denmark (88), Finland (88) and New Zealand (88), Norway (85), and Sweden (85). The bottom countries are Somalia (13), Syria (13) and South Sudan (11).

The highest scoring region is Western Europe with an average score of 66. The lowest scoring regions are Sub-Saharan Africa (33), and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (36). The 33 average score of Sub-Saharan Africa shows a bleak picture of inaction against corruption in the region, as governments are doing very little to convincingly deal with the culture of impunity.

Regional Highlights and Trends:

In 2021, the Corruption Perception Index shows a decade of stagnating Corruption levels amid human rights abuses and democratic decline in Sub-Saharan Africa. Progress is stalled, while over 90 per cent of countries score below 50. The Sub-Saharan Africa average is 33, the lowest in the world. In the last decade, 43 countries in the region have either declined or made no significant progress.  Since 2012, Botswana (55), Liberia (29), Mali (29) and South Sudan (11) have significantly declined on the CPI.

With a score of 70, the Seychelles earns the highest mark in the region, followed by Botswana (55) and Cape Verde (58) as distant runners-up. Only six countries in the region have significantly improved their scores over that period: Seychelles (70), Senegal (43), Ethiopia (39), Tanzania (39), Côte d'Ivoire (36) and Angola (29).

Although no country is free of corruption, countries topping the CPI share characteristics of open government, press freedom, strong parliament/legislature, civil liberties, and independent judiciary. Meanwhile, countries at the bottom are characterized by widespread impunity for corruption; poor governance; and weak institutions, including but not limited to parliament/legislature and anti-corruption and integrity institutions.

Liberia’s Score and Performance:

Although Liberia’s score is 29, compared to 28 in 2019 and 2020 respectively, it remains an under performer and one of the biggest decliners worldwide, since 2012. The country now ranks 136/180 and remains further down the table, joining the list of countries significantly declining on the CPI. With the exception of Saint Lucia that has dropped fifteen (15) points and Syria (13) points, globally, only Liberia has fallen thirteen (12) points since 2012. Since the country attained her highest score of 41 in 2012, it has failed to perform any better. It must be indicated that Liberia’s improved performance then was largely due to passage of key laws and establishment of public integrity institutions. Unfortunately, the Country has since failed to make these institutions and laws work, as the laws are not enforced/respected and public integrity institutions are not fully supported (morally, financially, and otherwise) to satisfactorily deliver.  

CENTAL is deeply worried over Liberia’s continuous poor performance, especially her place among the Worst Decliners worldwide. In part, this speaks to the Liberian Government’s inability to address entrenched culture of impunity and fully enforce existing anti-corruption laws and policies. Liberians have heard more words and promises from the President and other public officials than concerted genuine efforts/actions in the fight against Corruption in the country.

There can be no successful fight against Corruption if the Rule of Law is not upheld; if the Legislature and the Judiciary are weak; if infrastructure projects are prioritized over governance and anti-corruption issues; if the President remains silent on numerous allegations of corruption against his officials; if the laws are meant for others and not senior government officials and their friends and relatives; and if, among other things, the national budget is used as a tool for political corruption and investigations into major scandals and allegations of corruption are stalled or seemingly endless.

Recommendations:

To help improve Liberia’s rating and performance on the CPI, regionally and globally, and reverse the growing negative trend and public perception about Government’s fight against corruption in the country, CENTAL recommends the below:

1. That President George Weah leads by example and pursue a sincere and holistic fight against Corruption that does not protect certain individuals and groups accused of corruption, especially those who appear to be very close to the Presidency;
2. That President Weah gives equal and even greater attention to anti-corruption and governance issues, just as he is keen about roads, market buildings, and other infrastructure projects;
3. That President makes timely and appropriate appointments to fill existing multiple leadership gaps at public integrity institutions;
4. That Government provides adequate funding and space for anti-corruption institutions to effectively perform. Continuous limited funding to the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission, General Auditing Commission, Public Procurement and Concession Commission, and other public integrity institutions do not show true political will and commitment to national efforts against Corruption;
5. That the Legislature be robust and independent in playing its role, ensuring that priority is given to anti-corruption and governance issues. Anti-corruption bills currently before the Legislature should be timely passed to somehow strengthen the fight against corruption in the country; and
6. That civil society, media, ordinary citizens, and other actors remain constructively engaged with national efforts against corruption.

Signed:

Anderson Miamen,

0886818855/0776391481

PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monrovia, Thursday, January 13, 2022,

CENTAL Calls on President Weah to Prioritize Governance and Anti-Corruption Issues, if his Quest for Infrastructure Development Must Be Achieved

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen of the Press, fellow Liberians. CENTAL is glad to be partnering with the public integrity institutions, citizens, and other players to sustain the fight against Corruption in Liberia. Particularly, we are also glad that the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission appears to be on the right trajectory in playing her role as the lead anti-corruption institution in the country, despite facing major challenges. Lately, the Commission has been in the media for the right reasons, with the only major exception being the conflict of interest saga involving its Vice-Chairperson, Cllr. Kanio Gbala, which is being investigated, but has lasted longer than expected.

Our media partners, we wish to thank President George Manneh Weah for his incessant quest to construct and rehabilitate roads, build housing units, construct markets, and address other infrastructure deficits of the Country. These and many more projects are needed to address the transportation, housing, and other immediate needs of citizens.

However, CENTAL is deeply concerned about the President’s limited commitment and attention to the fight against Corruption, which is an even bigger and greater issue that has implications for achieving success at all levels and in all sectors and institutions in Liberia. So far, commitment to the fight against corruption by the President has been/is limited, thus leading to the Country’s poor performance on key governance indicators, especially the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of Transparency International. CPI rates Countries according to how Clean or Corrupt their public sectors are. Since 2018, Liberia has declined by four (4) points from a score of 32 to 28, an indication of less attention to anti-corruption and integrity-building efforts by the Government. This is corroborated by CENTAL’s State of Corruption Report published recently, in which 9 out of every 10 Liberians surveyed said Corruption is a major issue in Liberia.

While integrity institutions have been maintained, they have not been given the required attention and support to satisfactorily deliver on their mandates and functions. There are many indications. Nearly all public integrity institutions are without fully constituted leaderships at the moment. The Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission, Internal Audit Agency, Financial Intelligence Unit, Governance Commission and other critical governance and anti-corruption bodies do not have the required number of appointed, confirmed, and tenured officials. This has been lingering for two years and even more for some institutions, especially the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission that leads the Country and Government’s fight against Corruption. This undermines their mandates, job security, and motivation, thus affecting their productivity levels and performance. Also, public integrity institutions are grossly underfunded, despite playing key roles in giving the Government and Country the required reputation, credibility and systems and controls needed to safeguard public resources and assets as well as mobilize the required domestic and external resources to fund key activities and processes. For over four years, the Office of the Ombudsman has not been established to oversee the implementation of the Code of Conduct for Public Officials, as provided for in the 2014 Code of Conduct for Public Officials. Additionally, allegations of corruption involving top officials of government have not been given the required attention, one being the head of special projects in the office of the President who was accused of soliciting bribe from an investor. Since an internal investigation was launched, for nearly half-year, there has been no update to the public about the status of such grave matter bordering on the credibility of the President’s office.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen of the Press, while the President’s quest for infrastructure development is welcoming, equal and perhaps greater attention should be given to the fight against Corruption and efforts to entrench integrity values at all levels of society. In fact, it is the sincerity, robustness, and impartialness of the fight against Corruption that gives a country the standing, reputation, and credibility needed to win stakeholders’ trust and confidence as well as raise much-needed domestic and external resources to fund infrastructure and other projects critical to meeting the needs of the people.  It is a strong focus on the fight against Corruption and building of a strong deterrent regime that helps government to prevent corruption in procurement (contract award) and implementation processes, thereby ensuring that roads, markets, and other projects executed are of the required quality.

Without a robust and impartial fight against Corruption, the Government won’t succeed in delivering on its promises, especially deliverables and targets contained in the Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development. While bills submitted to the Legislature to improve the legal framework for dealing with corruption are welcoming, entities that will preside over enforcement of these laws must be adequately funded, their leaderships fully constituted, and other well-meaning actions are taken if Government’s fight against Corruption must be taken seriously by citizens and development partners.

CENTAL strongly believes that the President and his government will only manifest the professed commitment and will to the fight against corruption by ensuring the following:

1. Maintaining a conducive environment for anti-corruption and integrity building efforts by government, civil society, media and other players;
2. Impartially and timely investigating and prosecuting those accused of corruption and leaving out no untouchables;
3. Taking of administrative actions against those accused of corruption, including but not limited to indefinite suspension and dismissal;
4. Fully implementing recommendations of audits and other investigative reports;
5. Timely filling long-standing vacancies at public integrity institutions with individuals with the required credibility and track records of accountability and transparency in their dealings and actions; and
6. Providing adequate and timely funding to public integrity institutions to deliver on their mandates.

Thank you.

Signed:

Management

The Gender-Based Violence Often Overlooked

By Akiah P. Glay, Ph.D.          

Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is manifested in many forms. Too often, however, attention is placed on addressing GBV in its physical and psychological form with economic violence given considerably less attention. Economic violence is often considered within the scope of emotional or psychological violence. But recently, scholars have begun to define economic violence as a unique form of violence. The European Institute for Gender Equity termed it as a unique and mandatory form of control behavior that the abuser uses in an intimate relationship other than physical, sexual and psychological abuse. According to marital dependency theory and interdependence theory, women who are forced into economic dependence are at risk of being stuck in a relationship.

Women’s economic concerns are regarded as one of the main reasons why they have difficulty leaving a violent relationship. In fact, economic violence reduces trust and women who are unmarried but are living with a male partner may be less likely to also leave an abused relationship. The best way to eradicate economic violence from Liberia is social inclusion—women and men including people living with disability should be represented equally in all sphere of the society. It has been 18 years since the end of the civil conflict, but the economy is still plagued with problems such as unemployment, and the very large subsistence agriculture sector still produces very little, while employment for the females and people living with disability is diminutive. This could be attributed to one of the many causes of abject poverty in Liberia.

Economic Gender-Based Violence can seriously impede the victims economic, physical and psychological health. It threatens the economic security and independence of the victim, limits their capacity to leave abusive relationships and make independent decision and potentially leads to adverse mental health effects. It has a negative consequence on the victim’s safety. Both males and females could be victims of such abuse but most precisely, women are the most victimize. World Health Organization (WHO) indicates  1 in 3 (30%) women Worldwide have suffered some form of violence in their life time. Women often fall   prey to violence, physical, emotional or physiological. Though organizations, both national and international have been trying to eradicate this, it seems it is not ending anytime soon. In 2007, the United Nations supported the Liberia Government to implement the  2006, National Action Plan for the Prevention and Management of Gender-Based Violence in Liberia, which planned to minimize GBV by 2011 by giving  quality care to survivors using a multi-sectoral and inter-agency approach. It categorized GBV interventions into five thematic areas: psychological, including economic empowerment of women and girls, health, legal/justice, protection/security, and coordination. The implementation was done in two phases- the first phase being implemented from 1 June 2008 to 31 May 2010. The second phase from 1 June 2010 – 31st May 2012. With all these efforts, women and girls remain the unemployed group in Liberia.   The Liberian government and all citizens of Liberia need to double up, do more to support activities that foster behavior change by challenging negative gender stereotypes, social norms and attitudes towards particular gender, and also develop mechanism that will minimize GBV and promote social inclusion of all gender including people living with disability.

Gender-Based violence especially violence committed against women and girls is increasing becoming rampant in Liberia. young women and girls are constantly falling prey to violence. In the daily newspapers, there are always storylines about rape, sexual and physical abuse of some sort. In September 2020, , Liberia through its President, His Excellence George Mannah Weah declared Rape a National Emergency issue and committed to give  $2 million to address the issue. He planned to introduced the first set of new measures to address the increase in violence against women which would have included designating a specific prosecutor to handle rape cases and setting up a national sex offender registry. He also commented to creating a national security task force to handle sexual and gender-based violence. Instead of $2 million, in the 2020/2021 FY budget, U.S. 1 million was allocated for the fight against Rape and U.S. 513,707, was used as reflected in the 2022FY budget. In 2021 sp. Budget U.S. 200,000 was allocated and used to combat rape in Liberia but more is yet to be done on women and girls education and empowerment.

 Ironically, people tend to hold on to specific doctrines that promotes the male gender. In a recent community forum held by the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL), a question was posed to participants about the cause or causes of GBV. We were amazed to hear responses such as “women are lazy; they always want to eat man’s money. They want to dress and look good without knowing where the money is coming from. So, if I spend my money on you, you are mine.”  Jerome S. Zinnah from Gbarpolu County said “my wife can never know my salary because my responsibility is to feed her and the children, I don’t want her to be frisky on me.”  Another gentleman Siaka Beyan said “I would love to be honest and share what I have with my wife, but if I do, my friends will mock me and call me stupid. They will even say the woman has bewitched me.” A lady stood up, madame Fata Mawolo and said “as for me, my husband has refused to empower me with a business because, he thinks when I am selling and making money, I will find another man. because of jealousy, he has refused to give me market money.” These are all forms of controlled behavior which leads to GBV. Controlled behavior is when a person expects, compel, or requires another person to cater to their own needs even at their expense. Controlling people often prey on vulnerable people. It is not always as obvious as punches and bruises, but can also look like restrictions on movement, coercion into sex even though you do want it and also cutting off your autonomy so you become financially dependent.

In Liberia, the current population is 5,180,203 based on United Nations projections, July 1, 2021, retrieved from WorldPopulationreview.com. 2.52 % of the population are females and 2.54% are males, which indicates that the margin between the two gender is thin. The Liberia Labor Force Survey retrieved from the International Labor Organization (ILO) 2010 Report indicates that 148.000 males to 47.000 females have paid jobs. 1.1 million citizens of Liberia are self-employed and female make up a large percent of this amount. More to that, literacy rate is 65.6 % males to 49.2% females according to the LFS, 2010. Though, there might be some improvement, the challenges still remain.

Women access to sources of independent living in Liberia is very limited. Entrenched cultural barrier that placed them in the role of a housewife has also contributed immensely to their dependence as they do most of the unpaid job. Women spend a disproportionate amount of their time doing an unpaid job such as selling, producing crops, taking care of the household. It is important to note that poverty among women has its root in the category society has placed them. Poverty and socioeconomic inequality are both causes and consequences of economic abuse. Poorer women are more likely to be dependent on their male partners then working class women, and such dependency can be used as a tactic to control women, which may lead to abuse.  

Though, Liberia has done well through the passing of various bills such as the “Affirmative Action Bill” and the Equal Representation and Participation Act of 2016 to ensure women are equally represented in the both houses and at the local government level, still much is needed. Women representation in governance is still the lowest amongst its West African counterparts with 12% of women in Legislature and 6% holding local government position.

To have a socially inclusive society, the government must support more females in acquiring skills to enable them the opportunity in their life time. While the Affirmative Action Bill and the Equal Representation and Participation Act of 2016, may be relevant to social inclusion, building the skills and expertise of a female who has never had a paid job is essential to the proper implementation of these policies. Also, there is a need to Promote the economic, social and political empowerment of women and girls. This includes supporting economic empowerment and livelihoods programs, social protection and safety nets that support women and girls and the leadership and meaningful participation of women and girls at all levels of decision-making, this could be the best way to eradicate Economic Gender-Based Violence.

…The Story of the Mulbah Town Public School in Bomi County

-By Sam Z. Zota, Jr.

Marvee Kamara is the Principal while Mabudu K. Folley serves as the Vice Principal for Instruction (VPI). But the two men double as teachers for the one-hundred and nine (109) students at the Mulbah Town Public School, an elementary school in Bomi County. The number of students is likely to increase as registration is still ongoing. The school has an enrolment record of between one-sixty (160) to two hundred (200) students per semester.

While Mabudu who also serves as registrar is in charge of the Early Childhood Education (ECE), Marvee is busy from class to class, assigning daily lessons to students from grades one to six. The same is repeated during the administration of tests for the students.

“What we do here is, when I give lesson to the first graders, I move to the next class and do the same, and when I finish giving lesson to all the classes, I go back in the same order to start explaining the lesson,” said Marvee. The school runs from 8am to 1 pm. The utter disregard for place in assigning instructors and prioritizing needs could most likely serve as a contributing factor for this dreadful situation. The “one size fits all” approach that identifies a set of rules and ignores differences from place has affected education in rural Liberia.

As if having only two instructors is not enough, supplies allocated to the school to enhance the learning process are also inadequate. The school receives two boxes of chalks as supplies from the Ministry of Education through the office of the District Education Officer (DEO) yearly.

Marvee cited the lack of instructors and educational supplies as the major challenges confronting the school. Except for the latrine, the school edifice was recently painted through a school grant from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). The GPE grant is usually disbursed by two installments at 60 and 40 percent. The total expected grant for the Mulbah Town Public School is eight-hundred United States dollars ($800USD) for the semester 2021/2022. The Mulbah Town Public School was constructed in 2017 at a cost of One Hundred and Ten Thousand United States Dollars (US$ 110,000.00) as one of the many projects implemented with the CSDF received from 2013-2017.

The situation is not unique to the Mulbah Town Public School, as most public schools across Liberia are faced with similar, some even worse, situations with students sitting on the floor to acquire education, a basic human right. Despite this, the Ministry of Education has been on a campaign massively retiring teachers. 

The Education Reform Act of 2011 obligates the Government to providing and ensuring access to, and increasing availability of high quality educational opportunities for all citizens and residents without prejudice. Unfortunately, the pace to achieving the Education Reform Act is rather slow.

In continuation of activities aimed at empowering citizens with relevant pieces of information to demand for and take actions against corruption in Liberia, the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL), under its National Building and Anti-Corruption (NIBA) Program is determined to leave nowhere (community/sector) untouched.

CENTAL has placed engagements with ordinary citizens, including women, youths, students, community leaders, marketers at the core of its Programmes. The engagement exercises are held in the seven project-targeted Counties: Bong, Nimba, Montserrado, Grand Bassa, Bomi, Gbarpolu, and Rivercess in different selected communities, schools, intellectual centers, marketplaces, etc. It allows citizens to freely discuss issues about corruption and suggest mitigation measures.

Earlier today, November 22, 2021, one of such meetings was called by CENTAL’s County Field Officer (CFO), Matus Davis under a tree at the Cepres International University in the Chief Compound Community in Gbarnga, Bong County. A cross-section of citizens, including students, youths, women, markers, community leaders, and elderly people were in attendance.  

During the engagement, CENTAL’s Program Manager, Atty. Gerald D. Yeakula presented and opened for discussion, findings of CENTAL’s recently released State of Corruption Report (SCORE) 2021. The people were very enthusiastic about the SCORE findings and made salient inputs as well as advanced different suggestions to help curb corruption and promote the culture of integrity, accountability, and transparency in the country.

The citizens described the SCORE 2021 as a ‘true picture of the high level of corruption occurring across all sectors and services in Liberia, especially the health, education, judiciary, security, etc. The people shared practical experiences of how corruption in different sectors has affected them and their loved ones.

For Ma-Nyamah Molubah, she lost her grandchild as a result of corruption in medical service delivery at the C.B. Dumber Hospital in Gbarnga, Bong County. The C.B. Dumber is one of several Government-funded hospitals that should provide free services to the public, especially the underserved population. 

“My daughter was in labor pain and was taken to the CB Dumber Hospital for treatment. Because I never had money, my daughter left crying for help from the nurses and doctors on duty from the evening to the next morning requesting me to pay money before service. We left seeking attention and looking for money until the baby died in the girl’s stomach; and it at this point that they operated on her to get the dead baby out of her,” Ma-Nyamah explained.

Like Ma-Nyamah, Josephine Jackson said the act of corruption is habitually rotating in a cycle of what she called, “you do me, I do you, syndrome.” Josephine, a teacher, said if a teacher in any school solicits bribes from her kids, she will oblige and equally repeat the same against students under her jurisdiction as a payback.  

“The entire corruption business is about - you do me, I do you. If you sell pamphlets or ask my children to pay for assignments, I’ll pay but, I will also do the same to other students for me to get my money back. I’ll say, corruption is 100% high in the school/education sector,” Josephine said.           

The NIBA Program seeks to, among other things, empower citizens with relevant pieces of information to demand for and take actions against corruption in Liberia.

David Kerkulah, a student of the Cepres International University blamed desperation and poverty for the rampant corruption.

“Desperate people do desperate things. People engage in corruption and stealing because they are desperate for any opportunity that they can take advantage of to either out food on their tables; even if it means selling their voters’ cards for little or nothing,” Kerkulah said.

“How do you expect a person who depends on daily sales from potatoes green to feed their family find and return any amount of money? Or how do you tell this kind of person about integrity?” he asked. 

However, the citizens feel that despite their awful experiences in accessing different services (public and private), all is not lost. They equally proffered insightful recommendations to help curb the menace of corruption in the country.

High on the numeral recommendations proffered the people were: an end to impunity; prosecution of accused persons; regular supply, provision of needed logistics and robust supervision as well as monitoring; rotation of staff; timely payment of employees; motivation and support for employees serving outside Monrovia and in remote areas; increased awareness about corruption; collaboration, engagements, and empowerment of community-based organizations to join the fight, etc.  

According to the State of Corruption Report (SCORE) 2021, nine out of ten Liberians (90%) think that corruption is high and only two percent think that corruption is low, while eight percent believe that corruption is moderate.

In Grand Bassa, Gbarpolu, Nimba and Bong, 90% or more of the respondents think that corruption is high. Forty-two (42%) percent of the people cited rampant corruption allegations, while forty-one (41%) percent of the people decried lack of transparency and accountability in Government for increased corruption in the Country.

The SCORE stated that thirty (30%) percent of the people also cited lack of prosecution, while twenty-nine (29%) percent indicated that corruption is a custom in the country.

At the Bong Athletic and Social Intellectual Center, all of the attendees who participated in a discussion surrounding the SCORE said the Report is a true reflection of the actual awful state the menace of corruption in Liberia. The engagement exercises are held in the seven projects targeted Counties: Bong, Nimba, Montserrado, Grand Bassa, Bomi, Gbarpolu, and Rivercess in different selected communities, schools, intellectual centers, market places, etc. as part of activities under CENTAL’s NIBA Program, funded by the Embassy of Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). It allows citizens to freely discuss issues of corruption and suggest mitigation measures.

The meeting was witnessed by Johan Romare, Head of Development Cooperation at the Swedish Embassy in Liberia. He said the meeting afforded him the opportunity to learn and further understand how to fight corruption in Liberia. “The only way to change a country is when its people are changed,” Mr. Romare said.

In remarks, CENTAL’s Executive Director, Anderson Miamen thanked the people for the level of support to the fight against corruption in Liberia.

Mr. Miamen said although not strange, he was impressed by the level of support received and salient inputs and contributions made by the citizens during the engagement.

Earlier, the Community Chairman, James Y. Ricks welcomed the team. 

The Embassy of Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) funds the National Integrity Building and Anti-corruption {NIBA) Program under which the engagements are being held in seven of Liberia’s fifteen (15) Counties.

-30-

Things Fall Apart

-Mending a community on the brink of collapse

Corruption. The leader had brazenly indulged in it. The townspeople disavowed it. Hopes that it would be addressed fizzled with the passing of time. The local government could not confront it, and even the long-revered tradition wavered in its face. The unthinkable had happened. This time not in government but the community. A venerated community leader had engaged in corruption. The trust was broken and confidence betrayed.  Corruption now stood in the way of societal harmony. Residents no longer trusted town authority. There was minimum adherence to long-held customs. Indeed, things began to fall apart.  

Neegbein is a town located less than 3 kilometers from the commercial city of Ganta in Nimba County. Like other rural Liberian communities, the town has different measures and norms to control and regulate activities of its resident. Fines are imposed on violators and amounts generated from fines go toward community development. The town relied on its traditional method of saving funds with prominent individuals rather than saving with banks in Ganta just next door. Fear of bureaucracy associated with the banking process and the need for emergency interventions with the funds further justified keeping funds with prominent individuals within the community.

Nyan Gonquoi (not his real name) was entrusted with One hundred and Five Thousand Eight Hundred Liberian dollars (L$105,800) for safekeeping when he served as town chief of Neegbein. The said amount was raised through fines paid by violators. Out of the amount received, Sixty-One Thousand Liberian dollars (L$61,000) was withdrawn by the community for agreed expenditures, thereby leaving a balance of Forty-Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty Liberian Dollars (LRD 44,750.00). By June 30, 2020, Nyan had failed to account for the remaining amount. Nyan was soon booted out as town chief. Further efforts to have him restitute the funds yielded no result.  

Due to his refusal to restitute the community money, members of the town became lawless as many could not accept to be held accountable since their former town Chief was not being held similarly. They resisted payments of fines and refused to contribute funds for the Community and other development purposes as a result of the defiant posture of their former Chief. 

Violators of long-established laws now benefited from impunity. Theft, domestic violence, disorderly conduct, etc. became frequent. But community members were still hopeful of finding an amicable solution to the matter. With traditional dispute resolution mechanisms failing, and local government also failing to act on their complaint, they began to look externally for an answer to their accountability nightmare. 

On July 19, 2021, Saye Zarwolo, a member of Neegbein community, tuned to CENTAL’s Integrity Watch Radio Program, via a local radio station in Nimba. Upon hearing of a mechanism to report corruption and integrity-related issues through a toll-free hotline (4432), Saye took immediate advantage of the opportunity and contacted CENTAL’s Advocacy and Legal Advice Center (ALAC). 

The next day, CENTAL-ALAC dispatched a team to the community to better understand the situation. Separate meetings were held with the accused Chief and other stakeholders. There was confusion over the outstanding balance in the possession of Nyan (the former Chief). To resolve this, CENTAL proposed a meeting to ensure that the records are properly reconciled. A week later, the meeting took place and it was confirmed that Forty-Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty Liberian Dollars (LRD 44,750.00) was the amount needed to be restituted. But Chief Nyan would not assure the community of the refund.

A meeting was called on August 14, 2021, with the aim of amicably resolving the matter. CENTAL provided technical support to the community to invite the District Commissioner and other key personalities to the meeting. At the meeting, Chief Nyan admitted to his wrongdoing and promised to have the money refunded. 

The townspeople insisted that a reputable person guarantees the repayment. Following consultation, Chief Nyan brought forward a guarantor who promised to repay the amount in the event that the Chief fails to do so. It was then agreed that amount be restituted in six (6) installments, beginning September 15, 2021. True to his commitment, the first payment has been made to the community. Community members have begun to respect town laws including payment of fines. 

“What was going on in this town was causing a lot of problems for us, we thank you people [CENTAL] for bringing us together to look into this money business,” Kou Deninikor, Chairlady of Neegbein Women. 

This is what Shelton Guraseah, Development Chairman of Neegbein had to say: “With the Chief agreeing to his wrongdoing and promising to fully make payment, a great step has been taken. We thank CENTAL for helping us reach this stage.” 

CENTAL is now supporting the community to open an account with a local bank in the County. Harmony has returned, peace reigns and the community is holding together. Thanks to the Government of Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) for the support.