No country can ever claim to have eradicated corruption totally. However, governments can put in place measures to bring the phenomenon under control, and in her recent policy statement on the issue President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia seems to have placed herself on the path to finding long-term solutions to a scourge that has permeated Liberian society and government from its founding days.
Elected three years ago with the fight against corruption as one of her most important campaign planks, Johnson Sirleaf has complained often about endemic corruption in all branches of government – sounding, at times, on the brink of desperation. But her new policy statement is a clear departure from her past utterances, when she and others in the government have seemed at a loss for what to do.
In her landmark speech, the president welcomed collaboration from the media, the general public and political commentators. This is a novelty, and a departure from the defensive approach she has adopted in the past, when she sometimes gave the impression she was protecting some people. She also recognized the fact that corrupt practices are part of the very foundation of Liberian institutions. Finally, she pointed to the issue of impunity – the fact that some have seemed immune to the consequences of their corruption. In addressing these issues, the president seems to have reconnected with her campaign promise to find ways in which to fight against theft, waste and graft in the public domain.
President Johnson Sirleaf may have disappointed Liberians hungry for drastic measures by failing to suspend or fire individuals, or recommend prosecutions based on recent audits by the General Auditing Commission (GAC). Their frustration in a country accustomed to kangaroo courts and flashy judgments is understandable. But Liberians will have to outgrow their taste for fast gratification.
In the past, leaders have practiced the politics of scapegoating, using crowd-pleasing judgments to get rid of foes. Now, we must wait for the legislature to review the audit reports in their entirety. This the first time Liberians will have been given access to the full results of professional audits; they can wait a few more weeks to see what recommendations were made and how the executive responds. Only once that has happened, and the president has failed to act, can she be accused of "playing favoritism."
Corruption is the mother of nearly all ills in Liberia. President William Tolbert cited it as an evil it whenever he could. When those who overthrew him stormed the Executive Mansion, killed him and later executed members of his government, the soldiers needed just one phrase to justify their brutality: "rampant corruption." Later, the government they established would turn out to be even more corrupt than the one it replaced.
The administration of Charles Taylor simply turned government into a criminal enterprise, with international ramifications. What Taylor did was not much different to what past administrations had done; only he took it to a different level. Just 10 years ago, Liberia was off the charts of the world's most corrupt nations.
After Gyude Bryant was appointed in Taylor's place to preside over the transition to a democratically-elected government, some opposed taking the "Gang of Bryant" to court too hastily because we thought his administration should be given a chance to clean up its own house. But too many people wanted to see "blood," the government gave in to the pressure and Bryant and others were taken to court precipitately. Up to now nothing substantial has happened because of the weakness of the judiciary. Now, the same noise-makers are expecting Sirleaf Johnson to make the same hasty decisions.
Since 2005, new institutions have been created, all empowered to fight one or other aspect of the weaknesses of the Liberian state. The GAC, the Governance Commission, the Commission on Contracts and Procurement and the most recent, the Anti-Corruption Commission: all have a mandate to combat waste in government, close loopholes that make theft possible and recommend ways in which public institutions can be reformed. These commissions all seem to be taking their cues from a broad reform agenda, but they have operated in little pigeonholes, rarely or never coordinating strategies.
That is about to change, according to the president, and this is a major step forward. She said for example that the Governance Commission (GC) will be playing a bigger role. Collaboration between this commission and the GAC could lead to a triangulation in which the GAC uncovers shortcomings and loopholes, the GC makes recommendations and the executive takes corrective measures. Similar collaboration could be instituted between all the commissions.
A major weakness of the current system – and one that creates the impression of an imperial presidency – is that all agencies in government have an umbilical link to the Executive Mansion, with little horizontal inter-agency collaboration. Just as the new commissions would profit from collaborating in earnest, so too could ministries. For example, Defense, Labor, Youth & Sports and Gender all serve the same clientele: is there inter-agency collaboration between them?
Candidate Sirleaf Johnson promised to fight corruption in three steps: educating Liberians about its negative effects on social development; paying living wages to those working for government; and prosecuting those caught stealing public funds.
On the first two steps, although much remains to be done a great deal of progress has been made. Liberians have learned through daily experience how corruption affects their lives and how engrained it is in every aspect of society. Since 2005, salaries have risen almost 300 percent and people are better able to plan their lives around dependable incomes.
But there are serious constraints to the prosecution of culprits. The country has never had a strong judiciary. The weakness of the court system means that even if the government has the will to prosecute, its efforts are in vain if guilty people, notwithstanding the evidence, are acquitted by a court and a jury of peers. Yet Liberia needs the courts: nobody wants to return to the days when the executive could accuse and execute anyone at whim. So the judiciary as a final arbiter is in need of a serious overhaul.
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For the first time in Liberia's history, a government is sidestepping sound bites and formulating a workable national policy against corruption. Better inter-agency coordination, especially amongst the new governance commissions, the strengthening of the judiciary and a media committed to play the role of watchdog will all play a crucial part in implementing the policy successfully. (Whistleblowers have a crucial role to play too, and they must be encouraged to play their part.)
Above all, responsibility for the success of this war against corruption rests squarely on the shoulders of the president. A few months ago, Auditor John S. Morlu said that auditing is more about finding loopholes and weaknesses in systems and recommending corrective solutions than trying to catch thieves. Of, course, he added, "If we come across a thief in the process, we must catch him and remove him."
But all in all, it is about fixing the system, changing a culture, re-arranging the way Liberia governs itself and how Liberians perceive government and public service. That is what the Johnson Sirleaf is now trying to do. She must stay the course and not be deterred by distracters, whether in-house or in the streets. And she must be encouraged and helped.
