Liberia: Transformation Not Corruption

opinion

The people who love Liberia continue to work together to get rid of corruption because corruption continues to exist in Liberia. The immediate past government said that it worked hard against corruption but could not get rid of it and so the immediate past government left the unfinished work to eliminate corruption with the present government. When the present government was an opposition political party, it said that it would hit the ground running to get rid of corruption upon its election to manage the Liberian State. Now, after managing the Liberian State for nearly six years, corruption is mounting and the present government blames the immediate past government for the present state of corruption. So, the present government of Liberia is not serious about getting rid of corruption.

The United States of America (USA) government, the main foreign partner of the government of Liberia (GOL) just placed sanctions on some top GOL officials, citing corruption as the reason for placing the sanctions on the officials. But right after the placement of the sanctions on the GOL officials, the USA government, the European Union (EU) and the World Bank/IMF gave the GOL nearly half a billion United States dollars. The foreign partners of the GOL are also not serious. To add insult to injury, the sanctioned officials are campaigning to get elected in the National Legislature of Liberia. Needless to say, these officials are not serious because their actions are in violation of the Constitution of Liberia and the Magnitsky Act.

The Magnitsky Act is a way that the USA government has invented to prevent foreign governments from engaging in violence and corruption. The Magnitsky Act is known as the Russia and Maldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal and the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012. The Magnitsky Act is a bi-partisan bill passed by the Congress of the USA and signed into Law during the President Obama regime. This Law is named after the Lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, a human rights lawyer who was murdered in a Russian jail in 2009.

Although twenty-six political parties of Liberia signed the second Farmingtion Declaration this year to serve as their intention to prevent violence in the ensuing election of October 10, 2023, these parties made this declaration under the auspices of ECOWAS and NEC of Liberia. These parties are also not serious because NEC is corrupt and engages in operations that violate the Constitution of Liberia. Here are a few examples of the violations: NEC has already allowed the sanctioned GOL officials to run to be elected to public offices. NEC allows foreigners to vote in Liberia. NEC allows "trucking". NEC allows the bribing of NEC officials. NEC allows the buying of votes. NEC allows the illegal issuance of contracts.

The next election is scheduled to be held in October of this year, less than three months away. But GOL-promoted violence has already begun. Witness the rock throwing violence against the anti-corruption marchers of the Liberian People's Party (LPP) a few days prior to the holding of the 176th Birth Anniversary of Liberia on July 26, 2023. The Liberian National Police (LNP) was legally informed and was present but did not prevent the violence, meaning that the LNP, by logical extension the GOL, supported the violence. How can we expect the LNP to prevent election violence and post election violence when they promote pre-election violence?

But violence must be prevented to Save Liberia!!! How can violence be prevented? Violence can be prevented through the continuous actions of the people who love Liberia, as seen in their working together, within the Rule of Law, to transform the prevailing unfair electoral system into the enduring fair electoral system. It is only through this transformation that persons with good records can get elected to bring in the system of Justice, the indispensable ingredient for Peace and Progress in Liberia and in any other country.

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