Liberians See Unfair Relief Distribution and Corruption As Marring Govt's Competent Response to Covid-19

1 October 2024
Afrobarometer (Accra)
By Maame Akua Amoah Twum and Francisca Sarpong Owusu

Most citizens say the government needs to invest more in preparations for future health emergencies.

Key findings

  • Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic: o As of August-September 2022, about one-third (33%) of Liberians said a member of their household had lost a job, business, or primary source of income due to the pandemic, while 3% reported that someone in their household became ill with COVID-19 or tested positive for the virus.
  • Attitudes toward vaccines: o Six in 10 Liberians (60%) said they had received at least one dose of a vaccine against COVID-19. o About one in six citizens (16%) said they were not likely to try to get vaccinated, including 10% who considered it "very unlikely." o Citizens who said they were unlikely to get vaccinated cited a variety of reasons for their hesitancy, including faith that God will protect them against COVID-19 (25%), mistrust/worries about getting a counterfeit vaccine (23%), and doubts about vaccine safety (15%). o Almost six in 10 Liberians (58%) said they trust the government "somewhat" (20%) or "a lot" (38%) to ensure the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.
  • Government response to COVID-19: o More than seven in 10 Liberians (72%) said the government had performed "fairly well" or "very well" in managing the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. o Specifically, majorities were satisfied with the government's efforts to ensure that health facilities were adequately resourced (64%), to keep disruptions to children's education to a minimum (61%), and to assist vulnerable households (53%). o Even so, 72% of respondents said that COVID-19 relief assistance was distributed unfairly, and 83% thought that "some" or "a lot" of the resources intended for the pandemic response were lost to corruption. o A large majority of citizens said that during a public health emergency like COVID-19, the government is justified in using the police or military to enforce public health mandates (85%), postponing elections (83%), and censoring media reporting (71%).
  • Looking ahead: o More than half (56%) of Liberians said they think the government is prepared to deal with future public health emergencies. o Nonetheless, a large majority (82%) think the government needs to invest more in such preparations, even if it means fewer resources are available for other health services.

Leveraging lessons learned from its fight against the deadly Ebola virus, the government of Liberia established a Special Presidential Advisory Committee on COVID-19 a month before recording its first coronavirus case on 16 March 2020 (UNFPA, 2020; Marsh et al., 2021). The country's early emergency response earned international praise and may well have helped limit the pandemic's toll to 7,930 cases and 294 deaths as of September 2024 (Al Jazeera, 2020; World Health Organization, 2021, 2024; Sanny & Bloh, 2021; United Nations, 2020).

Even so, the country's COVID-19 response faced significant challenges, including misinformation, distrust of public health measures, and inadequate community engagement (World Health Organization, 2022; Al Jazeera, 2020). As the World Bank (2020) projected a 2.6% gross domestic product contraction in 2020, strategies to alleviate economic hardship, including the distribution of food, were hindered by poor infrastructure and corruption (World Health Organization, 2022; Karmo, 2020; Seydou, 2021).

Findings from Afrobarometer's most recent survey show that most Liberians were satisfied with the government's overall response to the pandemic. But a majority said that COVID-19 relief assistance was distributed unfairly and that significant resources intended for the pandemic response were lost to corruption.

And while more than half of citizens believed that their government is at least "somewhat prepared" to deal with future public health emergencies, an overwhelming majority said it should invest more in such preparations, even if it means fewer resources are available for other health services.

Maame Akua Amoah Twum Maame is the communications coordinator for North and Anglophone West Africa at Afrobarometer

Francisca Sarpong Owusu Francisca Sarpong Owusu is an assistant research analyst at the Ghana Center for Democratic Development.

Read the original article on Afrobarometer.

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