-- As candidate Forkeyoh promises fiscal discipline
A candidate in the upcoming Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA) election has vowed to ensure that there is fiscal discipline should he and his team emerge victorious at the polls come November. Cllr. Elisha T.J. Forkeyoh, who is vying for the Secretary General on the ticket of Cllr. Wiefueh Sayeh, has pledged to work alongside other elected officials to call for a comprehensive audit following their expected victory in the Bar elections.
Cllr. Forkeyoh says the audit would be conducted by an independent firm.
The former senior law clerk of former Chief Justice Francis Korkpor vowed that drastic legal action would be taken against any past officials linked to financial malpractices.
"We will prosecute them and make the persons restitute any money that cannot be accounted for," Forkeyoh maintained.
It can be recalled that since its establishment, the bar usually made financial reports during its national convention, but Forkeyoh claims that it is not sufficient to establish fraud and impropriety. His choice of independent firm to lead the audit process is sure to raise eyebrows about massive financial impropriety at the LNBA.
Forkeyoh, a former President of the National Association of Public Defenders of Liberia, spoke on Friday at an interactive session held with judicial reporters in Monrovia.
"We are wholly and sincerely committed to changing the current sad financial narrative in the Bar, which necessitated, to the failure to complete the Bar headquarters project, almost six years," Forkeyoh claims.
According to him, if they are elected, they promise to change the financial policy towards membership payments of dues and fees.
"Can you imagine us lawyers only paying our dues and fees in cash to the individual assigned to the bar offices," Forkeyoh said about the financial policy of the bar. "This needs to change if we are interested in ensuring accountability and transparency, as lawyers. Even elementary schools demand parents to pay fees to the bank," Forkeyoh noted.
He, however, attributed the current delay in the completion of the headquarters, despite thousands of payments being made, to lack of fiscal discipline, in utilizing fees collected from members of the association.
Driven to break the stigma that secretariat duties are bound only within constitutional duties, Forkeyoh vowed to promote LNBA's involvement through a multi-sectoral alliance and an immersion with civil society organizations.
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"We are the respected civil society organizations in the country, but what can we boast of impacting the society," Forkeyoh's questioned the role of past administration.
Promises of integrity and accountability have been a backbone of Forkeyoh's and his team's election bid in 2024, and he used Friday's interaction to showcase their plans for transparent leadership.
Meanwhile, the Election Committee will, on Monday, release timetable for activities leading to the November 30, general elections
