Liberia Telecommunications Authority Chairman Clarence Massaquoi may have created a bigger problem for President Joseph Nyuma Boakai than he realizes.
Asked publicly about revenues collected by the LTA, Massaquoi did not simply say the figures were being reconciled, audited or would subsequently be published. Neither did he point journalists to the Ministry of Finance, the General Auditing Commission or some statutory reporting mechanism through which the information could be obtained.
Instead, he invoked the President.
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"If they want me to say where the money is, I will not say it. I will report to the President," Massaquoi declared.
That statement deserves far greater scrutiny than it has received.
Why should President Boakai be inserted between the Liberian people and information concerning public revenue? Did the President instruct the LTA Chairman not to disclose the figures? Has the President authorized some special arrangement under which telecommunications revenues are to be reported only to him? Or is Chairman Massaquoi simply invoking presidential authority to justify a position that is entirely his own?
These questions matter because the Chairman's statement, left unexplained, risks creating an impression that President Boakai approves of withholding information about public revenue.
There is presently no basis for us to conclude that he does.
That is precisely why Chairman Massaquoi should clarify his remarks.
President Boakai came to office promising accountability, transparency and a break with practices that have historically weakened public confidence in government. It would therefore be extraordinary if his administration had adopted a policy under which the head of an autonomous regulatory agency could collect substantial public revenues, refuse to disclose how much was collected, and answer legitimate questions by saying only that he reports to the President.
That cannot be the standard.
The President is head of the Executive Branch, but public accountability does not terminate at the gates of the Executive Mansion.
The Legislature exercises oversight. The Ministry of Finance and Development Planning has responsibilities within the country's public financial management system. The General Auditing Commission audits public resources. The Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission investigates suspected corruption. And citizens, journalists and civil society have legitimate interests in knowing how public institutions collect and manage money.
Chairman Massaquoi's remarks are even more troubling because the controversy is not occurring in a vacuum.
Questions are already being raised about telecommunications traffic monitoring, the suspension of the TIA concession, the LTA's proposed relationship with NUMTEL Liberia and revenues collected during the intervening period. The LACC has confirmed receiving complaints concerning the Authority, although the existence of a complaint is certainly not proof that wrongdoing occurred.
This is exactly the moment when maximum transparency is required.
If every dollar is accounted for, publish the numbers.
If the money is in escrow, tell the public how much is there, where the account is maintained, under whose authority it was established, who controls withdrawals and what law or regulation governs its operation.
If the money has been transferred into the Government's general revenue machinery, provide the records.
If there are legitimate legal restrictions preventing disclosure, cite them.
What should not be acceptable is: "I will report to the President."
That answer places President Boakai in an uncomfortable position. It effectively uses the President as a shield against questions of financial accountability and leaves the public wondering whether the Chairman is acting under presidential instruction.
The Executive Mansion should therefore have an interest in clearing this up.
President Boakai should not allow any official appointed by him to create the impression that reporting privately to the President is an acceptable substitute for accounting publicly for government revenue. If that is not the President's position--and we hope it is not--his administration should make that unmistakably clear.
Indeed, this controversy offers the President an opportunity.
He could direct the LTA to publish a comprehensive accounting of revenues collected during the disputed period, subject those figures to the appropriate independent audit, and make clear across government that presidential appointees do not satisfy their accountability obligations merely by reporting upward.
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They must account outward as well.
That would be entirely consistent with the President's own repeated commitment to fighting corruption and strengthening public institutions.
The issue before us is therefore larger than Clarence Massaquoi. It concerns a dangerous conception of public administration in which an agency head appears to believe that accountability to the President somehow supersedes accountability to institutions and citizens.
It does not.
And Chairman Massaquoi should be especially careful about attributing, directly or indirectly, such a position to the President.
Unless President Boakai instructed him to withhold the information, Massaquoi should stop invoking the President when asked to account for LTA revenues. If the President did issue such an instruction, then the public deserves to know that too.
Either way, somebody needs to explain.
Because the longer Chairman Massaquoi hides behind "I will report to the President," the more he risks transforming a controversy about LTA transparency into a question about President Boakai himself.
