NO DOUBT THE current Unity Party administration headed by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai has cut the corner, threading where angels had feared, in terms of flexing the presidency’s hand at individuals suspected or caught misusing public funds for personal reasons. In the last two years, particularly in the last six months, the president has mustered rare courage ‘to lay hand on’ current and past public servants. Unlike any of his postwar predecessor, and given the short time of his incumbent, president Boakai has named and shamed many alleged public scoundrels than any time in recent years.
IT’S NOT LOST on us to know that the initial actions and the intent of the president remain controversial. Admittedly, we can say they don’t seem very perfect as they should, and skeptics are uncertain. And that is why, in part, we are making known our position on the matter. But that does not mean the president’s move are not commendable. By taking the bull by the horn, by being swift and decisive in heeding the recommendations of the General Auditing Commission (GAC) and the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), one can safely say the president has broken the glass ceiling; he has made a radical departure from the carefree attitude of his predecessors.
BECAUSE THE MILITARY coup of 1980, and its subsequent national destabilization effects, were justified on ‘rampant corruption and the misuse of public offices’, many had thought the passion and even venom to fighting this ‘public enemy number one’ would be collateral and proportional to its magnitude. Unfortunately, what we have seen in the Liberian officialdom is ambivalence, hanky-panky, lip-service, rhetoric, and lethargy. Despite public outcries, our leaders, for whatever reason, remain impassionate and continue characteristically to condone and compromise with reckless abandon.
BOAKAI’S ROUNDING UP in rapid succession of public officials that state institutions declared corrupt and malfeasant is assuring. He has relieved from office, by suspending, an untold number of such officials in the short period of his incumbency than the 12-year and six-year terms of his predecessors. A conservative count put it more than a dozen officials of his own administration who were purged from office over what is described as egregious fiscal misdeeds committed. And we highly appreciate.
BUT WHILE WE deeply believe the Boakai move is highly unusual and highly commendable, here are the issues we have it: mere removal of the alleged corrupt officials by means of suspension and their permanent replacement clearly leave a number of critical concerns unsettled. Firstly, we have seen multiple instances where those suspended never made it back, something equivalent to dismissal. The questions the president is left to answer are these: what happens to the monies or resources allegedly purloined by the suspended official? Are there records in fact that they were guilty? If they are replaced, not to make it back, who is held for the squandered monies? How can the Liberian public be assure that indeed that suspended/dismissed officials were culpable? If the president appoints a new head to the ministry, agency and commission, what happens if the accused and suspended official wins the case against government in court? Will he removed the newly appointed head, who perhaps was already confirmed by the Senate?
TRUTH BE TOLD, President Boakai appears to be on track in the fight against corruption since he has apparently overcome the first step—naming and shaming—a taboo, the uphill task, which many before him could not surmount. We all have seen how this taboo, largely fueled by the age-old system of patronage, nepotism, tradition and culture, and other social vices, has for a long time now prevented many Liberian presidents from shaming and naming corrupt public servants. And thankfully, President Boakai has seemingly overcome it. What is left for him is to be a bit calmer and patient with rule of law protocols, to control the zeal and exuberance that is seemingly burning in him towards confronting the vampire called corruption.
IN OTHER WORDS, the president needs to remember that, on the one hand, stolen public monies are in stake in all these suspensions being slapped on his officials. These monies must be chased and retrieved. On the other hand, hard-earned reputations of the suspended or sacked persons are on the line and must be respected. Thus, the president’s fight against corruption must balance the two. Otherwise, meanwhile, we hail him so highly, and urge him to continue to excel beyond the ordinary.
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