Dishonesty: Norm in Johnson-Sirleaf’s Liberia

Joe (alias), 51, is a US based Liberian. After many years of stay abroad, Joe and his family last December took an annual vacation to his native land, Liberia. According to Joe, his trip was “good;” he met and spent time with relatives, friends, and loved ones.

But Joe was quick to point out his dislike about how deceit has being institutionalized in the tiny West African country. “From the moment, we set our feet on the Liberian soil at the Roberts International Airport (RIA), my family and I knew we were now in a different environment; desperation, poverty, and the pervasiveness of dishonesty,” he recounted.

Liberia is more than 166 years old but remains one of Africa's least developed nations mainly because of corruption. The country gained independence on July 26, 1847 and has a population of 3.7 million people. Destitution in the country is wide spread and it has deepened over the past decades. Approximately, 76% of the Liberian population lives below the poverty threshold of US $1 a day and 52% even lives in extreme destitution of less than US $50 a day.

Beginning December 24, 1989, Liberia was engulfed in 14 years of successive civil wars. The civil crises shattered the nation's economy and exacerbated living conditions. Approximately, more than 250 thousand human lives and millions of dollars worth of properties were lost while thousands of Liberians became displaced internally and externally. In the year 2003, the nation regained political stability and in 2005 Liberians democratically elected President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first African female Head of State.

Sharing his anecdotal experience about life in the post war country with this author, Joe reported “Thievery is wide spread; there are cheaters all over the place even at the family level. Everybody just wants to grab and go.” For instance, he explained “We wanted to do laundry; my wife gave a gentleman, who came to my father-in-law that morning at the house where we stayed seeking domestic work 50 Liberian dollars to buy powdered soap. The man went to a nearby convenient store and purchased two small packs of the soap. When he returned, I asked him how much did the soap cost? He responded, 50 dollars. When I asked him to show me where he bought the soap from because I wanted to buy more, the gentleman urged me to disregard the purchase because the two packs he bought were enough to do the laundry. However, when I insisted on going to the store to buy additional packs, he reluctantly showed me the store. I went there and discovered that a pack of the small tide soap was on sale for 10 Liberian dollars. The store also, auctions two packs of the same powdered soap for 15 Liberian dollars. To prove the man wrong, I purchased 6 packs and took them to him. I told him that I bought the 6 packs for 45 Liberian dollars which was 5 Liberian dollars less than the 50 dollars he reportedly spent at the same store for 2 packs. He was embarrassed.”

The foreign exchange rate between the Liberian and US dollars is 1 US dollar to 81 Liberian dollars. Fifty Liberian dollars is approximately US 62 cents. The man allegedly duped Joe of nearly US 39 cents, or 35 Liberian dollars.

Way of Life Although Joe's bitter experience with the man seems negligible, it speaks volumes about the commonness of trickery in the country. Dishonesty in Liberia is a profound crisis, which is not unique to a particular administration, groups, ethnicity, gender, religion, and generation. It dates back as far the founding era of the country. It is a quandary, which laid the basis for the notorious April 12, 1980 military coup and the long drawn December 24, 1989 civil up-rising.

Deceitfulness in the words of most Liberians including President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is an entrenched or “systemic” problem. The 4th edition of the Webster's New World College Dictionary defines dishonesty as deceiving, stealing, etc. Theft, shady deals, and the giving and taking of bribes by journalists, public officials, church leaders, educators, students, and private citizens and businesses are norms. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, defines norm as an informal understanding that governs society's behaviors; what is right or wrong behaviorally.

In the country dishonesty is adored and it is inextricably linked with the people's everyday life. Liberians, who openly engage in acts of thievery are pampered, recycled, and elevated to lucrative positions of trust. In the communities, they are praised and hailed as heroes and heroines. Sometimes they are crowned and named as public officials, fathers, and mothers of the year.

Paradoxically, Liberia is one of few nations in the world where those who leave public offices without the accumulation of material wealth and money overnight as it is being done now in the Johnson-Sirleaf administration, are branded by their peers, neighbours, and relatives as “stupid and foolish.”

In the media, daily news reports about graft in government, private businesses, churches, community organizations, political parties, schools, among others are in abundance. Even foreign investors are not spared by crooks and the discredited in the country. A month ago, a frustrated Canadian investor Len Linstrom published a 300 page book titled: “Corruption 101 the Liberian Style.” In the book, Mr. Lindstrom catalogued his indignation with the Liberian judiciary and alleged corrupt practices by some current and former senior government officials with particular focus on a legal matter involving his mining company, Liberty and the Ministry of Lands, Mines, and Energy.

Last December, the University of Liberia embattled Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Dr. Wede Elliott-Brownell drew the credibility of the state owned university faculty into disrepute when she alleged “there exists scores of academic criminals” at the institution. In an effort to contain the reported obstacle, she proposed the legislation of a law that would criminalize academic malfeasance and corruption in the education sector. Dr. Brownell said the purpose of the legislation to be titled “Academic Felony” would be to harshly punished educators, “who are determined to destroy the future of Liberia by destroying the minds of our young people.”

Causation
Research shows that there are several causations for the uncontrollable wave of deceit in Liberia, but the foremost underlining factors are culture of impunity-failure to prosecute; political patronage-crooks are let-off the hook because of their affiliation with higher-ups in the government; and an inefficient and corrupt judiciary where destitute police officers, judges, jurors, and lawyers are noted for delivering justice to the highest bidders including criminals and the corrupt.

War on Corruption
More than eight years ago when Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf took over the Liberian presidency, she did not mince her words in condemning the menace. She vowed to make rampant corruption in public offices a problem of the past. In her first inaugural speech delivered on January 6, 2006, the “Iron Lady,” declared the epidemic, her administration's Public Enemy Number One.

Then, she pontificated, “Corruption erodes faith in government because the mismanagement and misapplication of public resources weakens accountability, transparency, and justice. Corruption short changes and undermines key decision and policy making process. It stifles private investments which create jobs and assures support from our partners. Corruption is a national cancer that creates hostility, mistrust, and anger. Throughout the campaign, I assured our people that if elected, we would wage war against corruption regardless of where it exists, or by whom it is practiced. Today, I renew this pledge. Corruption, under my administration, will be the major public enemy. We will confront it. We will fight it. Any member of my administration who see this affirmation as mere posturing, or yet another attempt by another Liberian leader to play to the gallery on this grave issue should think twice. Anyone, who desires to challenge us in this regard, will do so at his or her personal disadvantage.”

As a manifestation of the President's commitment to going after fraudsters in public offices, the Liberian government soughed and obtained local and international funding and technical support for the resuscitation of the once dormant General Auditing Commission (GAC). The GAC is the Liberian government battle front commanding agency responsible for pinning down dishonest government officials and clearing the public sector of malfeasances.

Five years ago, the administration also, created the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) with the sole purpose of complementing the efforts of the GAC in taking on the corrupt in government. But regrettably, after years of governance, the “Iron Lady's” political will to get to the core of dishonesty in the public sector remains lukewarm. Instead of minimizing thievery in government, the problem has quadrupled. In the words of the GAC former Auditor General, John Sembe Morlu, II, the Sirleaf administration is “Three times more corrupt than its predecessors”.

In a 2012 news interview with FrontPageAfrica (FPA), a print and online news outlet based in Monrovia, the Liberian Leader conceded that her administration's war on corruption is unwinnable because the disease is systemic. Two years prior to her public admission of the government's failure to weed-out the discredited from its fold, President Johnson-Sirleaf at a town hall meeting with Liberians in the Americas held at Morgan State University in Maryland, shamed the nation's legal system when she described the judicial branch as her government's “weakest link” in the fight against corruption in Liberia.

The GAC under former AG John Sembe Morlu, II, produced more than 65 audit reports that indicted high profile government officials, but almost all of those audit reports are currently pending while the role of the LACC in prosecuting corrupt cases remains marginal. According to Counsellor James Verdier, the LACC newly designated Chairman; the underperformance of the Commission in bringing to book the dishonest in government is due mainly to inadequate funding from the Liberian government.

“The LACC's allotment in the current approved national budget is US $10 million-this invokes an impression that the LACC is well funded. However, of this amount, US $8 million is assigned as donor funding, which the Commission has not received since its establishment; instead, funds made available to the LACC's budget have not exceeded US $ 2.1 million per annum-US $ 1.3 million covers personal cost, leaving barely a little over US $ 700, 000 to administer and undertake the mandates of the LACC to date,” he reported recently in Monrovia when he appeared before the Liberian Senate for confirmation hearing.

Because of the President's indifference and lip service to clipping the wings of the corrupt in public offices, her administration has become unpopular locally and internationally. Transparency International (T.I.), the world's most credible organization that measures domestic and public sector corruption in 2011, ranked Liberia the world 91st corrupt nation with a score of 3.3. T.I.'s corruption index scores range from zero to ten; scores of 3.2 with 1 being the least, are considered significantly corrupt.

Implications
The unchecked corruption in Sirleaf's Liberia has put a dent in the President's legacy and the credibility of the nation's political leaders. Moreover, it is undermining and stalling national development as it is seen with the poor execution or abandonment of national projects by dishonest public officials.

Additionally, corruption is undermining Liberia's criminal justice system in the dispensation of justice. It emboldens criminals and crooks in flaunting the law. The prevailing situation is crippling the nation's economy and the creation of jobs by driving away potential foreign investors and local entrepreneurs. Furthermore, deceit especially in the education sector is adding up to the mass production of high school and college graduates, who are functionally illiterate. The situation also, sets a bad precedent for the younger generation. Regrettably, dishonesty teaches and promotes thievery as an acceptable way of life.

Recommendations
The current wave of dishonesty in Liberia cannot continue unabated. The need to checkmate the dishonest and criminals, who are depleting the nation's treasury and literally poisoning the minds of the young generation, cannot be overstated. To reverse the situation, I wish to propose the following:

• That the Liberian government transforms the nation's judiciary by weeding out corrupt and incompetent judges and lawyers. Government must provide adequate financial assistance to the judiciary for the hiring and retention of seasoned and honest lawyers, judges, staff, and court administrators for the delivery of speedy and impartial justice.

• That government up hold the rule of law by ensuring that individuals accused of fraud in the public and private sectors are given their days in court for speedy trial;

• That the Johnson-Sirleaf administration must ensure that political patronage and the culture of impunity, which undermine transparency in the dispensation of justice are curtailed by the President and higher-ups in the government;

• That government rethink the current salary scales of public servants by ensuring that salaries are commensurate with their qualifications and the cost of living in Liberia; and

• That Liberians at home and abroad must cooperate and support the government in shaming and prosecuting corrupt public officials, citizens, and foreigners. Instead of elevating, recycling, promoting, praising and honoring the dishonest, all Liberians including journalists, national leaders, and ordinary citizens must work in unison in snubbing, prosecuting, and shaming crooks and criminals in the country.

About the Author: Moses D. Sandy is a career social worker. He holds a Masters in Social Work (MSW) from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mr. Sandy is also, a Liberian journalist. He resides in the USA.

Moses D. Sandy
[email protected] /3024944688