THE SIRLEAF ADMINISTRATION, last week, commissioned the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). The commissioning ceremony followed the legislative enactment of a law establishing the commission. This is a big lunge ahead in the fight against corruption – perhaps softening the ground for the Sirleaf Administration’s implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Plan. The commissioning of the ACC at this time takes the country halfway to taking corruption in a rein and banishing it from the Liberian society, making it an exception rather than a major modus operandi of major public financial transactions. The enactment into law and the commissioning of an anti-corruption institution is exactly what diagnosis is to the treatment of a stubborn illness.
THIS, THOUGH, IS not to say that the commission, as an end in itself – without transforming itself into an anti-corruption weapon – will banish corruption and make it an exception. It means more. Concededly, we can not take a stand on the official mandate of the commission because we have yet to seen it. So, we have only to operate on a blank check, knowing that a typical, worthwhile commission on corruption must do one of several things: fight corruption by prosecuting individuals found breaching public trust without fear or favor. And the ACC, established as part of the reform mechanism of the Liberian society, born amidst the widespread slighting of corruption as a national vice by the government and the Liberian people, cannot be an exception.
THIS IS WHAT inspires our confidence in the existence and our hope in the operation of the ACC. And this must prompt the Liberian people to revolve today to help the ACC succeed. But our hope and confidence tell us something more about what the ACC ought to and must do in order to bring respite to the economy and help the government impact positively on the standards of living of the Liberian people – something it must do to make it relevant to the Liberian taxpayers without becoming the toothless bulldogs that most commissions established to help solve the woes of the nation have become. This sounds like the ACC is central to the establishment of peace and security in Liberia and the maintenance of democracy. Yes, it is. It is a gain on corruption. So, it must take extra-statutory steps to justify its existence, to make Liberia more resolute in its drive to revive the economy and make the Liberian people establish trust in their government and the institutions it uses to handle their welfare. And these are extra-statutory steps the ACC ought to take: collaborate with the security forces to compile prima facie evidence against people who violate the people’s trust through bribery, conversion of funds from public to private use, and the deliberate misapplication of state funds on behalf of an interest or client.
BUT WE WANT the ACC to be more than a nagging, cynical, fault-finding institution that is all-to-ready to bark at individuals the power that be says are public enemy, are corrupt. Rather, it must be an informed anti-corruption watchdog to which the government will look for information on economic leakage and solutions. To be that kind of watchdog, it must form an extra-statutory collaboration with the Auditing and Budget bureaus to eliminate bureaucratic links that support misapplication of state funds. It must work with line ministries and autonomous public corporations to investigate salary scales, cash transfers, salary payment timetables, and income tax rates that do not only promote poverty but that also promote corruption. It must define corruption.
IT MUST DEFINE corruption so that a rise in commodity prices due to external forces will not be read as corruption but will be seen as a possible act of inflation. It must define corruption to enhance its work, to avoid ambiguity and double standards in application. It must define corruption so that the staffs of the legislators will be relevant to their legislative activities such as the economy, security, investment, reforms, education, health, peace and reconciliation, etc., and will pass the “staff verification head-count” test such as that proposed by GEMAP sometime ago. Corruption must be defined so that corporate bribery to undermine official actions will not be called “cold water” and so that legislators will not claim lobbying fees from county officials for the passage of a budget item for local development. Corruption must be defined so that bond fees will be redeemable and so that bribery can be set off from legitimate court fees; so that business entities will stop buying the forms on which their tax returns will be stated. It must be defined so that business houses will stop paying government paid “internal auditors” for auditing their businesses in order for the state to derive its annual tax. Yes, corruption must be defined so that BIVAC will do a better job of protecting the Liberian consumers against substandard, and in some cases, contaminated and rejected consumer items imported to the country. Corruption must be defined so that all will identify and smell it when it is around – so that no one in charge of public trust will operate in ignorance. Not only that; it must also graphically describe corruption for the hard of hearing.
IF CORRUPTION IS defined and described, if it is identifiable rather than felt on the basis of cynicism, paranoia, or political rivalry, the accused will have his day and the courts will be vindicated from the usual allegations of acting according to the whims and caprices of the state. If corruptions defined and described to the knowledge of all, the accused will not languish in jail while the state gropes for evidence to prosecute him and the state will not eventually be forced to grant amnesty for “the sake of peace” by public opinion and international pressure for rule of law and justice.
SO AS WE CELEBRATE the commissioning of the ACC, viewing it as a gain on corruption, we call on all well-meaning Liberians to give the commission the support due it. We congratulate the commissioners and urge them to brace themselves for the pivotal role of setting the society straight that is assigned them. We call on the Sirleaf Administration to ensure that the ACC is not merely intended to satisfy the anxiety of the international community of seeing a symbol of Liberia’s fight against corruption. It must ensure that the commission is well supported so that inefficiency will be extricated from lack of support in case things do not go according to expectation. It must not escape the government that a hungry, demoralized watchdog is prone to taking feeds from the thief. |
