Corruption had become so endemic that observers have come to the conclusion that it is the virus that caused the “acquired fiscal management deficiency syndrome” of governance in Liberia.

Tolbert drew a dagger against it in the mid-1970s, and Doe publicly flogged a finance official for it in the late 1980s – all in vain. And not surprisingly by early 2000, Taylor began using it as trade-off for loyalty at the time insurgents were rocking him out of the throne.

But in vain contrast, Gyude Bryant declared a “Zero Tolerance for Corruption” in 2003 and then ducked when corruption reared up in its full regalia.

The incidence of corruption was such that by December 2005, Liberia lied at the bottom of the anti-corruption rankings of the World Bank Institute. But that picture has changed dramatically, surprising statisticians and making Liberia the world’s most zero-tolerant post-conflict nation.

“But why…how?” is the question incredulous Liberians are asking. The Analyst Staff Writer has been sifting a recent World Bank report on corruption.

A recent report of the Worldwide Governance Indicators Institute (WGI) of the World Bank has indicated that at the current rate, Liberia has shown the largest improvement of any country in the world in controlling corruption.

The assertion, according to the WGI report, is advised by the country’s anti-corruption assessment findings covering the period January 2004 to July 2008.

From a dismal low of 190th out of 206 countries ranked according to demonstrable standing in the fight against corruption in the public and private sectors in 2004, Liberia by 2007 rose dramatically to the 113th place out of the same number of countries.

The WGI indicators say corruption control lingered at the bottom 5% up to 2000 before rising steadily to 10% in 2002. It flopped during intense fighting in Liberia to between 8 and 9 per cent up to the end of 2005 before picking up the current speed with the inauguration of a civilian government headed by Africa’s first elected female head of state, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

Also from the low of 5% rating in the control of corruption in 1996, the WGI indicators revealed, Liberia currently stands close to 45% globally in corruption control and the regeneration of fiscal management and discipline that involve accountability, transparency, and commitment to budget controlled spending.

What this means in terms of the redistribution of the nation’s wealth and the improvement of its damaged infrastructure is not clear, but according to the WGI indicators, Liberia has shown that it has the capacity to revive its economy, buttressed appropriately and in a timely manner by donor governments and international lending institutions.

It said the Indicators suggested that where there is commitment to reform, improvements in governance can and do occur and listed Liberia as a prime example of improvements in control of corruption.

WGI report, which gave no in-country examples of the Sirleaf Administration’s anti-corruption efforts, noted that while it was difficult to pin statistical findings to actual improvements in-country, its indicators represented the best country assessment in governance. This is because, it said, it uses six different indicators to assess the quality of governance.

Corruption, it said, is just one of those indicators. The others are voice and accountability, political stability and absence of violence, government effectiveness, and regulatory quality.

The other is the rule of law, which the Bank said entails the extent to which agents have confidence in and abide by the rules of society, including the quality of contract enforcement, property rights, the police, and the courts, as well as the likelihood of crime and violence.

The WGI report would not say where it will place Liberia in the area of the rule of law, but it noted that its “indicators are not based on a single source or opinion, but rather on the combined results of a large number of surveys of citizens, business enterprises, and experts in countries around the world.”

It said the individual data sources underlying the aggregate indicators were drawn from survey institutes, think-tanks, NGOs, and international organizations, among other sources.

“The indicators are highly regarded as one of the best quality databases in the world. Oxford Analytica has called them ‘the standard bearer’ for measuring global governance,” one recent account said of WGI’s statistical data.

The account suggested that Liberia’s dramatic improvement in controlling corruption may have resulted from the strong steps taken by the Sirleaf Government during the last two years.

It pointed to the enactment of a new procurement law, the establishment the new Public Procurement and Concessions Commission (PPCC), and the utilization of a Cash Management Committee to ensure greater honesty in budget spending as contributing factors.

Other factors, to which the rapid improvement may be credited according to the report, are the establishment of the GEMAP program with key partners, the renegotiation of concession contracts, and the holding of government officials more accountable for their actions, among many other contributing factors.

Added to these efforts, an Executive Mansion source said, the authority and responsibility of the proposed anti-Corruption Commission is currently being debated at the National Legislature. He said when it becomes functional the commission will strengthen these efforts.

He then noted that Liberia’s dramatic rise in the World Bank Institute’s rankings showed that despite suggestions to the contrary by some, the country was making clear improvements in fighting corruption.

It may be recalled that in remarks at the recent Liberia Poverty Reduction Forum in Berlin, President Sirleaf welcomed the new indicators as a clear indication of progress. She was however quick to note that even with this level of progress, there was still a long way to go.

“I am not yet satisfied,” President Sirleaf said at the time, “but I am pleased that our efforts are beginning to show results,” a report compiled by Executive Mansion deputy chief of staff, Amara Konneh and Steve Radelet of the Center for Global Development quoted President Sirleaf as saying.

Meanwhile, a World Bank statement released recently said the WGI statistical data base is an essential source of information for monitoring governance across the globe.

“When governance is improved by one standard deviation, infant mortality declines by two-thirds and incomes rise about three-fold in the long run. Such an improvement in governance is within reach, since it is a fraction of the difference between the worst and best performers,” the bank’s statement said.

It cited the dimension of the rule of law as one standard deviation that separates the very low ratings of Somalia or Afghanistan from countries such as Kenya and Bolivia; or what separates these countries from countries such as Ghana or Egypt; or in turn what separates Ghana or Egypt from Portugal or Estonia; or what separates these from the best performers such as Denmark or Switzerland.

It said good governance has also been found to significantly enhance the effectiveness of development assistance in general and of World Bank-funded projects in particular.

“Until the mid-nineties, I did not think that governance could be measured. The Worldwide Governance Indicators have shown me otherwise” says Shlomo Yitzhaki, Director of Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics and Professor of Economics at the Hebrew University.

“It constitutes the state of the art on how to build periodic governance indicators which can be a crucial tool for policy analysts and decision-makers benchmarking their countries,” he said.

Analysts say while the reported incidence of corruption in high places, in the criminal justice and judicial systems, and in line ministries and public corporations indicated that Liberia is still in the thicket of corruption, the WGI rating was something to trust.

“Things may be tough at home and the guy next door with modern residence may seem the most corrupt person in the world, but the whole world can not lie for the Sirleaf Administration and this alone should give us confidence that Liberia is well on the way to parting with business as usual,” said one analyst who preferred to remain anonymous.