Tuesday, December 1, 2020 – Liberia joins other countries around the world to
celebrate International Anti-Corruption Day (IACD) on December 2.
The
Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) in partnership with CENTAL is organizing
this year celebration.
According
to the Executive Chairperson of the LACC, this year’s celebration is under the
theme, “Reducing Corruption in the
Private Sector as a Drive to enhance Economic Development and Good Governance”
and unlike past celebrations; will take place in Monrovia under strict COVID-19
restrictions.
Cllr.
Ndubuisi Nwabudike said that the LACC in compliance with the principles of
United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and the Global Campaign Against
Corruption celebrates International
Anti-Corruption Day on December 9th of every year.
However,
he noted that due to the mid-term Senatorial elections scheduled for December 8th
the Commission brought the day forward due to the closeness in proximity of the
elections.
The
Executive Chairperson stated that the day is being celebrated in collaboration with
Integrity Institutions, Civil Society Organizations and National and
International Partners and along with members of the business community.
The
International Anti-Corruption Day serves as a valuable opportunity for
organizations and individuals worldwide to raise awareness about corruption and
to promote anti-corruption activities.
INTEGRITY
INSTITUTIONS PRESENT NATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION CONFERENCE RESOULTION TO
PRESIDENT GEORGE M. WEAH
Monrovia, November 9, 2020 – The Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) along
with other integrity institutions have presented to President George M. Weah
the resolutions of the just ended National Anti-Corruption Conference (NACC).
Making
the presentation on behalf of the integrity bodies recently in Monrovia, the
Executive Chairperson of the LACC gave an overview of the NACC and said the
Conference was organized in keeping with Pillar Four of the Pro-Poor Agenda for
Prosperity and Development (PAPD).
Cllr.
A. Ndubuisi Nwabudike noted that in preparation for the NACC, three Regional
Conferences were held around the country including one Sectorial meeting with
civil society was held in Monrovia.
He
said that the regional conferences and sectorial meeting was centered on three
thematic areas namely; Reform of the laws; Compliance and Political Will and
highlighted key recommendations reflecting citizens’ views from the counties
and from participants from the sectorial meeting.
In
response, President George M. Weah thanked the integrity institutions for
organizing the NACC and promised his unflinching and unwavering support in the
fight against corruption and to actualize the recommendations in the
Resolution.
He
urged the Minister of Finance and Development Planning to support the integrity
institutions in their work and promised to lobby with international partners to
support the anti-graft bodies.
The
presentation ceremony was attended by heads of integrity institutions including
the General Auditing Commission (GAC); the Internal Auditing Agency (IAA); the
Governance Commission (GC), Public Procurement and Concessions Commission
(PPCC); Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU); Liberia Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiatives (LEITI); and the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA).
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___________________________
Edwin J. Clarke, Jr.
Public Relations Officer
Monrovia, October 30, 2020 – The Executive Chairperson of the Liberia
Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) says that there should be a genuine
commitment on overall anti-corruption efforts in Liberia by ensuring the
establishment of a Specialized Court for corruption cases.
Cllr.
A. Ndubuisi Nwabudike noted that the LACC needs to be well equipped with the
needed logistics and funding to support its investigative operations and
prosecution of corruption cases, and to also elevate its anti-corruption
programs all across the country.
Cllr.
Nwabudike was speaking in Gompa City, Nimba County when he addressed a National
Retreat organized by the Joint Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the
Legislature on October 21, 2020
The
anti-graft boss said that the LACC would greatly contribute to enhancing
government’s integrity by ensuring accountability and transparency in the
governance system through a robust investigation and prosecution of corruption
cases only if the political will in sustaining the fight against corruption is
mustered by central government.
He
noted that the Investigation and Enforcement Division of the LACC reported that
between 2009 to July 2019; a total of 299 cases were reported to the Commission
of which 177 cases were closed due to insufficient evidence and lack of
jurisdiction.
Cllr.
Nwabudike acknowledged that although the LACC is challenged by the lack of
adequate logistics including computers to fast track the completion of
investigative reports, as well as limited fuel supply and funding to support
investigative operations and prosecution, the Commission still carrying out its
mandate to investigate and prosecute individuals charged with corruption.
The
LACC Chairperson, also highlighted the just ended National Anti-Corruption
Conference and assured PAC that the resolutions will be released shortly.
The
four-day retreat was attended by integrity institution heads or their
representatives who also made presentations including the General Auditing
Commission (GAC); the Governance Commission (GC); the Public Procurement and
Concessions Commission (PPCC) and the Internal Audit Agency (IAA) as well as
the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission.
Monrovia, November 2, 2020 – As part of efforts to revise the Pro-Poor Agenda
for Prosperity and Development (PAPD), the Ministry of Finance and Development
Planning held a two day Retreat in Ganta, Nimba County from October 22-24,
2020.
The
objectives of the retreat was to review the PAPD Results Matrix to reflect the
current economic realities; to know the extent of the impact of the COVID-19 on
the economy and to encourage all Government Institutions to take ownership of
the document.
The
LACC was represented by Mrs. Jeant Sonpon-Sarsih, Program Manager for
Administration and Robert Jarwleh, Research Officer
The
Retreat was organized on Pillars 3 and 4 perspectives. Pillar 3 has five
sectors, while Pillar 4 has two sectors; (Building Capable State & Reducing
Corruption).
The
Reducing Corruption Sector comprises of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission
(LACC), the General Auditing Commission (GAC) and the Internal Auditing Agency
(IAA), while Building a Capable State consists of the Governance Commission (GC),
the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), Civil Service Agency (CSA), National
Elections Commission (NEC), National Identification Registry (NIR), Ministry of
Justice (MOJ), & Ministry of Defense (MOD).
The
PAPD review mechanism has three components which includes; the review of the
PAPD Results Matrix, synchronization and harmonization of the new
target/validation and the presentation of the Revised PAPD to the President for
onward presentation to the citizens of Liberia.
These
three levels are expected to be accomplished by December.
The
PAPD serves as a strategic policy instrument designed to alleviate poverty and accelerate
economic growth and sustainable development. However, the COVID-19 pandemic did
not only underpin Government’s effort to mobilize the needed resources in terms
of revenue generations, but its quest to secure funding from financial
institutions and international partners.
The
ongoing review process of the PAPD is meant to redesign and formulate realistic
and achievable strategies that will be used to foster government’s development
agenda for the next three years.
This report is on a five-day retreat held in
preparation for upcoming Public Hearings on the Auditor General’s reports and
the enhancement of the capacity of Public Accounts Committee members as well as
the PAC Secretariat of the 54th Legislature in the scrutiny of
statement of accounts of SOEs. The workshop was planned for five days beginning
with the capacity building of SOEs Unit staffs from October 20-21, followed by
the PAC members’ workshop which went from October 21-24, 2020 at the Jackie’s
Guest House in Ganta, Nimba County. However, the workshop ended on Friday, Oct.
23, 2020 instead of Saturday, Oct. 24, 2020.
DAY-1: Wednesday, October 21, 2020:
The PAC members’ workshop began
on Wednesday, October 21 and ended on Friday, October 23, 2020.
Giving the overview of the
workshop, Hon. Edward W. Karfiah identified as a serious problem the redundancy
of SOEs in complying with the remittance of amounts they were assessed for and
that as a result, MACs are underfunded and consequently, their activities are
not financed.
Mr. Michael M. Thomas, the
Executive Director of PAC Secretariat provided a step-by-step procedure
relative to the receipt of audit reports from GAC. This was followed by a
question & answer period. In conclusion, the Deputy Auditor General, Mr.
Wesley Nanka recommended that at the end of the retreat, a Form Committee be
setup to ensure implementation of recommendations.
Making presentations at the
retreat were the following integrity institutions:
- LACC
- GC
- GAC
- PPCC
- IAA
The presentations were centered
round the fight against corruption in the perspectives of the institutions,
specifically on the execution of their mandates, achievements thus far, current
activities, challenges and recommendations. One of the key issues coming out of
Mr. Nanka’s presentation was the issue of Financial Autonomy as enshrined in
the GAC Act being infringed upon. Comments coming on the floor indicated that
this problem is not unique to the GAC as other institutions like the LACC do
not enjoy their Financial Autonomy stipulated in their acts. Hon. Alphonso Gaye
promised to have PAC look into this matter as it is a violation of the laws
governing the integrity institutions.
DAY-2: Thursdays, October 23, 2020:
- Presentation
on the impact fight against corruption from the SOE Unit’s perspective:
Key issues discussed out of the
presentation were:
- Function overlap between the State Owned
Enterprise unit and the Bureau State Enterprise;
- The need to enhance collaboration between the
SOE Unit and GC since they all conduct SOEs assessments;
- Financial Reporting format for SOEs: Some SOEs
are using IPSAS, IRIS or GAP while others don’t report at all. Of the 16 SOEs,
only 30% (5 SOEs) are in compliant and are submitting adequate information;
- The SOE Unit is understaffed: there are 39 SOEs
but the Unit is only monitoring 16.
- The need for lawmakers to enforce the PFM law
was stressed.
It was reported by PAC that MoFDP
is always reporting on the budget year that there are no undisbursed balances the
budgetary appropriations and allotments of MACs; meaning that all approved
budgets are always utilized. Going forward, MACs are to send copies of their
quarterly reports to PAC.
- Presentation
from IAA’s perspectives:
Mr. Akoi in
making this presentation provided clarity on the mandates of GAC and IAA, and
said that they are not doing the same work.
Following the
presentation of IAA, it was recommended that the LACC send copies of their Corruption
Risks Assessments conducted by the E & P to the IAA since they have their
Internal Auditors seated in the MACs.
Another
recommendation was that before any Presidential Appointee is confirmed, the PAC
should ensure that integrity institutions (preferably GAC & LACC) are
contacted to verify that the appointees are not under investigation by the
LACC.
The following
audit reports were presented by Mr. Nanka of GAC and they were reviewed by PAC
members:
Audit reports on
Nimba County CDF, LPRC, NASSCORP, & NPA.
DAY-3/4: Friday/Saturday, Oct. 23, 2020
I played spider on day 3 and
could not be at this retreat for the first two presentations. When I got there
in the afternoon, they were closing the retreat because they have condensed all
activities for the two days on day-3. Therefore, the workshop ended on day-3.
Thursday, September 10,
2020: The Liberia
Anti-Corruption (LACC) in collaboration with other integrity institutions
hosted a one day sectorial meeting in support of the National Anti- Corruption
conference at Corina Hotel on September 10, 2020.
Speaking at the opening of the conference, the Executive
Chairperson of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), Cllr. A. Ndubuisi
Nwabudike encouraged participants to be involved in the purpose of hosting the
anti-corruption conference. He said the idea of the conference was to reached a
perception about corruption in our country and find a new approach in the fight
against it.
He further said, that the idea is not to reinvent a new will
or change what is already on going but the key point is, after 176 years of
existence and fighting corruption, if the system and results we are getting are
not encouraging then there is a need to look at it so that the result can be
better or different from what we are getting now and if the political will is
there but it’s not also seen, then we need to know why.
The Chairperson also said that he hoped the discussions which
included Improving the Legal Framework, Enhancing Citizens Confidence and
Participation and the Impact of Political Will
on the Fight Against Corruption
(Collaboration, Financial Autonomy, Capacity Development)will be used as
a guiding process against the perception
Liberians have on corruption.
Making remarks on behalf on the Inter Religious Council of
Liberia, Bishop Joseph Kortu Brown recognized the work of the LACC and
reaffirmed the Council’s support in the fight against corruption. He asked everyone to take the fight seriously
and resources be used for its intended purpose. Bishop Brown also encouraged
the Commissions to continue the fight and hoped all integrity institutions take
their respective mandate seriously.
Also speaking at the meeting, Chief Zanzan Kanwa of the
Traditional Council applauded the LACC for the initiative taken to combat the
fight against corruption. He said, corruption is a long time enemy and the
government should not take the blame alone for this; but we all should and
fight this disease together.
Other anti-graft institutions including the Speaking on behalf of the Internal Audit
Agency (IAA), and Governance Commission (GC) noted that corruption is only
spoken with our lips, forgetting to know that it has strength and will of
fighting back. They also pledged their commitment and willingness to join the
LACC in this fight.
The conference was held under the theme; “Re-Shaping Perception on
Corruption and Identifying New Approaches to Addressing Systemic Corruption in
Liberia” brought together Political Parties, the Inter Religious
Council of Liberia, the Traditional Council, the Liberia Marketing Association,
the Press Union of Liberia, The Federation of Liberia Youth, and Liberian
National Student Union.
The sectorial conference is the last in the series of
consultative meetings leading up to the National Anti-Corruption Conference to
open in Monrovia on September 17.
Monday, September 7, 2020: The Liberia
Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) continued its regional consultation in
Gbarnga, Bong County on August 31, 2020.
This second in the series
of consultations brought together local government officials and civil society
organizations from Nimba, Margibi, Lofa and Bong Counties.
Speaking in separate
remarks at the opening ceremonies, the Superintendents of the various counties
expressed the need for the LACC to conduct similar workshops to keep their feet
to the fire.
They also expressed the need
to decentralize the LACC so that it impact could be felt around the country.
They
thanked the LACC for the invitation to the consultation and hoped that the
consultation will promote honesty among the participants for discussions.
The
Superintendents pledged their full support of their respective counties in the
fight against corruption.
For
his part LACC’s Executive Chairperson, Cllr. Ndubuisi Nwabudike noted the LACC
was holding the consultation in collaboration with other anti-graft
institutions.
He
noted that the Regional Consultations will lead into the National
Anti-Corruption Conference to design new strategies to fight corruption.
Topics
discussed at the consultation included a cross section of themes related to the
fight against corruption.
At the end of the
consultation, participants called for
specialized courts should be set up for corruption cases
only in addition to having both the illicit enrichment law and the whistle
blower should be passed act should be passed into law.
They
also recommended more budgetary support to the LACC
Local
government officials, elders from central Liberia, Youth groups, Civil Society
and Media who gathered for the consultative meeting also called for the
LACC to given prosecutorial power
through legislative enactment.
The
participants also recommended that the Asset declaration should be more
effective on a quarterly monitoring basis and some legal penalty should be
meted out for those officials who don’t declare in the specified time given.
The
next regional meeting is expected to take place in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County
involving Bomi, Cape Mount, Gbarpolu, Rivercess and Grand Bassa Counties on September
3.
Tuesday, September 8, 2020: Delegates at
the National Anti-corruption regional consultative meeting held in three
regions of the country have made a common position to the government for increased
political will, improvement in the Justice system of the country and the
establishment of specialized court to deal with corruption cases.
The
two hundred and fifteen (215) delegates from all the counties meeting in the
three regions also acknowledged the drastic decline in public trust for
national government over the years due bas governance since the formation of
the country
They
called for an end to patronage system and bribery among law enforcement
agencies especially the Police.
Delegates
also unanimously recommended that the government should tackle the country’s
young generation by emphasizing anti-corruption education in public schools
across the country
The
regional consultations which was held under the theme; “Re-Shaping Perception on
Corruption and Identifying New Approaches to Addressing Systemic Corruption in Liberia”brought together local government
officials and civil society organizations, youth leaders, and local elders from all of the fifteen(15) Counties.
The
first regional consultative meeting was held on August 26 in Zwedru, Grand
Gedeh County and brought in the southeastern counties; the second one was held
on August 31 in Gbarnga, Bong County for the counties in central Liberia the
third and final meeting was held in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County on September
3.
Recommendations
from the 15 counties will be presented at the National Anti-Corruption
Conference which is slated to be held on September 16 & 17 in Monrovia
Prior
to the National Conference, the LACC along with other anti-graft institutions
will hold a one-day Sectorial Meeting in Monrovia under the same theme. The
sectorial meeting will bring together Political Parties, Youth Groups, the
Media, and the Inter-Religious Council among others.
The
meeting will offer the participants the opportunity to participate, engage
discuss and advance recommendations to strengthen the Government’s fight
against corruption.
Wednesday, September 2, 2020: The Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) formerly
opened the first of three regional consultations in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County
on August 26, 2020
The regional consultation which was
held under the theme; “Re-Shaping Perception on Corruption and
Identifying New Approaches to Addressing Systemic Corruption in Liberia”
brought together local government officials and civil society organizations
from Sinoe, Rivergee, Maryland, Grand Kru and Grand Gedeh Counties.
Speaking at the opening ceremonies,
Grand Gedeh County Superintendent Kai Farley called on participants to discuss
the fundamental issues of corruption that he said has tied the country down
since the formation of LIBERIA and has also affected all sectors of society
including award of contracts, trucking voters during elections and other
difficult areas in the fight against corruption.
He said corruption has also deeply
affected value system of the country and its people and pledge the full support
of Grand Gedeh in the fight against corruption.
Making remarks on behalf of the
Superintendent’s Council of Liberia, River Gee County Superintendent Philip
Nyenuh said corruption has been an impediment to the development of the country
for so long
While pledging the full support of
the Superintendent Council, Mr. Nyenuh praised the work of all stakeholders in
ensuring that local government has a voice in the fight against corruption in
the society.
For his part LACC’s Head of
Delegation to the Consultation James Kingsley who is the Program Manager for
Education said the Commission was seeking to know the real issues in the fight
against corruption and also stated that since the formation of the state, the
country has been confronted with the issue of corruption.
He said a collective approach to
reducing incidents of corruption is important.
Topics discussed at the consultation
included a cross section of themes related to the fight against corruption.
At the end of the consultation,
participants called for the development of national whistle-blower system, and
deliberate improvement of the country’s justice system as cardinal means to
dealing with the fight against corruption.
Local government officials, elders
from south-east Liberia, Youth groups, Civil Society and Media who gathered for
the consultative meeting also called for the development of a special
curriculum on corruption to be included in the teaching curriculum for Liberia
secondary schools.
May 11, 2020
It has come to the attention of the LACC that some person or persons has illegally used the name and picture of the Executive Chairperson of the LACC, Cllr. Ndubuisi Nwabudike, to open a Facebook account within the Henry Costa page, and has used the account to propagate hate messages and anti-government misinformation. This is to inform the public that any information posted under an account under his name is fake, false and misleading. The Executive Chairperson of the LACC does not operate any active personal Facebook account and does not post information on any Facebook account. Those behind this illegal act are obviously intended to use this account for purposes that are most likely to harm the Chairperson, his friends, family and employer. Meanwhile, the LACC has notified FACEBOOK, and the Minister of Justice/Attorney General of Liberia about this illegal activity.
Signed: Edwin J. Clarke, Jr.
PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER
