Boakai Failed Litmus Test - Assets Declaration Headache

ONE OF AFRICA’S most damaging elements in African politics is corruption. If left unchecked, corruption becomes rampant, and can cause irreparable damage to a nation’s reputation, not to mention its deadly impact on the ordinary citizens as economic development and growth gets stifled.

LIBERIA HAS SEEN its worst share of corruption over 176 years of independence. Corruption has become so systemic, it has become a way of life for public officials. On account of rampant corruption, the West African nation has witnessed brutal murders of leaders including presidents and cabinet officials. In fact, the 14-year brutal civil conflict that left over 250,000 citizens and foreign nationals dead between 1989-2003, was largely blamed on rampant corruption.

ASSET DECLARATION SYSTEMS have increasingly become a multipurpose tool aimed at preventing conflicts of interest, detecting unjustified assets and building broader integrity of public service. Asset declarations, therefore, combines prevention and enforcement purposes. In January 2012, in her effort to fight corruption as public enemy number one, the former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Johnson Sirleaf administration developed the country’s first of its kind, Code of Conduct, which calls for full assets declaration by appointed officials, including the president.

THE ESTABLISHMENT of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) was also established by former President Sirleaf as an anti graft institution to help combat corruption. Assets declaration became a cardinal tool to not only deter corruption, but to also facilitate the retrieval of stolen public assets. Despite the LACC was given prosecutorial powers by the Legislature in July 2022, the LACC capacity to deter corruption or retrieve stolen assets is yet to be fully transparent.

RIGHT AFTER THE INAUGURATION of President Joseph N. Boakai, the special delegation of the U.S. President Joseph Biden headed by Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield strongly emphasized that corruption was a serious problem for Liberia. According to her, it has been a major deterrent to assistance to the country. She furthered that the U.S. saw the ascendancy of President Boakai to the helm of power in Liberia as an opportunity for the country to begin a new start. She assured the President and the people of Liberia that the U.S. and members of its private sectors were eager to return to do business with Liberia.

IT APPEARS AMBASSADOR Greenfield’s confidence in the Boakai’s administration is poised to be tarnished by the early sign of failure of the President Boakai to pass the first test to anticorruption - assets declaration. The Code of Conduct of Liberia as revised by the National Legislature calls for the declaration of the assets of the President prior to taking office. This gesture in accordance with law is intended to give the President an opportunity to set an example for his government, and provide assurances of transparency and accountability. So far, ten days into his presidency, Boakai has not only failed to declare his assets, he has also failed to tell the public the reason for the holdback.

STARTING ON THE WRONG FOOT is no doubt the best description of President Boakai’s failure to declare his assets. Boakai comes to power amid strong condemnation of his defeated rival of gross fiscal impropriety, corruption, bad governance, and the need to be audited immediately upon taking office. However, political commentators and pundits find it doubtful that Boakai will have any integrity to project a strong command to enable him call others to account when he himself is in breach of the anti graft law.

MANY LIBERIANS within the opposition have no confidence in the Boakai administration to fight corruption. They accuse him of serving for 12 years as Vice President under former President Serlief who herself is accused of nepotism and rampant corruption by her former Auditor General of the General Auditing Commission (GAC) John Morlu. President Boakai, when linked to the Ellen administration on corruption, usually dismisses the allegations saying that he was not in charge.

WHETHER BILOAKAI declares his assets after the fact, is remain to be seen. Some critics argue that such a delay with financial accounting suggests probable cause for manipulation of the accounts with intent to mislead the public. Meanwhile, it is too early to determine how the U.S. and other friendly governments will interpret President Boakai’s failure to declare his assets. Until it is done, assets declaration remains President Boakai’s headache.