And Call On The Government To Do More To Fight Corruption-Says New Report By Accountability Lab
Monrovia- A citizen perception survey conducted by Accountability Lab Liberia in five counties has named three major sectors, Education, Health, and Justice, as the most corrupt sectors in Liberia.
The survey was conducted in Bong, Grand Bassa, Margibi, Montserrado, and Nimba Counties with a total of 123 persons randomly interviewed from different works of life across ten key government sectors: Agriculture, Education, Fisheries, Forestry, Health, Internal Affairs, Information, Justice, Lands & Mines, and Public Works. The number of females interviewed constituted 42%.
The survey was conducted as part of an Anti-Corruption project activity implemented by Accountability Lab Liberia, in collaboration with the LACC, CENTAL, and Integrity Watch, with support from UNDP Liberia. The activity’s principal idea was to understand what they thought was the level of corruption in their counties, what effort they think the government is making to fight corruption, and lastly, what they believe the government should do to curb corruption in the country.
Results from the perception survey show that citizens in the five counties mentioned they perceived the Education Sector as the Most Corrupt Sector at 74%, followed by the Health sector at 73%, and then Justice System at 72%.
The survey data presented further disaggregated perceived corruption at the county level. The top three corrupt public sectors named in Bong County were Internal Affairs, Justice, and Education; in Grand Bassa, it was Education, Health, and Justice; in Margibi, it was the Internal Affairs, Health, and Justice; in Montserrado it was, Health, Education, and Justice; and in Nimba, it was Justice, Education, and Health.
The Coruption perception survey participants also rated the national government’s fight against corruption in the counties. On a scale of 1 – 10, where 1 is the most negligible value and ten are the highest, participants in Bong County rated the Government of Liberia’s fight against corruption an average of 2, Grand Bassa 6, Margibi 4, Montserrado 3, and Nimba 3.
At the same time, the citizens advanced a series of recommendations to the Government of Liberia to enable them to reinforce the fight against corruption in these counties and the entire country.
According to them, the government should conduct a periodic performance evaluation of public officials and motivate them to work satisfactorily. They should also set up a war and economic crimes court to persecute corrupt officials, adding that the judicial and anti-corruption institutions should be adequately empowered to bring corrupt officials to Justice. They continue that the government should endeavor to hire people with high integrity and some form of livelihood, and not based on partisanship. They should dismiss and punish the corrupt government employees according to the law, Set up an independent and specialized court to prosecute corruption, ensure transparency and accountability in all government dealings, properly vet government officials and employ them based on merit, noting that government employees should be paid fair wages and on time, and most importantly, enforce the anti-corruption laws.
While announcing the survey results, W. Lawrence Yealue, Il. Country Director at Accountability Lab Liberia said the report expresses the extent to which ordinary Liberians are frustrated and that some of them may have observed waves of corruption across the country in the various sectors, not only at the top level, noting that it is concerning and has the propensity to continue to undermine the development of the country. The report is also a wake-up call to improve public service delivery and should serve as a recipe for the continuous fight against corruption in the most robust ways possible.
“What I like the most about the survey was that the citizens provided some very concrete recommendations, and I hope the government will consider them and use the ideas to help improve the governance in Liberia.” Seeing that the citizens rated the government’s fights against corruption at 3.6 out of 10, this shows that a lot needs to be done around public accountability, Mr. Yealue noted.