Unmil Official’s Honest Observations On the Tenants of Corruption

New Democrat (Monrovia)

20 May 2011

UNMIL Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General, Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, has made some remarkable, but no so strange, suggestions that the government should seriously consider if public confidence in state institutions is to be salvaged.

She called for relentless prosecution of corrupt public officials.

She said if this is not done, public trust in the government will continue to be eroded. Political institutions are therefore endangered.

The official reflected on the oddity within the judicial system, one that allows illiterate men and women to serve on the jury and are expected to render intelligent, fair and acceptable judgments on complicated cases.

The UNMIL official further noted that there is a need for a Code of Conduct governing public officials.

These are ideas which, if accepted and applied, could mitigate the graft hemorrhage for various reasons.

Illiterate jurors, whatever their virtues, cannot understand the complexities of cases for acceptable verdicts. This erodes faith in the judicial system.

A Code of Conduct that bars public officials from running NGOs, foundations and other projects or businesses while in office is long over due. Within the prevailing political atmosphere that is free for all, conflict of interest is protected because it opens the avenues for siphoning of

public funds into private coffers through NGOs, foundations, etc.

Dumping public funds on private projects has been a perennial problem now entrenched, and it will require a revolution, not cosmetic reforms, to alter it. Historically, the entire state bureaucracy–ministries and agencies, etc.– have been run from private buildings owned by political elites or their extensions.

This trend has taken a more sophisticated form, leading to the establishment of declared ‘private’ enterprises such as cronies-run consultancies through which state funds are channeled.

By occupying influential public offices and running NGOs, foundations or businesses, the condition for abuse is created. This is one of the reasons why it has been suggested that donors can better channel funds through the state and its official institutions than via private foundations and NGOs beyond the reach of audits and probe.

A Code of Conduct for public officials was one of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s announced priorities. Formulated and adopted, it would have given the public yardstick for measuring performance. But since the pronouncement was made, the idea has simply died.

The argument that the Legislature must approve such a Code of Conduct to make it legally binding, however logical, is impractical. This is because this Legislature, unwilling for its members to be audited, is unlikely to subject members to a code of conduct.

But what we believe that the President can do is to subject officials within the Executive branch to a Code of Conduct made legal through whatever means, including an Executive Order.

It is however never too late. There is a need for a Code of Conduct as the UNMIL official has suggested, with mechanisms to monitor compliance.

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