Can President Weah Defeat Corruption?

President Weah proclamation to the world in his inaugural address: “Corruption Will Have No Place in My Gov’t” sounds promising, but yet a complicated dinner to have. H.E. is aware that the late President Doe did murder 17-government officials in the name of fighting rampant corruption, yet he became corruptible. Former President Sirleaf declared in her 2005 inaugural address: “Corruption Would be Public Enemy Number one as we Strive to make Liberia a Post-Conflict Success Story”, yet corruption became her closest companion for 12-years until such marriage ended on January 22nd, 2018.

President Weah is vividly aware that fighting corruption is a process and not an event. However, for the President to successfully subdue corruption and be triumphant in the process, he must first be a shining example as a corrupt free president in the Executive Manson with a very clean slip to exhibit to the world and the Liberian people by sincerely accounting for his 85-million he earned during his football career outside Liberia.

There are strong indicators that President Weah’s political proclamation: “Corruption Will Have No Place in my Government.” This proclamation is challenging, but hopeful. The President official utterance was emphatically dead on arrival giving the unbeatable fortitude of rampant corruption in Liberia. If President Weah truly wants to redeem the Republic of Liberia and its citizenry from the raft of rampant corruption several questions arose: What was President Weah’s measurable plan of action in defeating corruption at the CDC? When President Weah served the people of Monsterrado County as Senior Senator, what was his plan of action recommended to the House of Senate to tackle corruption? For the purpose of political expedient, can President Weah disclose the financial reports of the CDC within the last 13-years? Have Liberians asked themselves as to why President Weah did not Audit Former President Sirleaf if he is truly sincere and committed to fighting rampant corruption in Liberia?

The CDC has been a shadow government in waiting for the past 16-years. The CDC has not been using stones or sticks to run its massive operations, programs and activities. The CDC has been surviving enormously on individual’s dues and huge external and internal donations from Liberians and businesses at home and abroad. What are the records of those smart exchanges, disbursements, and savings? Is President Weah lamenting that the CDC’s officials and line officers including himself are corruption free in the CDC?

Ironically, if the founder of CDC, who is now Head of State and the 25th President of the Republic of Liberia is uneasy to unearth his blueprint plans he once used to curb corruption within the CDC’s rank and file, how then can Liberians President Weah’s official proclamation with smiles? Most Liberians may not easily take President Weah by his presidential proclamation on corruption: “Corruption Will Have No Place in My Govt’t”? President Weah’s proclamation is indeed conspicuously self-defeating. The proclamation is not measurable and achievable by any stretch of political imagination.

When corruption becomes a way of life or the norms rather than the exception, it becomes a daunting task to deal with. Corruption in Liberia is a deadly weapon. It is a life or death game. Liberia has witnessed the transition of generation of very corrupt officials in many past governments. For example, the late Former President Doe did produce a set of corrupt officials in the early 80s. Those corrupt officials took permanent residence in all the Interim governments in the 90s. Those corrupt officials from the then list of Interim governments also migrated to Former President Charles’s government.

The late Doe’s corrupt officials, the Interim government corrupt officials’ and the former President Taylor corrupt officials, did cross-over into Former President Sirleaf’s government and spent extra 12-years recruiting new members of other government officials known as: “The Liberia’s generation of highly corrupt officials” who are standing-by patiently to pollute the young Weah’s government. It is believed that 9 out of every 10 Liberian government officials in Liberia are carrying the corruption disease with them.

There are strong signals that President Weah is three times likely to employ some of the disease-carrying corrupt officials either from the late Doe’s era, the chain of interim governments era, the era of the Former President Taylor’s government or from Former President Sirleaf’s era. Today, corrupt is a systemic disease in Liberia. The fight to weed corrupt officials will be an uphill task for President Weah’s government, but in all Liberians, should remain optimistic about President Weah in the process.