CENTAL ends I-Club university students’ integrity development forum

By Lincoln G. Peters 

The Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL) with funding from the Swedish Cooperation Development Agency has ended a one-day I-Club students’ integrity development forum for over three prestigious universities in Monrovia.

The forum aimed at carrying out massive awareness on integrity building as well as highlighting challenges affecting students regarding corruption on their various campuses.

It was held recently at the auditorium of the African Methodist Episcopal University (AMEU) in Monrovia, bringing together several students from the Stella Maris Polytechnic University, University of Liberia (UL), and AMEU to participate in the one-day students integrity development forum.

The I-Club university students integrity development forum was held under the theme: “Building on Equitable Society,” with the aim of providing information on how to report corruption cases when students are confronted with them at their institutions of learning and to strengthen the network among them.

The one-day integrity forum also highlighted challenges affecting students.

Presenting the keynote address, the Policy Analyst at Governance Commission Madam Mamuna M. Kamara Waydon urged young people to understand that accountability and transparency mean doing the right thing when nobody is watching you.

“We have to be the change that we want to see. Holding other people accountable is not bad but we should also try to hold ourselves accountable for things that we do too,” she admonished the students. 

Madam Waydon noted that corruption is not only corruption when it’s practiced at the government level, adding that any act that is wrongfully carried out in the community, school, or workplace is an act of corruption.

Giving an example of corruption, Madam Waydon said some people would go to a money exchanger for transactions, and if they receive an excess amount, they wouldn’t be honest enough to return the excess to the money exchanger.

She, therefore, called on students to develop the attributes of integrity by being honest to themselves and holding themselves accountable instead.

For her part, a visually impaired student from AMEU Musuleng S. Jackson expressed excitement and thanked CENTAL for the initiative, adding that they have learned that before corruption can be mitigated, it has to start with a commitment by holding yourself accountable.

She urged her colleagues to practice integrity and fight corruption at the grassroots level, adding that fighting corruption is an inclusive fight that needs commitment.https://thenewdawnliberia.com/cental-raises-red-flag-against-cllr-gbala/–Edited by Winston W. Parley