“Liberia Pledges to take 107th GAC Audit Report More Serious”- Browne: A Response
P e r s p e c t I v e s
Public Policy . Economics . Democratic Politics . Political/Economic Decentralization . Public Dishonesty . Dual Citizenship
Government Spokesman, Information Minister, Lewis Browne, declared (FrontpageAfricaonlie, April 13, 2015) that “Liberia pledges to take serious (the) 107th GAC Audit Report more Serious”. This declaration is implicit admission that the Government had been, and is, less serious about prior or previous, GAC Audit Reports than the 107th.
Given the prevailing, devastating impact of dishonesty or corruption, especially, in government, the Liberian people or any reasonable person would think or believe that audit reports by Government Auditing Agency, the GAC, are or will be given serious attention. However, according to Government Information spokesman, the contrary is, apparently, true, although the current President and Head of Government acknowledged and declared, publicly, that public dishonesty or “corruption is Liberia’s public enemy #1”, in the light of increased incidence of corruption.
Apart from the description of public dishonesty or corruption, as “Rampant Corruption”, the major theme of the April 12, 1980 Event and its phenomenal practice throughout the 167-year history of our nation, corruption is not, any longer “rampant”, but “roaring”. Corruption has been developed into a thriving, successful “business” of Corruption, Inc. that may be likened to the famous (or infamous) Mafia. It is the brainchild of a corps of highly-educated MBAs, LLMs and PhDs, politically- and socio-economically-connected individuals placed in strategic positions in government and the corridors of state power and politics.
Corruption, Inc. is financed, now, by lawful public policy of the Salary/Wage Allowance scheme. Today, Cabinet Ministers and Deputies; Agency Heads and Deputies; State-owned Enterprise MDs/Presidents and Deputies are paid fabulous Salary/Wage-supported salaries in addition to other, dubious allowances.
According the Liberian National Budget submitted June 29, 2013 to the National Legislature for review/approval, we noted the following allocations:
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Office of the Speaker, House of Representative US $766,357.00
Office of the Deputy Speaker 700,302.00
Office of the President Pro Tempore of the Senate 846,653.00
Grand Total $2,313,312.00
In words, Two million, Three Hundred Thirteen Thousand, Three Hundred Twelve dollars allocated to three offices/officials!! The concerns raised by these figures demand explanation; in that, our country that is reeling not only under the burden of socio-economic and political under-development, but also that with an overwhelming majority of its citizens shackled with abject poverty, un-information, illiteracy, disease and an alarming mortality rates, it is next to inhumanity to note that three offices are allocated, almost, a million, US dollars each with no obligation to account.
The Continuing Rise of Corruption
Back in the 1980s and beyond, “The effort to combat Liberian corruption in the public sector began to be taken serious. It was decided that it should and must be based on social, economic and political considerations. Salary/wage and benefit rates/levels in the public (government) sector should and must be not only be consistent with prevailing rates/levels in the private sector, but also consistent with the changing levels of the cost of living as well as reflect human need and perception of human value or worth. However, experience shows that this condition has not been the case in our Liberian, public service. Such employment benefits as health/life insurance, retirement, job security, in-service training & education for upward advancement, periodic performance appraisals for merit promotion etc., taken for granted elsewhere, are either non-existent and/or systematically abused for personal gain. Thus, highly-educated and experienced cabinet ministers, state enterprise executives, professional technocrats, medical doctors, state university professors and public school teachers who put in ten-to twelve-hour days of dedicated service do not have job security and other related, employment benefits, including salaries and wages that are not compatible with their training/experience and the social demands of their positions”. The conclusion: seek foreign Aid from our “partners-in-progress” (the USA-USAID, EU, UNDP, etc.) to be known as “allowance” to complement low-level, public salary/wages. This has become successful but turned out, apparently, to be something else, as shown below.
Fiscal 2013-2014 Budget, (submitted June 29, 2013)
Transparency, Accountability and Credibility demand that those who crafted this budget with these allocations will have to come forward with reasonable, credible explanations/rationalizations for the taxpayer and our foreign donors. If we agree, just for the sake of the argument, that the taxpayer and donors will go along with the three, unexplained and, therefore, questionable “allowances” – general, special and salary – why should and must the taxpayer foot the bill for the cost of personal expenses (high-lighted in red below) such as rent, electricity (generator & fuel), automobile insurance, newspaper purchase, automobile repairs and upkeep, including such dubious allocations as “special services, operation expense, transport equipment, etc.?
The generous, salary/wage allowances made available are intended to enable civil servants to pay their own costs of living, in accordance with generally-accepted and practiced conventions. There is, absolutely, no reason for which such costs should and must be paid by the taxpayer/employer.
A closer look at these budgeted, line-item “allowances” is, indeed, necessary because there are several, unexplained categories of allowances – “general, special and salary” – raising questions about the level of amounts allocated. These are:
Office of the Speaker
General Allowance US$197,654.00
Special Allowance 72,000.00 $269,654.00
Salary Allowance 55,000.00 55,000.00 $324,654.00
Personal, Un-explained Allocations
Rental Expense 24,000.00
Fuel –Vehicles 90,942.00
Fuel – Generator 37,252.00
Repairs 24,000.00
Special Services 28,892.00
Operational Expense 11,271.00
Local Scholarship Give-away 10,000.00
Purchase of Newspaper 4,000.00
Equipment 3,000.00 $233,357.00
Office of the Deputy Speaker
General Allowance 111,557.00
Special Allowance 60,000.00 $171,557.00
Salary Allowance 65,000.00 65,000.00 $236,557.003
Personal, Un-explained Allocations
Rental Expense 24,000.00
Fuel – Vehicles 100,056.00
Fuel – Generator 41,000.00
Repairs 36,000.00
Operational Expense 39,694.00
Special Services 22,000.00
Vehicle Insurance 4,000.00
Local Scholarship Giveaway 3,500.00
News Paper Purchase 2,100.00 $272,350.00
Office of the President Pro Tempore
General Allowance 162,000.00
Special Allowance 72,000.00 $234,000.00
Salary Allowance 175,000.00 $175,000.00 $409,000.00
Personal, Un-explained Allocations
Rent 18,599.00
Fuel for Generator 30,838.00
Special Services 66,000.00
Operation Expense 61,000.00
Transport Equipment 16,000.00
Local Scholarship Giveaway 5,000.00
News Paper Purchase 4,000.00 $201,437.00
The next and final, crucial and closer look is and must be at the budgetary, line-item allocations of, just, these three offices; this is enough to raise an alarm, because these are likely to be a tip of the proverbial “iceberg”. We took the pain to list the allocations as described and let the people know and decide:
Office of The Speaker
General Allowance US $197,657
Special “ 72,000
Salary “ 55,000
Foreign Travel 139,638
Domestic Travel 12,000
Residential Rent 24,000
Fuel – Vehicles 90,942
Fuel – Residential Generator 37,252
Vehicles Repairs 24,000
Entertainment 15,000
Special Services 28,892
Internet Service & Postage 12,000
Operational Expense 11,271
Local Scholarship Giveaways 10,000
Purchase of Newspapers 4,000
Stationary 11,904
Furniture 6,000
Equipment 3,000
$766,357
Office of the Deputy Speaker
General Allowance 111,557
Special “ 60,000
Salary “ 65,000
Management Expense 446,745
Foreign Travel 98,896
Domestic “ 14,000
Fuel, Vehicles 100,056
Fuel, Generator 41,000
Internet Service/Postage 28,000
Repairs 36,000
Residential Rent 24,000
Operational Expense 39,694
Entertainment 19,000
Special Services 22,000
Vehicle Insurance 4,000
Local Scholarship Giveaway 3,500
Stationary 8,500
Printing 5,000
Newspaper Purchase 2,100
$700,302
Office of President Pro Tempore
Salary Allowance 175,000
General “ 162,000
Special “ 72,000
Foreign Travel 101,000
Domestic “ 72,000
Residential Rent 18,599
Fuel, Vehicles 69,092
Fuel, Generator 30,838
Internet/Postage 18,605
Special Services 66,000
Operational Expense 61,000
Entertainment 12,240
Transport Equipment 16,000
Machinery 14,900
Local Scholarship Giveaway 5,000
Newspaper Purchase 4,000
Stationary 9,000
Printing 3,404
$846,653
With the aid and knowledge of computer technology, these budget and finance gurus have captured the nation’s successful, official salary/wage allowance system and transformed it into a sophisticated, booming, corruption bonanza for the few, well-heeled and well-connected. For, they and their business friends are wheelers/dealers in high-priced SUVs, electric generators, spare-parts and service, high-rent apartments, mobile cell telephone, etc., industry, all financed from and by “allowances”.
Given the foregoing information, our Government should and must “take” and be “serious” about all Audit Reports by the GAC.
With Bai M. Gbala, Sr.
April 17, 2015
