Former Information Minister Rev. Dr. Lawrence Bropleh says the biggest avenue of corruption here is the corruption of wasted time, alarming that government employees, including officials are being paid for stealing [time].
The former Information Minister who worked in the administration of ex-President President Ellen Johnson – Sirleaf told OK FM in Monrovia Tuesday, 4 December that when people are not committing their time to work, a particular project that an entity is working on will not be finished on time.
“They’re stealing from the Liberian people; they’re being paid for stealing. That’s one of the biggest avenues of corruption in our country. If we can correct that, there will be more proficiency,” he advises.
According to Dr. Bropleh, employees in government circle here actually work, for about two and a half hours daily, even though he did not provide any scientific evidence to support this claim.“The rest of the time we’re doing foolishness, but at the end of the month, the Liberian people don’t cut that from us,” he explains.
Out of eight working hours, he says about an hour is allotted for lunch, but others would take two hours or even fail to return to work after lunch.Besides, Dr. Bropleh observes that workers are required to get to work at 8:00 AM as the starting time in Liberia, but many get to work at 9:30 or even 11:00 O’clock which “is very wrong.”
“I said to people that the biggest avenue of corruption in our country is the corruption of wasted time,” Dr. Bropleh says.The former Minister recalls how during former President Sirleaf’s regime, she shun her officials for leaving their offices to welcome her at the airport when they should have been at offices working.
He admits that in spite of former President Sirleaf’s warning, there were still occasions when her officials had to welcome her. But he argues that those welcomes were done for instance, when she returned from Paris and the World Bank and Liberia’s over four billion debt was promised to be waived, among others.
With the exception of key persons that are needed including the official left in charge to chair cabinet, Dr. Bropleh recommends to President George Manneh Weah to order his cabinet ministers not to leave their offices to go and stand at the airport to welcome him.
According to him, when these officials leave their offices, they shut down the entire government.
Due to this situation, Dr. Bropleh wants government to start clocking workers in and out.Meanwhile, Dr. Bropleh is also cautioning the Weah administration to see the need to have a synchronized communication strategy so that government messages are not distorted when too many people tend to speak for the government.He says the danger in having officials misinforming the people is that it creates chaos.
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Winston W. Parley-Edited by Othello B. Garblah
