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Political
backbone needed to execute ECOWAS' audit report
Tuesday,
December 19, 2006
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
The
‘earthquake’ we have been hearing so much about in
Liberia lately is not the natural one, but a political
one in the name of an ECOWAS audit report, which has
unearthed malfeasance under the less-than-stellar
former interim administration of Charles Gyude Bryant.
The government of Liberia refers to it as
“economic sabotage,” which it really is. It is
also corruption against the state and its people –
the Liberian people whom at this particular time
cannot afford to lose a meal or a government’s
appropriation meant to send their kids to school, but
taken away by the cowardly and selfish acts of
government officials who supposed to be looking out
for them.
Gyude Bryant
Lusinee Kamara
Tugbeh Doe
It is not that the whispers about corruption
that swirled around Mr. Bryant and his administration
did not reach the naked ears of the Liberian people.
Most Liberians heard about it, knew about it,
discussed it among themselves but couldn’t verify
what they heard, and dreamed of an investigation to
get to the bottom of the issue, long before the ECOWAS’
team carried out their audit in January after the
mandate of the interim government expired.
Instead, the Liberian people got embarrassment
after embarrassment from Gyude and his team, including
members of the National Transitional Legislative
Assembly, (NTGL) who got into the fray by engaging in
their share of economic sabotage. And when their
interim legislative tenure expired, those individuals
even refused to turn over government vehicles that did
not belong to them.
The recent report of the 6-man audit team
verified the suspicions of the Liberian people and
reinforced the need for an investigation and
prosecution of the former officials in a court of law
in the Republic of Liberia, which many now see as
“witch hunting.”
The administration will rightly be seen as
witch-hunting if it fails to execute the results of
the investigation in a timely, professional and
inclusive manner, by indicting all former bigwigs and
small wigs, not only those 5 former officials who
allegedly stole over $90m, and took food out of the
mouths of Liberians.
And if the individuals are believed to have
committed a crime, they have to appear in court and
put on trial as soon as possible before jurors of
their peers, and not disgraced, convicted and jailed
before they even get to go to court to face their
accusers. What kind of justice is it?
However, since this is about transparency and
accountability, the investigation must go beyond the
Gyude Bryant’s administration, and must be inclusive
of other former interim governments.
To show how serious she is about transparency
and accountability, and to put a dent in corruption,
if possible, President Sirleaf should appoint a Truth
and Reconciliation Commission-like, “Economic
Sabotage Commission” to investigate economic crimes
against the Liberian people during time of war.
As usual, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
known for her loyalty to her political friends than
the Liberian people is lukewarm about the audit
report, and hasn’t shown any kind of leadership as
to where she stand on the issue.
Even after his name surfaced continuously about
his alleged role in corruption when he served as Mr.
Bryant’s second in command, President Sirleaf
ignored the red flag and still appointed Wesley
Johnson as her ambassador to the Court of St. James in
the United Kingdom.
Now what kind of political sense does it make
for a president to appoint a guy whose name is tied to
alleged acts of corruption when he served in the
former interim government? Isn’t it politically wise
for a president to wait until the individual’s name
is cleared of all charges before appointing that
person to such a high-profile position?
Back to Charles Gyude Bryant, because the
inept, corrupt and misguided interim leader, who did
not make us feel proud after he was hand-picked to
lead the nation during its time of crisis is also
crying foul about the arrest of his former officials,
even though no one has said a thing to the man as to
whether he would be indicted, or not be indicted.
Mr. Bryant needs to hold on to those crocodile
tears for now until he is finally arrested and put on
trial one day for whatever role he played when he led
that nation during its troubled times.
Charles Gyude Bryant did embarrassed those who
trusted him when they bypassed meaningful and
competent Liberians for the once obscure and untested
Bryant, believing his obscurity coupled with the life
he supposedly led as a “businessman” would be a
plus in the sweepstake that picked him in Accra, Ghana
in 2003.
The only regrets I have today is that the
ECOWAS audit group did not reverse itself by auditing
the other former interim leaders of the past including
the corrupt administration of Amos Claudius Sawyer,
whose tenure was more of an academic exercise than
political leadership, because Mr. Sawyer’s interim
government was bleak on prosperity, was painful than
substantive, and was noted for his administration’s
after-hour collaboration with the disgraced Charles
Taylor.
I want to believe Amos Sawyer will never face a
Magistrate anywhere in Liberia to answer to any
corruption charges, because he is what he is: Amos
Claudius Sawyer, professor, former political activist,
former interim president and now confidant of the
current president, who wields enormous political clout
more than any living being in Liberia today.
One would think individuals with political
aspirations who couldn’t get elected on their own
strengths would remain relevant by staying above
corruption and doing all the right things to win the
hearts of his or her people. Our interim leaders of
old, however, failed us miserably.
Until their peers in a court of law exonerates
them, Liberians will always remember the interim
administrations of Charles Gyude Bryant, Amos Claudius
Sawyer and others as corrupt, and never in their
interest.
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