Root Out Corruption

The head of the national traditional council, Chief Zanzan Karwah has predicted doom for the vision 2030 policy unless the government first addresses the vices of corruption, nepotism and proliferation of political parties that, he says, haunt the country.

Concerning accountability and transparency, Chief Karwah, directly gaze at President Sirleaf, recommending: “When anybody eats government money, that person must be prosecuted; if that does not happen, vision 2030 would not be achieved.”

“The implementation of this policy lies on you and the government. Those things that affect us as a nation must be first addressed if we want to achieve this vision,” he told the conference plenary Tuesday in Gbarnga in simple Liberian English.

The chief of the chiefs asked the government to prosecute officials implicated in corrupt practices. He said anyone accused of corruption in the report of the General Auditing Commission must be prosecuted without fear or favor.

His request came amidst mounting call for the prosecution of officials accused of graft.

Recently, the Chairperson of Liberia’s Anti-Corruption Commission, Counsellor Francess Johnson Allison warned that “Unless the Liberian nation takes a different approach in the fight against corruption, the whole legitimacy of this government may be undermined.”

She lamented that despite the government’s achievements in the fight against corruption, the “limited success scored could be weakened by the uncooperative tendencies on the part of government institutions that stand accused of acts of corruption.”

Speaking in a recent interview with the New Democrat, she said government needs to do more in the crusade against corruption.

At the Gbarnga conference, Chief Karwah claimed that many college graduates employed in government offices perform dismally on the job, adding, “there are people who don’t have degrees, but know the job. So you must revisit that, Madam President,” he observed.

“If we want this vision 2030 to work, we must look into that,” he noted.

He urged the president to revisit the idea of quick impact roads, saying, “most of those roads are not done properly.”

He admonished individuals eying top positions in the society to work with and respect their leaders in order to learn from them, adding: “If you want to lead and you do not know anything, you will suffer,” he emphasized.