Corruption and anti-corruption in Liberia in the areas of environment, climate change and rule of law

This Anti-Corruption Helpdesk brief was produced in response to a query from a U4 Partner Agency. The U4 Helpdesk is operated by Transparency International in collaboration with the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre based at the Chr. Michelsen Institute.

Query

Please provide an analysis of corruption and anti-corruption in Liberia in two areas: environment and climate change, and rule of law.

Contents

1. Background
2. Environment and climate change
   1. Corruption challenges
   2. Socio-economic implications
   3. Anti-corruption measures and effectiveness of implementation
   4. CSOs and other stakeholders
3. Rule of law
   1. Corruption challenges
   2. Socio-economic implications
   3. Anti-corruption measures and effectiveness of implementation
   4. CSOs and other stakeholders
4. References

Main points

• Despite recent progress, mainly in the passage of key laws and the establishment of integrity institutions, Liberia suffers from endemic corruption, with nepotism, cronyism and political corruption being the main challenges.
• Natural resource management, especially in the mining and forestry sector, has a history of corruption, crime and conflict. Corruption in this sector is also known to perpetuate poverty among citizens, especially in the affected communities.
• The effects of climate change may have disastrous socio-economic impacts as a majority of Liberians are engaged in climate reliant activities for their sustenance.
• While the three branches of government have significant independence, the executive remains dominant. The judiciary suffers from functional deficits and corruption.

Summary

Liberia’s rich reserve of natural resources have often done it more harm than good. Corruption scandals in natural resource management involve governmental and international players. The effects of climate change have dire consequences on national development efforts and could potentially increase the current challenges in alleviating poverty. Rule of law enforcement remains weak, resulting in a culture of impunity. While citizens’ access to pertinent information and meaningful engagement and participation in key decision-making processes still remains a challenge, citizens’ demand for accountability, transparency, and integrity at different levels of society has heightened over the last few years, especially in public services.

Authors

Kaunain Rahman (TI), [email protected]

Reviewers

Cecilie Wathne (U4), [email protected]

Anderson Miamen (TI), [email protected]

Date

04/08/2020

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