Liberia: Overview of corruption and anti-corruption

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 updated overview of corruption and its effects in Liberia, as well as information about anti-corruption measures, institutions, legal and other frameworks that may be in place. Information about NGOs and other actors and their anti-corruption efforts would also be of interest.

Summary

Despite high expectations placed on Liberia’s new president, his Excellency George Manneh Weah – who came to power through Liberia’s first democratic transition of power in more than 70 years – corruption continues to permeate Liberian politics and the public service. Allegations of patronage, nepotism and cronyism plague politics, petty corruption is rife, and judicial independence is weak. Moral and financial support to public integrity institutions is also limited, with the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and other public integrity institutions without fully constituted leaderships. While advances have been made in the extractive resources sector, with Liberia making “meaningful progress” to respect the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative standards, overall challenges remain significant.

Main points

• Allegations of patronage, nepotism and cronyism have continued in Liberia, despite a change in government, which came with high expectations to fight corruption.
• Low salaries are often cited as the reason for petty corruption in the country, especially across all levels of government.
• Legislative framework has little influence on corrupt practices.
• Transparency improvements are significant only in Liberia’s natural resources industry.

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Extent of corruption
3. Nature of corruption challenges
4. Sectors affected by corruption
5. Legislative framework
6. Anti-corruption institutions
7. Other actors
8. References

Authors

Krista Lee-Jones

Reviewers:

Roberto Martinez B. Kukutschka, Anderson Miamen and Guillaume Nicaise

Date

01/11/2019

Tags