Let’s Break Away From The Repulsive Past

ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2025, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., sprang on recalcitrant officials of government under his watch with one month suspension without pay for their failure to declare assets to the Liberia Ant- Corruption Commission.

THE PRESIDENT DID not only slap these defiant government officials with only one month suspension without pay, he also ordered the LACC to seize and park government assigned vehicles in the hands of those officials.

THE ASSETS DECLARATION doctrine was embodied as a component of the Code of Conduct under Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s regime to engender good governance practices in Liberia, but even the regime that introduced this reform measure suffered the resilience of public officials to adhere to the mandate.

IN OUR MIND, the mandate for public officials; especially presidential appointees and elected officials to declare assets to the LACC is to foster transparency, integrity and accountability in government. It is also intended to combat corruption, an entrenched culture of insincerity that has become the way of life in our society.

WE CANNOT WAIT to voice out that the move by President Boakai to compel those public officials to act accordingly has not only demeaned their prestige and honor, but also exposed their unwillingness to break away from the repulsive past.

IT IS AN open secret that before taking this bold step against the affected officials, President Baokai repeatedly warned the very public officials to declare their assets because they are required to do so without hesitation, but reneging on the mandate has been a repeat of the ugly past they claimed to have come to change.

SHAME ON THEM that, having been exposed and demeaned due to their recalcitrance, they decided to showcase pretense by trooping to the LACC to declare the long-awaited assets while the public disapprovingly peers at them.

WE HASTEN TO encourage the President to consistently compel public officials to act accordingly at different fronts of our governance system in anticipation of what the public was told to be the mandate of this government in breaking away from the very dangerously erroneous past.