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Monrovia – The anti-corruption campaign of President Joseph Nyumah Boakai seems to be gaining steam amid a recent indictment of five senior ex-officials on charges of economic sabotage, theft, misuse of public money, criminal conspiracy, criminal facilitation, among others. It can also be recalled that President Boakai recently suspended the Central Bank Governor, Mr. Aloysius Tarlue, over a damaging GAC Audit Report that exposed allegations of gross improprieties, fiscal indiscipline, and corruption.
To fulfill one of his major campaign promises of fighting corruption and promoting public sector accountability and transparency, President Boakai mandated the General Auditing Commission (GAC) to commission a comprehensive audit of the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs during a meeting with officials of the GAC at the Executive Mansion on March 20, 2024.
At the meeting with Liberia’s Auditor General, Mr. P. Garswa Jackson, it was concluded that the GAC began with a system audit for the period March 31, 2024, since the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs had not been audited for a long time. After less than four months, the Auditor General submitted his findings and recommendations to President Boakai in July 2024 from a system audit that focused on budget management, personnel management, procurement management, cash management, financial reporting, and governance.
The GAC system audit revealed a variance of US$4,996,308.67 between the MOS Financial Statements and the General IFMIS Ledgers amid irregularities associated with the budget line items “operational expense” amounting to US$50,000. Additionally, the GAC observed a discrepancy of US$1,609,499 between the MOS Financial Report and the Fiscal Outturn amid the detection of unauthorized, irregular, and wasteful expenditures highlighted by the GAC.
The audit report showed that there was no evidence of management developing a policy to regulate the hiring and management of supplementary personnel; thereby resulting in a total of 739 staff with an annual salary of US$2,622,060 which is more than 50% above the total number and annual salary of regular staff. The report also revealed no evidence of management budgeting and reporting salary expenses for supplementary personnel in the annual amount of US$2,622,060.
“Management had four (4) bank accounts domiciled at the Liberia Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI) which have been opened/established since August 2012. The four accounts had cumulative balances amounting to US$38,835.95 and L$55,145.72 as at March 31, 2024. Three of these bank accounts were observed to be dormant during the period under review. The Bank account titled “July 26 Celebrations Escrow Account with Account # 001USD21322288801 with signatories had four suspicious transactions amounting to total deposits of US$878,295.34 and withdrawals of US$860,000.00 without evidence of supporting documents,” the GAC report revealed.
The audit report further said that the MOS Management provided additional documents that were reviewed. However, there was still no evidence of supporting documents such as payment vouchers, invoices, delivery notes/job completion certificates amounting to US$4,243,431.50 and L$79,533,158.06. The GAC in its report recommended that management accounts for these “expenditures” without evidence.
As public outcry intensifies for an end to impunity in Liberia, President Boakai is under pressure from civil society actors and Liberians, in general, to fully implement the findings and recommendations of the GAC and the LACC void of partiality and partisanship. Political analysts believe that President Boakai has a perfect opportunity to crack down on systemic corruption in Liberia and put an end to entrenched impunity.
