Outgoing officials make off with the furniture

Members of Liberia’s outgoing transitional government have vacated offices to make way for elected successors, taking their computers, desks, chairs and even carpets with them, civil servants told IRIN on Monday. Ministers, their staff, and parliamentarians as well have made off with a whole gamut of government property, leaving offices bare. “Here in this, the Capitol Building, some former members of the NTLA [National Transitional Legislative Assembly] took away carpets from the offices they occupied and even desks that the government had bought,” said Angie Coleman who works at the parliament building. Some of the outgoing lawmakers claimed the office furniture and equipment they were whisking away was their own private property, another staff member told IRIN. “We know their claims are false because we were here when the government raised vouchers to purchase those desks, carpets and furniture while they were serving as lawmakers... They just took them away in broad daylight without any pang of conscience,” he said. Some former parliamentarians meanwhile have changed the official plates on their government-assigned 4x4 Cherokee jeeps to private ones, and are cruising around the capital Monrovia to the disgust of angry residents. “This is not fair to us the tax payers! They have no right to divert government cars for private use. They did not buy those vehicles so why are they using private plates on them?” Johnny Edwards complained to IRIN. In November, the 76-member transitional parliament which was made up of former rebels and civil society representatives as part of a 2003 peace deal, attempted to pass a law to keep their government issued vehicles. The move was condemned by transitional government Chairman Gyude Bryant, and US Ambassador Donald Booth warned that any official who made off with their jeep would be denied a visa to the United States. Sirleaf, who at her inauguration on 16 January promised to wage a war on corruption, has promised an audit to retrieve all looted government assets. “Those who have [government property] must turn them over to the government to avoid any embarrassment, they are government properties and we are going to retrieve them,” the president warned at her first press briefing on Friday. Liberia, though rich in natural resources, is one of the poorest countries in the world after 14 years of civil war that reduced Monrovia’s seafront buildings to bullet-riddled shells. And drugged-up fighters, pro-government or rebel, often were encouraged to pay themselves through looting. Along with tackling corruption, another of Sirleaf’s priorities will be switching electricity supplies back on and providing clean drinking water to the battered capital.