Foreign corruption spotters now in place

A team of foreign financial experts flown in to Liberia to help the new government combat corruption is finally in place. Under a far-reaching scheme backed by Liberia’s partners and donors, known as the Governance Economic Management Assistance Programme (GEMAP), international experts are being placed in key positions to help ring-fence revenue and spending over the next three years. Targeted for monitoring are major ministries and potentially lucrative sites such as the port, airport, customs office and forestry commission. The Economic Governance Steering Committee (EGSC), which is chaired by the Liberian head of state and oversees the implementation of GEMAP, said this week that the team of foreign experts was now fully in place. "The international controllers would be tasked with assisting institutions in implementing and executing sound financial management practices, through improved procedures, capacity building and the exercise of binding co-signing authority", a statement from the group said. In March, foreign financial experts assumed duties at the Central Bank of Liberia and on the Cash Management Committee. The latest controllers to arrive have been deployed at the country's airport, deep-water port and the government forest management agency, which generates revenues for the government even though Liberia is still under UN sanctions on timber and diamond exports. However, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said recently that her government hopes the sanctions might be lifted in June after review by the Security Council. Allegations of corruption were a key motivating factor for rebel fighters in Liberia’s 14-year civil war that reduced a once leading African economy to tatters. Meanwhile earlier this month, the new peacetime government released a financial report of the first three months of its administration revealing a dramatic increase in revenue generation and collection. The report, released by the Ministry of Finance, covers January to March and details revenues and expenditures, said “the quarter showed very strong revenue performance and constrained spending, leading to accumulation of sizeable cash surplus”. It was the first such report issued by a Liberian government for more than 20 years in a country recently plagued by violence and instability. Finance ministry authorities said actual revenue generated amounted to US $26.2 million, which is 19 percent higher than projected and more then three times more than the same period last year when the fighting had stopped and a transitional government was in place. Expenditure was also down on last year, said the report, plummeting to “only US $11.3 million compared to US $18.6 million in the last quarter of 2005, which is close to a 40 percent decline.” In the last days of the outgoing government, newspapers were packed with stories of parliamentarians making off with desks, chairs and computers from their government offices. But under Sirleaf, unpaid taxes have been collected, the banking systems computerised and revenue leakages plugged, said the report. The good start means projections for the year are likely to be exceeded, said the report, largely through improved tax collection. In February, the head of state sacked every political appointee from the outgoing administration at the ministry of finance as part of her crackdown on corruption.