Scramble for goodies ahead of political handover

The US was angry and Liberians grumbled on street corners on Monday after members of parliament moved to grab a share of booty before a new government is sworn in. With Liberia’s peace-sealing elections just over, the transitional government that was put into place following a peace deal two years ago will make way for an elected assembly on 16 January. But the 76 out-going parliamentarians are so attached to their government-issued Grand Cherokee Jeeps that on Friday they passed a “binding resolution” to keep them beyond the end of their term. Since Liberia descended into civil war in 1989, officials have regularly taken home the desk, chairs and all moveable office equipment, not bothering to clean out the drawers. When former president Charles Taylor was forced out of office amid a hail of rebel bullets and international haranguing in 2003, his 90-member government stripped their offices, the judiciary and the parliament of everything down to the carpets, loading it up into government issued vehicles and driving it all away. Keen to prevent a rerun of this free-for-all, the chairman of the transitional government, Gyude Bryant, has warned the lawmakers that their decision to hold onto government-issue vehicles is “totally unacceptable”. While US Ambassador Donald Booth said any official who made off with their jeep, which cost the government over US $2 million for a fleet of 76 last year, would be denied a visa to the United States. “The US considers these transfers unscrupulous, irresponsible and contrary to the public interest of the people of Liberia. The Liberian government resources are for the benefit of the Liberian people and should not be misappropriated for private use,” the US said in a statement issued on Saturday. But the assembly’s acting speaker, George Koukou, dismissed the US threats and on Liberia’s Star Radio said on Monday that Booth should “know his limitation as a diplomat”. On the streets of the capital, Monrovia, Liberians tired of seeing government officials cruise over the potholed streets in flashy 4X4s while they struggle without mains electricity or running water, sided with the Americans. “How will government officials in broad daylight hijack the government and take away properties that it owns? It is corruption! And the officials must be held accountable,” said Richard Sayon, a public administration student at the university of Liberia, where bullet holes from 14 years of civil war still pepper the walls. Two years after the end of hostilities, basic infrastructure remains in tatters and the drugged up teenage fighters who were encouraged to pay themselves through looting and banditry languish unemployed and restless. Liberia has ample resources, including timber, diamonds and rubber, to pull the tropical nation’s three million population out of poverty. Donors have promised funds to help rebuild the country and put systems in place to harness that natural wealth, but only if the country’s leaders keep sticky fingers out of the national purse. In September, the transitional government endorsed a donor plan that will see outsiders, possibly foreigners, appointed by the International Monetary Fund to key positions including the central bank and the port authority.