By Truth In Ink | Sidiki Fofana
When the Vice President of the Republic of Liberia, Hon. Jeremiah K. Koung , a man constitutionally charged with assisting the President in the execution of the nation’s laws and presiding over the Senate’s legislative deliberations, travels to China not to conduct a state visit, negotiate a bilateral agreement, or represent the country in a formal capacity, but instead to personally inspect the price and quality of construction machines, the entire architecture of good governance is called into question.
This is not diplomacy. This is not oversight. This is a constitutional aberration, a legal violation, and a denigration of the office he holds. In a system where transparency is already fragile, what we are witnessing is not leadership, it is administrative malpractice and an executive overreach that borders on impunity.
- The Vice President’s Legal Role: A Constitutional Perspective
The 1986 Constitution of Liberia establishes the Vice President as both a senior executive officer and the President of the Senate. His role is to “assist the President in the discharge of his functions” and to preside over legislative deliberations without a vote, “except in the case of a tie.” (Article 51, Liberian Constitution)
What this role does not include, either explicitly or implicitly, is active involvement in public procurement, market assessment, vendor negotiations, or cost-setting for government purchases. Procurement is the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, and the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission (PPCC) under clear legal guidelines outlined in the Public Procurement and Concessions Act (PPC Act), 2010.
“Public officials shall not be involved in procurement decisions in which they hold a direct or indirect interest or where such involvement would be reasonably perceived as a conflict of interest.”, Section 137, PPC Act, 2010.
When the Vice President, second only to the President in national hierarchy, goes to China to engage in price discussions and market inspections, he is stepping far outside the boundaries of constitutional delegation and statutory authority.
- The Danger of Dual Roles: From Appropriator to Purchaser
The Vice President sits at the intersection of appropriating public funds and enforcing public accountability. As presiding officer of the Senate, he is part of the branch that approves national budgets, including allocations for machinery and infrastructure. As assistant to the President, he is also part of the executive branch that implements those expenditures.
If he now steps into the procurement process itself, selecting vendors, negotiating prices, and potentially concluding deals, he is collapsing all three layers of governance into one person:
- The legislator, who approves the funding
- The executive, who supervises the implementation
- The procurement officer, who selects and buys the product
Such consolidation of power is legally impermissible and ethically intolerable.
As the Liberian Governance Commission once stated in its 2013 position paper on public sector ethics: “The separation of roles is not just a principle of democracy, it is a safeguard against abuse.”
What Liberia is now witnessing is not just a blurring of roles, but a complete erosion of that separation.
III. Denigrating the Office: A Statesman Turned Salesman
Vice presidents do not go “machine price shopping.” They do not walk through factories with calculators or sit across tables haggling costs with vendors. This is not how statecraft is performed.
Had the Vice President traveled to China as part of a formal bilateral delegation, armed with diplomatic communiqués and representing the Government of Liberia in negotiations over a loan agreement, technical assistance, or foreign direct investment, the trip would have been justifiable.
But there has been no communique from the Government of the People’s Republic of China, no record of diplomatic engagement, no evidence of an MOU, no bilateral framework to contextualize this visit.
What the public sees instead is the Vice President engaging in what resembles a glorified shopping trip, complete with cameras, influencers, and selective media coverage, all of which transforms a policy concern into a personal branding opportunity.
It is a gross denigration of an office once occupied by giants like James E. Green and Joseph Boakai himself. Never in the political history of Liberia has a sitting Vice President acted as though he were the procurement manager of the Ministry of Public Works.
- Historical Precedent and Political Memory
Liberia’s democratic history has taught us that the erosion of institutional norms often begins with “just this one exception.” This is how impunity is normalized.
During the administration of President Charles Taylor, procurement became a political tool, and senior government officials routinely negotiated contracts without competitive bidding. The result? A captured state, destroyed infrastructure, and international sanctions.
During President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s tenure, even amidst corruption scandals, procurement protocols were restructured to shield senior officials from direct vendor interaction. Ministers were discouraged from any involvement in bidding or price negotiations.
Sirleaf herself noted in 2009: “You cannot reform a country by breaking the rules meant to protect it. Even perception of conflict is enough to cause irreparable damage.” This principle applies doubly to the Vice President—a man who, constitutionally, is meant to represent stability and neutrality, not political performance art in a Chinese showroom.
- The Yellow Machine Scandal: A Case Study in Shadows
The controversy surrounding Liberia’s “yellow machines” already reeks of mismanagement. The first announcement placed the cost at $83 million, yet there was no bidding process, no legislative appropriation, and no signed loan agreement.
Today, the price is reportedly around $22 million, but by what process? Who authorized the discount? Where is the transparency President Boakai promised?
The Vice President’s direct involvement only deepens public suspicion:
- Was there an open tender?
- Who are the Chinese suppliers
- What are the warranties, payment terms, and delivery guarantees?
- Has the General Auditing Commission reviewed the framework?
In the wisdom of the Vice President, taking along the Minister of Public Works, the head of the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission (PPCC), an Assistant Minister for Budget at the Ministry of Finance, the Deputy Director of Operations at the General Services Agency (GSA), and selected media institutions justifies his actions and equates to transparency.
But such logic, when tested against common sense, legal standards, and ethical principles, comes crumbling.
The Vice President has not strengthened transparency; he has compromised it by involving the very institutions that are supposed to exercise independent oversight.
Selecting China as the sole destination for procurement further raises red flags. Why China? Why no competitive vendor analysis? This unilateral approach fails even basic procurement scrutiny. It’s not the men and women present that validate transparency, it’s the system, when guarded by law and due process, that does.
By inserting himself into this process, the Vice President not only undermines procurement law—he jeopardizes the legitimacy of the transaction itself.
- A Slippery Slope: Institutionalizing Informality
If Liberia allows this behavior to go unchecked, what stops other officials from following suit?
- Will the Speaker of the House next travel to Europe to purchase school buses?
- Will the Chief Justice negotiate prices for court supplies?
Good governance is built on procedure, not personalities. Liberia must not trade transparency for symbolism, or legality for photo-ops.
As Transparency International warns, “Corruption thrives not only where there is bribery, but where power is used outside its bounds.”
The Vice President’s trip to China is not merely bad optics, it is bad governance. It sets a bad procurement precedent. It is an insult to the principles of separation of powers, fiscal accountability, and institutional trust.
This is not how a Vice President serves his people.This is how bad habits become bad governance. And unless the Liberian people demand answers, and demand that their leaders act within the law, the damage may be far greater than a mispriced bulldozer. It may be the slow demolition of democracy itself.
And so we conclude by emphasizing that When the Vice President of Liberia boards a plane to China and personally engages in assessing, negotiating, and potentially finalizing the cost of “yellow” machines equipment essential for public infrastructure, it might seem like an act of dedication.
But beneath the applause and camera fanfare lies a far more serious concern: a potential breach of ethical boundaries, a conflict of interest, and a distortion of constitutional governance. In short, the referee has stepped onto the pitch to become the player.
Sidiki Fofana holds a Master of Science in Organizational Development and Leadership and a Graduate Certificate in Cybersecurity from Saint Joseph’s University.
He has extensive experience in leadership development, institutional change management, business development, and cybersecurity management As a grassroots political strategist and founder of Truth In Ink Incorporated, Fofana provides in-depth political, economic, and social analysis centered on ethics, governance, and democratic transformation in Liberia. He can be reached through: WhatsApp +231 77814444 / 881144444 Mobile: 2674037612
Email:sfofana5@mail.dccc.edu
