The news of suspensions and investigations involving key officials in the Boakai administration, alongside indictments of former officials of the Weah government, has sparked public enthusiasm and renewed hope in Liberia’s long, embattled war against corruption. For many, it marked a long-awaited beginning of a new era.
The Executive Mansion cited “serious allegations of financial and administrative malpractices” as the basis for the suspensions, while the Asset Recovery Agency pressed criminal charges including theft of public property and abuse of office against high-profile members of the former government. It was a scene Liberians had seen before, but this time, with an 80-year-old president leading the charge, many believed the tide might finally be turning.
From podcasts to radio stations, newspaper editorials to Facebook posts, the public reaction was loud and largely supportive. Gospel artist Kanvee Adams wrote, “I don’t regret my vote for JNB. There may be flaws, but he is on the right track in fighting corruption and I am proud.”
But the applause had not faded before troubling contradictions began to surface, not from opposition-aligned figures alleging witch-hunts, but from respected independent voices like Julius Jeh, Liberia’s leading investigative journalist.
At the heart of the contradiction are the cases of two suspended officials: the Director-General of the Liberia Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority (LACRA), and Arthur Massaquoi, head of the State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Secretariat.
Only weeks earlier, President Boakai publicly praised LACRA’s leadership, awarding it for institutional excellence and aligning its achievements with the ARREST Agenda, particularly its anti-corruption pillar. The suspension of its director shocked employees and citizens alike. “How can one be honored today and dishonored tomorrow?” asked a senior LACRA staffer.
More troubling still was the suspension of Arthur Massaquoi, the man tasked by President Boakai himself with leading a diagnostic audit of all State Owned Enterprises (SOEs). Massaquoi’s findings were damning: widespread waste, salary disparities, non-compliance with regulations, and general abuse of public funds.
His report noted that almost none of the SOEs were contributing to the national budget, despite substantial revenues. Worse, many of these institutions are headed by political allies or family associates of the President himself.
Rather than action against those implicated in Massaquoi’s audit, it was Massaquoi who found himself suspended. No hearings. No denials. No rebuke of the SOEs he accused. “So, the guy who exposed the rot gets punished, while those he exposed get to remain?” quipped a panelist on The Closing Argument, a popular talk show.
This pattern, rewarding silence and punishing exposure, threatens to undermine two essential pillars of the anti-corruption agenda: performance accountability and whistleblower protection.
Liberia’s history with corruption is long and repetitive. Successive governments have promised reform only to fall short.
- In 2011, then-President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, in her Annual Address, admitted:
“I have failed in the fight against corruption. The cancer is deep. But I will continue to fight.”
[Cited in The New Republic Liberia, Feb 2011]
She had turned over the Chair of the Liberia Telecommunication Authority (LTA) and her own Information Minister for prosecution. Yet these prosecutions fizzled, and impunity remained entrenched.
- In 2018, President George Weah vowed a war on corruption, but his administration quickly fell into disrepute. The alleged disappearance of L$16 billion and the US$25 million mop-up scandal led to high-profile arrests, including Deputy CBL Governor Charles Sirleaf. Despite temporary public support, it too ended without any serious outcome .
Yet, despite these failures, Liberia’s legal tools have evolved. Under Weah, the amended 2022 Anti-Corruption Commission Act granted the LACC prosecutorial powers.
But as legal icon Cllr. Tiawan Gongloe warned: “Without political will and independence, the law remains a decoration on paper.” Liberian Observer, July 2022
Thus, Boakai inherits both legal tools and historical failures.
The contradiction is not in the effort, but in its execution. While opposition parties have cried witch-hunt, the more credible concern lies in selective enforcement. The whistleblowers are punished. The “untouchables”, those tied to the president or his inner circle, remain in place, despite being named in official misconduct reports.
This political inconsistency risks delegitimizing the broader anti-corruption agenda. As the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL) noted in its 2023 report:
”Public confidence in anti-corruption efforts drops sharply when enforcement is seen as politically motivated or selectively applied.”
[CENTAL, State of Corruption Report 2023]
Moreover, Article 5(c) of the Liberian Constitution declares that “the Republic shall take steps… to eradicate all forms of corruption.” The spirit of this article requires not just actions, but consistent and impartial actions.
Boakai must demonstrate that no one is above the law, not his allies, his opponents nor even his family’s foundation.
A Fight or a Facade?
This is not the first time Liberians have seen what begins as an earnest war against corruption end in disappointment and lost opportunity. What makes this different? So far, not much.
Boakai, unlike his predecessors, carries the advantage of timing, early in his administration, with public goodwill intact. But that goodwill is already being tested.
The president must confront a simple but critical choice: Will this be a genuine anti-corruption crusade, or will it become another government’s public relations campaign that sacrifices whistleblowers and protects cronies?
