By Sidiki Fofana | Truth in Ink
Every year, Liberia holds its breath awaiting external verdicts. Reports from the World Bank, the U.S. Department of State, and other foreign institutions are treated with near-sacred authority, often triggering political spin, media frenzy, and public anxiety.
The 2025 World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) report has been no different. It has been received by some as vindication, and by others as condemnation. But the truth is far more shaded.
To celebrate it as a vindication is to embrace mediocrity, and to use it as a political punching bag is to ignore the reality that such has been the narrative of each government, past and present. Until something is done, as I propose in this essay, the same story will likely define our future.
This report, while valuable, is neither a moment for national celebration, nor a sign of total collapse, unless read through the warped lenses of partisan cheerleading, or political indifference. But our greater concern should not be the content of the report itself, it should be our dangerous dependence on external assessments to understand ourselves.
Liberia has institutions tasked with tracking governance, accountability, and the rule of law. These include the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), General Auditing Commission (GAC), Internal Audit Agency (IAA), Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), and the Independent National Commission on Human Rights (INCHR) amongst others.
These institutions were created to help Liberians diagnose our national conditions, provide data-driven direction for reforms, and uphold accountability.
Yet, the public has lost faith in them. Their reports are either irregular, buried in bureaucracy, clouded by politics, or under-resourced into irrelevance.
Consequently, when the World Bank or State Department releases a report, it becomes the defining narrative- our national mirror.
Ironically, these highly anticipated international reports are constructed primarily with data from our own institutions. For example, the World Bank’s CPIA methodology states clearly:
“CPIA ratings are based on a combination of publicly available indicators, country documents, and consultations with in-country sources, including government institutions and civil society actors.”, World Bank CPIA Methodology Paper, 2023
Similarly, the U.S. State Department’s annual Human Rights Reports are not produced in a vacuum. They rely heavily on findings from the INCHR, local NGOs, justice ministry statistics, media coverage, and even opposition party statements. These foreign agencies simply consolidate, interpret, and frame information that originated here- in Liberia.
So why does it take an international report for us to believe our own data? Or take interest in many of the things we not only know, but also experienced daily.
As Liberians, we do not lack information, we lack confidence in our own institutions and a unified system to compile and publicize the truth. What Liberia desperately needs is an alternative reporting framework, a credible, consistent, and independent mechanism that can measure the nation’s performance in governance, justice, fiscal transparency, and human rights, blending the reality of the everyday Liberian, as is reflective of a Liberian data into a national report.
The late Ghanaian economist and Pan-African thinker Dr. George Ayittey once warned:
“Africa’s development is not a function of aid or foreign evaluation, it is a function of domestic accountability.”
Imagine a Liberia where reports from the LACC on corruption, the GAC and IAA on public spending and transparency, the Central Bank on monetary stability, and the Human Rights Commission on civil liberties actually shaped policy decisions and fueled public discourse.
Imagine a credible “Liberia Integrity and Governance Index” published yearly, debated on national radio, referenced in legislative hearings, used by civil society for advocacy, and respected by development partners. It would not just inform us, it would empower us to act.
When we trust our own institutions to evaluate our challenges, we begin to restore the public legitimacy of those institutions. A 2019 policy brief from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) makes the point bluntly:
“When governments invest in local systems of monitoring and evaluation, not only does citizen engagement improve, but donor reliance on parallel external reporting systems declines.” ODI, 2019: “Reclaiming Public Sector Accountability in Africa”
This is not just theoretical, it’s standard practice in developed democracies. For example, in the United States, policymakers do not wait for World Bank or IMF reports to design national budgets or set economic priorities.
Instead, they rely on domestic institutions like the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Federal Reserve, and other nationally mandated agencies to assess and guide public policy.
These institutions are deeply embedded in the political system, trusted for their analytical independence, and routinely shape both legislation and executive action. The data generated internally is considered more legitimate, not only because it is produced at home, but because it reflects national ownership and accountability.
By contrast, Liberia often allows external reports, however helpful, to dominate the national conversation, precisely because we have failed to empower and trust our own systems. It is time to change that equation.
This matters. The more consistent and transparent our local reporting systems become, the more they serve as the primary sources for both local reform and international understanding.
Instead of reacting to foreign reports, we start defining the narrative, one grounded in fact, not spin. To realize this alternative vision, we must confront a few urgent realities and take bold steps:
- Strengthen Institutional Independence
Agencies like the LACC, GAC, and INCHR must be shielded from executive interference and given the autonomy and resources to operate professionally.
- Invest in Data Infrastructure
We must build reliable systems for evidence gathering, data verification, and digital archiving across all governance sectors.
- Prioritize Public Accessibility
Reports must be translated into public-friendly formats, local languages, and shared widely through radio, newspapers, and digital platforms.
- Partner with Civil Society and Academia
CSOs and universities can serve as watchdogs and validators of reports, helping ensure credibility and reducing political manipulation.
- Cultivate Political Will
Public officials must begin to treat local reports with seriousness, even when the findings are uncomfortable. Real reform begins with honesty.
As I respectfully conclude I insist that Liberia does not need to be told who it is. We know. We live it. What we need are institutions strong enough, and honest enough, to say it, to measure it, document it, report it and inspire reform.
Let the World Bank write its report. Let the State Department issue its memo. But let Liberia write its own. Not in reaction, but in readiness. Not to impress outsiders, but to empower its citizens. As Chinua Achebe wisely said:
“Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”
It’s time we became the historians of our own governance. It’s time we wrote our own report too not as a replacement of World Bank Reports, but as a blend of theory with local reality.
Watch out for Part Two: How Dependence of Foreign Reports Has Affected Local Innovation.
