The risk of impunity and Corruption in Liberia

By: Sam K Zinnah

As the much anticipated 2011 elections draws near in Liberia, works are beginning to come to lights from clever politicians. Those works will either serve as political points or bullets for those smart politicians. Recently, a bill to repeal the 9 year old TRC act was recently submitted to the Liberian Senate by Grand Gedeh County Senior Senator Isaac Nyenabo. Although Senator Nyenabo will not be contesting the 2011 senatorial race, his clever bill presentation may be highly influenced by interest to protect his alleged war criminal colleagues and later his own interest after his nine year tenure.
The questions that swing the chest of many Liberians and friends of Liberia are “while is this outspoken Senator just presenting this bill now when the TRC act is nearly a decade old? Wasn’t this Senator (Nyenabo) amongst the 30 or more senators that were swear into office in 2006? Is the Senator trying to design a cleaver impunity exit for him and his alleged war criminal colleagues?
The essence of representation is for the representative to express the view of those represented but this has not been in the case of Liberia. Political and self interests have been some of the biggest problems in the Liberian legislature thus leading serious political and patriotic sanity at the capital building in Liberia. Sanity ‘in this case’ is a matter of appropriateness of response to a choice between two choice distinct interests, the first, a merely habituated sense, “certainty” and the second, reasons the lies within the domain of those efficiently universal principles which exist beyond the direct reach human sense of imagination. To understand and investigate the reason(s) for writing a hatchet bill of impunity by a law marker, Liberian electorates must begin to evaluate the credential of people running for elected positions in their constituencies. Election of candidate(s) should be based on patriotism, accountability, moral and transparency in order to curtail the culture of impunity and the danger of running into yet another round of chaos in Liberia. Today, a commercial politician like Isaac Nyenabo is writing cleaver hatchet bill of impunity that would price tag his political journey but considering the level of electorate education in his country or county (constituent), Nyanebo might be rewarded ‘for contributing to the slaughtering of half a million Liberians during the fourteen year civil war’ by being re-elected to the post of Senior Senator for Grand Gedeh.

There is sometime a tendency to forget or over look what should have been recalled as the plain fact of occurrences. Obviously, the end of alleged war criminals might be narrowing comes 2011 elections. The likes of Senators Price Johnson, Adolphus Dolo, Isaac Nyenabo, Saah Gbolee and other human hawks who shares intimacy through political acquaintance are all behind this cleaver hatchet bill of impunity. They are all a case of a ‘zombie-like’ synthetic personality taken over by psychopathological equivalent of the body snatchers from outer space waiting to swallow any bad bills that sets them free.

Imagine the commonly heard expression both at home and in the Diaspora today, “alleged war criminals must face the full weight of the law”. Senator Nyenabo and his partners in crime may not feel that the concern of the Liberian people should be raised to address the impunity problems in Liberia. The culture of impunity may not be the direct factor of concern to Senator Nyenabo and his partners in crime but they are of decisive importance to Liberia in the struggle to define a solution to the culture of impunity in Liberia. Senator Nyenabo’s continues quotation of portion of the 1986 constitution as his defense for his cleave hatchet bill of impunity is not a matter of facts but simply a ‘feeling’ which does not have any legitimate place in the efforts to address the relevant risk of impunity in Liberia. Nyenabo’s kind of emotion-driven is a major factor of mass political behavior motivated by a pathological use of the “1986 constitution of the Republic of Liberia” as substitute for rational behavior. The notion of bill to repeal the TRC act is distinct from reasoning which is a fatal contradiction in terms of the essence of his job as a law maker. This expresses a large overdose of feeling but virtually no exercise of reasoning.

Senator Nyenabo and his alleged war criminals watched many Liberians perish of hunger, especially those of tender years while they relaxed or hustle for political positions at the expense of the very people they victimized. Mothers “with scarcely strength to support themselves” carried their famished and malnourished infants in their arms and died with them. Many felt victim to stray bullets, cold, whilst others to intense thirst while the Senator carry his body guards for his personal protection. Today, Isaac Nyenabo and others who overtly violated the rights of other Liberians are walking the streets of Liberia in grand style while their victims roam the streets in search of daily bread. They are referred to as “Senators and Representatives”. They have even become more corrupt to the extent that they did not see the TRC act that has existed since 2003 (three years before they were elected). It’s a disgrace to see a Senior Senator presenting a bill to repeal an act that is almost eight years old.

Risk of Corruption

Corruption increases the marginalization of minority groups including women. It leads to contestation of the state’s monopoly of force or radicalizes opposition to the State and most times contributing to conflict, destabilization and failed State (UNDP). Most recovery programs aim at restoration of peace and stabilizing the economy through sustainable economic programs.
Corruption posts a threat to these efforts hence the need to deal with corruption from the onset of recovery is vital. In recent years, there has been increasing attention to the effects of corruption in post conflict and recovery environments. Various studious (by; UNDP, World Bank & Transparency international) confirm that about half of the post war countries revert to war within one decade and corruption can be considered as one of the major factors that contribute to fuelling a conflict and the return to violent. Therefore, overcoming corruption in post-war Liberia is essential to restoring the confident of Liberians at home and abroad.
Post conflict reconstruction is normally characterized by large scale injection of resources in an environment where the legal and institutional frameworks are weak, fragile or inexistent and the expertise scarce. Detection of crime is very low and enforcement difficult or ignored. The surviving governing structures are weak with financial, fiscal, administrative and regulatory capacities and limited oversight is informal and sometimes criminalized sectors. These institutions are often transitional in nature, carrying very little or no legitimacy, and therefore prone to capture by the privilege elite with access to power and resources. This lack of popular participation in reconstruction is vulnerable to hijacking by local elites, which leads to corruption, waste of available and scarce resources, lack of maintenance and monitoring by beneficiaries and eventual rejection in the long run.
The main purpose of zero tolerance on corruption in Liberia should be to assist post conflict Liberia in developing anti-corruption strategies. These strategies will be used to develop programs on anti-corruption in post-war Liberia and recovery process which will be a tool that will assist affected areas.
Development will never come to Liberia if Liberians continue to rely on foreign companies to do everything. History attests to this. The Indian, Ghanaian, Nigerian and Lebanese business communities in Liberia have never productively participated in Liberia's development. In fact, they have always tended to set themselves apart from Liberia. It is now up to the government and people of Liberia to build-up the credibility to attract investors to boost the Liberia economy.