Integrity watch group, Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia or CENTAL, says it is troubled by report of a whopping 8.1million Liberian Dollars corruption scandal that has emerged at the Monrovia Consolidated School System (MCSS) in recent days.
CENTAL urges President Joseph Boakai to immediately suspend all those involved.
On April 8, 2025, the Officer-in-Charge at the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) Mohammed A. Nasser, recommended to the Liberia Ant-Corruption Commission a full-scale investigation of the MCSS insurance scheme after the Agency found that Sonita Dangan, an employee of MCSS, received 8.1 million Liberian dollars in checks from Kabineh Keita, a suspected employee of Sky Insurance company which offers insurance services to the institution.
It is further reported that FIA found no business relationship between Dangan and Keita to justify the transactions. Separate allegations also suggest that MCSS administrators charged US$920 per teacher for several teachers benefitting from a study program in India, which has already been taken care of by government.
But reacting to the corruption allegations, CENTAL Executive Director, Anderson Miamen notes that while it's yet to be established whether the allegations are true in the absence of a formal investigation, but they are very troubling for an education sector that is desperately in need of financial and non-financial resources to address infrastructure, staffing, supervision, capacity building, and other gaps that continue to undermine the adequacy, quality, accessibility, and gender responsiveness of educational services to all students, especially persons with disabilities and other marginalized groups.
Mr. Miamen discloses that recent manifestations of discontent in the form of protest actions by students and 'go slow' by teachers are among reasons why he wants President Boakai to take timely administrative action by suspending officials at the center of the alleged scandal and corruption, pending outcome of LACC's independent investigation into the matter.
"If not adequately investigated and convincingly addressed, these grave allegations will tend to undermine stakeholders' trust in the system, undermine government's efforts in tackling corruption, and give an indication of perpetuation of the culture of impunity for corruption and other offenses, which have affected the country for so long", he laments.
He recalls that on March 6, 2024, President Boakai issued Executive Order#126, establishing the Assets Recovery Taskforce to ensure processes leading to the location, recovery, and retrieval of wrongly acquired public resources and properties, within and outside Liberia.
Subsequently, on March 8, 2024, the Executive Mansion named more than 15 individuals and institutions to the taskforce, including representatives of the Liberia National Police, General Services Agency, and Ministry of Justice.
However, he observes that the Liberia Anti-corruption Commission (LACC) was excluded from the list, despite having a broad mandate to tackle corruption, which includes identifying and recovering stolen government resources and assets.
He notes that the exclusion of LACC and inclusion of politically active individuals to the taskforce led to CENTAL's open call for dissolution and reconstitution of the taskforce, if it must enjoy the confidence and support of the public and partners, including but not limited to the development community, civil society, and other public integrity institutions.
From all indications, the Task Force did not live up to expectations during its first year of operation, in part due to internal wrangling involving the leadership and some members, multiple legal battles; poor start of operation, and limited stakeholders' engagement and cooperation he said.
However, in March this year following expiration of executive order #126, President Boakai then moved to extend the mandate of the Assets Recovery and Property Retrieval Taskforce. Mr. Maimen says this time, the President had corrected some grave mistakes that characterized his 2024 decision, which helped to undermine the work of the institution.
Laudably, the President named a 5-member Taskforce, compared to the previous 15-member team that burdened the country financially and posed serious coordination and other issues for the team. Besides, the team is now mandated to collaborate with LACC, the Ministry of Justice, Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) and the Office of Ombudsman in the performance of its duties and functions.
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He terms the decision as an intentional collaborative approach in the performance of such a vital mandate, which can go a long way in supporting Liberia's fight against corruption and ensuring an end to the culture of impunity for financial and other forms of corruption in the country.
"We believe the expertise and experiences of these institutions will significantly enhance the work of the taskforce, in its bid to locate and retrieve wrongfully acquired financial and non-financial resources and assets of the country."
CENTAL applauds the decision to reduce members of team members from 15 individuals to 5, which he says will save government resources that would otherwise be used to pay salaries and other benefits to members, noting that said resources will now be directed towards execution of the core mandate of the institution. Editing by Jonathan Browne
