MONROVIA: A former Montserrado County Senatorial Candidate, Mr. Darius Dillon, has expressed frustration over what calls the failure of the Unity Party (UP)-led government to ‘properly deal with the issue of corruption’ in Liberia.
Said Mr. Dillon: “Corruption has won the war in Liberia against government. The government has reasons to prove that it cannot fight corruption. The government lacks the will to fight corruption robustly, because if you put an institution into place to fight corruption and the institution makes recommendations to government and the government does not implement those recommendations then we render that institution useless.”
It can be recalled that on January 16, 2006 when President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was inaugurated for her first term in office, she declared corruption as ‘public enemy number one’. She openly vowed to fight corruption head on.
But her critics say the Liberia and Africa first female president has not done much to uphold her solemn pledge as it relates to the fight against corruption.
Mr. Dillon, who is currently pursuing his studies in the United States of America, was one of the strong supporters for the re-election bid of President Johnson-Sirleaf during the 2011 General and Presidential Elections.
But he stated that the current path taken by the government regarding the fight against corruption is not one of the attributes that they (supporters) campaigned for during the campaign.
According to Mr. Dillon, no effort has been made by the government to drastically deal with corruption, which he described as a ‘menace that is eating every fabric of the Liberian society.’
He averred that the President Johnson-Sirleaf led administration lacks the political will to ‘robustly combat corruption’ in the country. The former Liberty Party (LP) stalwart made these assertions on Tuesday, June 11, 2013 when he participated on a local radio talk show via telephone from the USA.
“I am disappointed that up to present no effort has been made by the government to achieve the fight against the disease, corruption,” he pointed out. He said institutions set up to unearth corrupt acts, including the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) and the General Auditing Commission (GAC) would be ‘dormant and useless’ if public officials booked for corruption are not prosecuted.
The Liberian politician accentuated that the act of prosecuting a ‘selective few individuals’ accused of corruption and leaving out others amounts to favoritism, and therefore, those booked should be brought to justice without discrimination.
Mr. Dillon wants the government take practical actions to ensure that officials of government accused of corruption are prosecuted.
Listen to Mr. Dillon: “It is good that Liberians can continue to talk about corruption, but it is now time for the government to take robust and practical actions to curtail the corrupt practices on the part of government officials. Liberia cannot afford to have people clearly in corrupt acts, as institutions setup to carry out the fight against corruption, including the LACC and the GAC remain dormant. When last have we heard one GAC audit report transmitted to the court for prosecution, why are we doing this to the people, this is not what we campaigned for; this is not what we told the people that we wanted. We said that, we wanted a good government that will be in the interest of the people and do those things for national good. I am getting disappointed and I must say it.”
Mr. Dillon maintained: “Corruption has won the war in Liberia against government. The Government has reasons to prove that it cannot fight corruption. The government lacks the will to fight corruption robustly, because if you put an institution into place to fight corruption and the institution makes recommendations to government and it (government) cannot implement those recommendations then we render that institution useless.”
http://www.news.heritageliberia.net/index.php/inside-heritage/governance/1807-corruption-has-won-the-war-against-gov-t-darius-dillon-speaks-from-us