Another Waste Of Resources?

-As Special Committee’s Report Allegedly Heading For ‘Dust Bin’

By Reuben Sei Waylaun

The administration of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of the current opposition Unity Party (UP) was widely criticized by the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) while in opposition for wasting state’s resources on investigations that will not yield its intended results, but just to put the citizens under the impression of investigating wrongdoings in the country.

The then president’s administration undertook several investigations in the alleged misapplication of state’s resources, setup up committees to carry out findings and make recommendations, but after the submission of those recommendations, they were allegedly thrown into the dust bin.

The Global Witness corruption investigation, executive mansion renovation, and many others reports remain unaccounted for until her exit from the Liberian presidency.

Now her successor, President George Weah is reportedly following such path after taking over the mantle of authority in less than seven months.

A special presidential committee was setup to investigate what went wrong between the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) and ExxonMobil as reported by Global Witness.

The corruption watchdog alleged that some present and past officials of government took bribes to give leverage to ExxonMobil for Liberia’s Oil block-13.

The special committee investigated and made recommendations to the Liberian leader, key among was special emphasis on the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL).

It was recommended by the special presidential committee “that an immediate detailed forensic auditing of the NOCAL be commissioned and executed before a new leadership is appointed to the corporation. Said audit should be limited to simple accounting of the corporation’s finances, but must also include an audit of the stewardship of the leadership of NOCAL since its inception.”

Despite the recommendations from the committee that was funded from state’s resources, President Weah who himself assured Liberians of the rule of law has reportedly ignored the committee’s recommendations and made appointments at the oil company.

Since the submission of the report, there has been no public pronouncement of decision taken as was done when the committee was setup and the recommendations were made.

The committee’s members include Cllr. Pearl Brown-Bull, Cllr. C. Alexander Zoe, Rev. Joseph Gardea Johnson, III, Mrs. Frances Greaves and Cllr. A. Ndubuisi Nwabudike respectively.

The decision by the Liberian leader, many political pundits are now saying does not mean for a party that was once vocal on issues of such while in opposition.

Several former and present government officials are alleged of receiving ‘unlawful rewards’ in the tone of half of million United States Dollars.