- Liberia’s Anti-Corruption Task Force claims to have uncovered alleged fraud worth nearly US $1 million at the Ministry of Finance under the former power-sharing transitional government.
In a letter to President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the task force called for a full-scale investigation after discovering several fraudulent vouchers on foreign travel and goods and services that were never supplied to the finance ministry. Former and current employees of the ministry were linked to the scandal.
The task force is an independent group of economists and security investigators that was formed during Liberia’s transitional period.
Additional allegations of corruption have also surfaced. The General Auditing Bureau has released a report stating that the former transitional government spent more than US $11 million for public service vehicles but that 132 of the 552 vehicles purchased could not be traced.
“Some of the purported vendors do not exist because we could not locate their places of business,” the report said.
Prior to its dissolution, the former transitional parliament passed a law enabling the new administration to carry out a financial audit of the transitional government. Graft has long been a problem in Liberia and helped trigger civil war in 1989. The fighting ended 14 years later.
Sirleaf has made rooting out corruption a top priority of her government. In May, the government released a financial report of the first three months of its administration revealing a dramatic increase in revenue generation and collection. It was the first such report issued by a Liberian government for more than 20 years.
Concerns about corruption in government prompted Liberia's international partners and donors in September to draw up an anti-graft plan known as the Governance Economic Management Assistance Programme (GEMAP).
Sirleaf has thrown her support behind GEMAP under which international supervisors will monitor key ministries and lucrative concerns such as the port, airport, customs office and forestry commission as well all state expenditure for the next three years.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
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