IPNEWS-MONROVIA:The Liberia National Police (LNP) has been labelled as the “most corrupt government agency” by a pro-democracy, advocacy, research and organizational think tank, Center for Democratic Governance (CDG).
Presenting their 8th Afrobarometer survey conducted from October 19 – December 1, 2020 to the media, civil society and other stakeholders in Monrovia Wednesday, February 24, the CDG highlighted the LNP as well as the Legislature as the most corrupt government agencies, among others.
During the presentation of their report at a local hotel, the Executive Director of CDG, Mr. Oscar Bloh, told the audience that officers of the Liberia National Police are extremely corrupt as a result of their actions, the public is “highly victimized.”
The other two panelists, the Dean of the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) School of International Studies at the University of Liberia, Dr. Samuel Toe, and the Director at the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL), Anderson Miamen, added that the issues of trust for public officials is highly questionable and doubtful. Miamen noted specifically that the findings reflect the actual happenings in the Liberian society while the IBB Dead labeled the findings as see-through. Both hope that the CDG’s 8th Afrobarometer findings can have an impact on future political decisions in the country.
Even Though LNP isn’t the only corrupt public agency, but it is, however, being characterized by CDG as the most public corrupt agency that has posted serious economic threats within her internal system and the public at large.
The panelists emphasized that due to the high level of corruption in the LNP, there is a high insecurity because of their involvement in facilitating criminals and violators of law, including drug dealers in Liberia.
Moreover, they said the nation today is losing heavy taxes with police involvement to dope the government system.
Meanwhile, Bloh is encouraging all of Liberia’s anti-graph institutions to launch a thorough investigation to unearth more data from the Liberian National Police’s activities and send for prosecution those involved, as it’s the only means and measures to curtail massive corruption and build public trust in the national security sector.
Also, the CDG’s Afrobarometer highlighted how Liberians are unhappy about the country’s harsh economic condition and feel that much is not being done by the government to address this low-spirited situation.
The study, which was released February 24, shows that Liberians hold miserable opinions of the direction of their country, the economy and livelihood.
However, those Liberians interviewed, were split on whether protests are an effective way to influence political leaders and policies, according to the Afrobarometer.
The study disclosed that they were divided on the impact of protests that have also been held. Since the presidency of Mr. George Manneh Weah, there have been series of huge protests, beginning with “Bring Back Our Money”, which was followed by so-far the recorded high-turnout June 7, 2019 #SavetheState protest organized by the Council of Patriots.
Making a presentation at the launch of the report, CDG head, Oscar Bloh noted that majority of those who were interviewed say that the level of corruption in the country has increased, and that citizen are treated unequally under the law, and officials who commit crimes often go unpunished.
IPNEWS contacted Police Spokesman Moses Carter since Thursday for comment and several reminders were sent to you, but he chose not to send in a respond.
