LIBERIA: Presidential candidates put fighting corruption at top of list

MONROVIA, 3 Nov 2005 (IRIN) - Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and George Weah are fighting each other to be Liberia's next president but they say they have a common enemy -- corruption.

In manifestos detailing how they aim to maintain peace and restore prosperity to a country blighted by 14 years of civil war, the anti-corruption battle is top of the list.

Soccer millionaire George Weah said his Congress for Democratic Change party would bring in new legal tools to use against any official involved in graft.

“These laws would include fines and imprisonment," the party said in its manifesto, published ahead of the second round vote on 8 November.

"Anyone who is found guilty of corruption, that person's assets will be confiscated, no matter where they are, and they would never (again) work in government."

The party also pledged to set up an internationally supervised office, dedicated solely to fighting corruption.

Harvard-educated economist and former finance minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf similarly prioritised the elimination of graft.

"Zero tolerance for corruption will be the bedrock of our administration," she said in the Unity Party manifesto.

“We believe that the stringent anti-corruption policies and our determination to implement them to the letter will be more effective in fighting corruption than any “Commission previously established," the manifesto added.

Corruption has plagued Liberia, with its abundant natural resources of timber, diamonds and iron ore often proving too tempting for past leaders.

Even after the war ended, the leader of the transitional parliament was suspended for corruption, after almost US $100,000 of government money went missing. The police chief also lost his job this year, after he was accused stealing a generator to supply his girlfriend's house with electricity.

To try to stem the tide, donors helped draft GEMAP, the Governance and Economic Management Assistance Plan, which places international experts in key revenue-generating institutions for the next three years.

Both Weah and Sirleaf have expressed their support for the anti-corruption plan.

Another priority for whoever ends up moving into the presidential palace, is healing the wounds left by a brutal 14-year civil war.

“The international community has helped us a long way to having peace and it is now that we Liberians have to demonstrate to the world that we can co-exist as one people after the elections," Weah told a recent rally outside the capital, Monrovia.

His party wants to hold a national reconciliation and healing conference immediately after the new administration takes power in January to address some of the issues that have divided the nation of three million people.

“It is our hope that the conference will not only bring divided peoples and groups together but would help form national reconciliation and reunification policies," the manifesto said.

Sirleaf wants to make sure her government would be broad-based and in doing so offer a concrete demonstration of forgiveness.

"We will... ensure that the government is one of inclusion, which reflects the diversity of the nation," the Unity Party said.

And it is a message that Sirleaf is preaching at her rallies.

“We will not witch-hunt anyone for what he or she did in the past. It is time that we put our past behind us and started working to rebuild our country. Without peace, this country can not move forward," she told a gathering of her supporters in Monrovia.

Some one million voters will head to the polls next Tuesday to choose between the young male political novice Weah, and the female veteran politician Sirleaf.

But some Liberians are sceptical whether the promises made during campaigning will become reality.

“This is Liberia, what politicians promise during campaigns is different from what they will do after they are elected," said Amos Stewart, a political science graduate of the University of Liberia. "I do not think either of them will have the strong political will to prosecute any of their associates involved in corruption."

Elaine Gbessay, taking a break from selling cosmetics on the potholed streets of the capital, agreed.

“Now, the promises are just mere pronouncements that we have heard in the past," she said.

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