The lack of Political will and non-prosecutorial powers at the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission are some of the key challenges facing the anti-graph institution which has over the years served as impediments to its functions.
The disclosure was made during the launch of BudgIT-Liberia Youth Development Hub hosted at SMART-Liberia by James Kingsley who is the program manager for Education and prevention at the LACC.
Mr. Kingsley during his presentation Tuesday stated that it will be very impossible for the LACC to fully function as an anti-graph institution when they don’t have the prosecutorial power but, only to name and shame.
He on behalf of the LACC called on other anti-graph institutions to speak with the National Legislature to pass a law that will give LACC prosecutorial power if Liberia should fight the corruption they want and should not be a lips service. It can be recalled on many occasions, the LACC has indicted and investigated public officials who were later taken to court and vindicated of the crimes indicted. Mr. Kingsley said, there should be an amendment in the court procedural law, especially with Juror which he said are most times tempered within cases involving public officials.
Giving an overview of the program, Mr. Abraham Varney narrated, the BudgIT Youth Development Hub is a flagship program that is designed to enhance the capacity of University and College Students pursuing a career, particularly in areas such as Economics, Accounting, Management, Public Administration, Banking & Finance to become active stakeholders in the Transparency and Accountability sector.
The BudgIT Youth Development Hub approach is to collaborate with public finical institutions, anti-graph, and civil society experts to conduct master classes for program beneficiaries in areas such as budget process & procedures, leadership, advocacy, and rule of law. He furthered that, the program objective is to build a network of advocates that will continuously take pragmatic measures to ensure quality service delivery is achieved in the governance sector of Liberia.
Reported: Andrew C. Johnson
Phone number: +231 777-129-899
Whassap: +231 881-771-803
Email: carcious88@gmail.com
