Monrovia, Liberia – Some workers of the National Election Commission has call on President Joseph Nyumah Boakai to conduct a comprehensive and forensic audit of the Commission’s dealings and operations. There are reports and strong allegations of corruption at the commission. We must not forget that the suspended Chairperson is a corruption indictee by the LACC.
They alleged that even though the commission procured, installed and commissioned a solar power system of over 200 thousand USD, the commission sinks into total darkness where there is no LEC, stalling the operations of the commission as well as those of our partner, UNDP with office in the building.
In order to give the NEC compound a facelift, the staff reported that they recently had to volunteer to undertake a clean-up campaign to remove a massive stockpile of garbage that had been left there since the 2023 elections by the contractor for non-payment of service charge. The generator is unable to be used due to lack of fuel because it has not been serviced for months. It is also reported that NEC owe the vendors thousands of USD for petroleum.
The suspended Chairperson unilaterally declared 8 million USD as left over or surplus despite these several liabilities, according to reports.
“Let the Accountants calculate surplus for us!!”
In the absence of a thorough audit and investigation to determine the true cause of the NEC crisis, the workforce stated that it has reliable information that some people close to the presidency are lobbying for the reinstatement of the suspended chairperson.
“We have communicated the problem that has threatened the stability and integrity of the NEC to all of our partners, including the EU, USAID, ECOWAS, and a number of foreign missions. It would be counterproductive and an insult to the staff’s efforts to remove the chairperson’s suspension at this point, when her actions had caused the staff to lose faith in her. Importantly, since the workforce is already discouraged and disillusioned, this will have a very negative impact on election activity.”
