The United States Government, through its Embassy near Monrovia, says it has imposed sanctions on individual Liberian officials for ‘crimes committed against the Liberian people.’
Speaking to journalists at a news conference on Tuesday, December 12, 2023, the Charge d’ Affairs of the United States Embassy in Monrovia, Madam Catherine Rodriguez said, those sanctioned by the United States Department of State under Section 7031©, along with their families will have a lifelong ban from entering the United States.
Quoting Section 7031 which indicates that in cases where the United States Secretary of State has credible information that foreign officials have been involved in “significant corruption” or gross violation of human rights, such individuals and their immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the United States.
Rodriguez: “I want to speak to you about corruption and its impact on your life and what you can do about it. I hear from my own employees and those Liberians I have met during my time here who tell me that their salaries support not only themselves and their children but also their extended family members who are unemployed. They grumble about paying taxes, they know it is a necessity, but ask where is the money going?”
According to the US Embassy Charge d’ Affairs, the sanctions imposed by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability ACT and authorities under section 7031 © for visa restriction are not to punish but to encourage change in the behavior of said sanctioned officials.
The American diplomat stressed at the news conference that “corruption and human rights abuse are the Biden Administration’s Foreign Policy priority that is advanced globally.”
As if these salient points were not enough, she made it loud and clear that for the most recent sanctioned cases, “the designations were the results of the officials’ individual actions and not those of a political party or the country itself.”
Madam Rodriguez: “Corruption doesn’t only affect your life today but also threatens your family’s future. The world is a global market place.”
She further asserted that “Liberia, like other countries in the world, must compete for new business, the world’s opportunities, for foreign assistance and for international financing.”
Another striking point she emphasized is that “The fortunes of all Liberians are squandered when government corruption becomes a factor in decision-making.”
Moreover, she told journalists that “Liberia does have institutions capable of investigating and prosecuting corruption and holding wrongdoers accountable and have institutions and procedures for ensuring transparent and competitive procurement of goods and services to ensure the best values for the citizens of Liberia.”
Indeed, we, at The INDEPENMDENT newspaper, passionately applaud the US Diplomat for these relevant words of caution to the Liberia and its people.
As the American Envoy rightly puts it, Liberia, like other countries in the world, must compete for new businesses, the world’s opportunities for foreign assistance, and for international financing.
In other words, the Liberian Nation would find it extremely challenging, tedious, upsetting and bothersome in accessing much-needed and essential development opportunities such as business and financing, Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), among others worldwide, and even regionally, if many leaders of Liberia are found wanting in terms of integrity and credibility, and as it relates to our national strive for good governance including its components of transparency, accountability and probity.
This is why, we think that Madam Rodriguez’s words of advice need to be taken to heart and acted upon by the citizens and the government working together in the fight against corruption, which, according to multiple anti-graft institutions and groups such as Transparency International, Global Witness, CENTAL, among others, has become endemic, systemic and/or unbridled, thus perpetuating poverty and the underdevelopment of Liberia.
