The World Bank and Progress in Liberia

During the recent visit to Liberia of the World Bank Regional Vice President for Western and Central Africa Ousmane Diagana, upon his evaluation of the results of the development program of the government of Liberia, he said that "We are satisfied when we reviewed the implementation status of the program and with the result that has been achieved so far.

But at the same time, as we embark on the post-COVID recovery situation, climate change, and other fragilities affecting many countries in the world, we noticed that it is very important that we continue to think about how we can enlarge the content of this program, more importantly, expedite implementation of the resources so that the population can benefit from every single dollar.

And for that, the government of Liberia is fully committed. The resources must be expedited and increased." The World Bank has a commitment to the government of Liberia in the amount of US$1.3 billion, more than half a billion of the government's national budget for 2022/2023.

The Vice President of the World Bank made his statement knowing full well that it is impossible for the government to be registering the progress that he spoke about when there is State declared corruption with no State action for the elimination of corruption, as corruption remains the number one enemy of Liberia. Immediately prior to the recent visit of the World Bank Vice President, the World Bank gave the government of Liberia US$106 million while its biggest foreign partner and the largest owner of the World Bank was issuing sanctions on top government of Liberia officials for their corrupt practices. 

So, what is really going on? According to the people of Liberia, the government of Liberia is headed in the wrong direction (Afrobaromedia, 2020). But according to the government of Liberia, Liberia is headed in the right direction (Minister Tweah, 2022). All sides agree that there is corruption. The World Bank knows that in the midst of corruption, it is not possible for the  "population of Liberia to benefit from every single dollar", as the World Bank Vice President declared recently during his visit to Liberia.

Although a FAIR electoral system is needed to have persons with good records elected, the electoral system in Liberia, as supervised by the National Elections Commission (NEC) remains UNFAIR, as observed by the Vice President of Liberia in her remarks made at the Annual Intellectual Forum of the Faith and Justice Network in honour of Arch-Bishop Michael Kpakala Francis and upheld by the government of Liberia. In her remarks, the Vice President said that the Magistrates of NEC are corrupt, meaning that NEC is corrupt.  

What to do? The people who love Liberia must continue to work together, using the Rule of Law, in ways that motivate the people of Liberia to take action to transform the UNFAIR electoral system into the FAIR electoral system. This transformation is the only way to get persons with good records elected to be able to move Liberia from a state of injustice to a state of Justice, the indispensable ingredient for Peace and Progress in Liberia and in any other Country.