Commitments and Cautions: CENTAL Gathers Feedback from Citizens During Awareness Around New Corruption Reporting App in Liberia

In the fight against corruption, all hands are needed on deck. And this is why, the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL), through the Ant- Corruption Innovative Initiative, is harnessing the collective energy of ordinary citizens, who feel the most pinch of corruption to report anonymously any act of corruption. The initiative is being supported by the government and people of Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) via the United Nations Development Program (UNDP),

“We will do our best to use the app to report corruption when we see it. We will not close our mouths when we see corruption” said Eric Dunn, a resident of Wyne community, Harlandsville, Grand Bassa County, during an engagement meeting.  Under the initiative, a mobile application called ‘TALKAY’ has been developed to provide citizens the platform to report corruption allegations anywhere in Liberia without disclosing their identities.

It is a red, white, and blue-colored mobile application that allows citizens to send reports of corruption to the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) in real-time. The LACC then investigates the report and takes appropriate action.

In Grand Bassa County, during an engagement with students at the Salvation Army Dorathy Knightley School, Atty. Bendu Kpoto, CENTAL’s Legal Officer explained that corruption comes in different shapes and forms including misuse of entrusted powers for personal gains. With a specific focus on the effects of corruption, Jerryline T. Wonde, CENTAL’s Youth Engagement Coordinator, lectured a cross-section of street vendors in the City of Buchannan on how corruption destroys the future of young people and denies them opportunities for growth. And Siafa S. Kamara, of the Advocacy and Legal Advice Center (ALAC), advised against soliciting bribes.

“One of the surest ways to succeed in the fight against corruption is to address the salary disparities in the civil service”, said Johnson William, head of the Police Detachment of Grand Bassa County at an engagement meeting held at his office. Also, Daniel Willie, Assistant Superintendent for Fiscal Affairs, applauded the initiative and expressed his commitment to help spread the word. He warned that despite the fact that the app is one of the best ways to reduce corruption, its success in the public sector will be reliant on political will and commitments from higher-ups in government.

For his part, Jerry E. Brooks, Mayor of St. John City blamed the pervasiveness of corruption on inadequate budgetary support to critical organs of the government including the City of St. John. He admonished CENTAL to include Advocacy for increased support to key government agencies in future programs. “When incentives are given, corruption will be minimized”, he stated.

If the views espoused by stakeholders including Mayor Brooks, Police Commander Williams, and Assistant Superintendent Willie are anything to go by, the war against corruption will be won when public service is adequately incentivized. And that the national budget working for few members of the legislature, as contained in CENTAL’s budget paper, and leaving the vast majority of the citizenry to stay in poverty and neglect must be a thing of the past.