The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
October 6, 2020

Passing on the corruption legacy

Is there any evidence (rice farm, cassava farm, and/or coffee farm, etc.) to support the claims that former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and her advisers, United States Agency International Development (USAID), International Development Association (IDA), African Development Bank (ADB), etc. invested USD $612M in agricultural projects during 2012/13 through 2018/2019? Did her Government use any of the USD $612M donation/loans to buy any agricultural equipment, supplies, employ former combatants, etc.? If so, where are the records?

Or where are the private farmers (businesspeople) who spent the USD $85M in 2012, for example? Did former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the winner of the Mo Ibrahim Prize for African Leadership ($5M) Award, review reasons why USD $85M has no results in 2012 before approving the USD $85M allocated for agriculture in 2013? It is true, the government does not have the resources, but it can reject International Nongovernmental Agencies (INGOs)’ registrations or deny renewal of registrations as the Rwandan government, among other measures, has instituted. (www.freedomhouse.org/report/spe). Reliable sources stated that INGOs as well as USAID, IDA, ADB, etc. did not provide any information, but informed the sources to speak with former President Sirleaf’s Administration.

Please download the Liberian Citizens’ Budgets and verify the USD $612M I calculated using the schedules below. I estimated the numbers for 2018/19 because there was no information. The 2012/13 through 2018/19 fiscal periods show that our Liberian Officials reported that USAID, IDA, ADB, etc. allocated USD $612M for agriculture, a portion of the USD $5B donated/loaned to Liberia.

Note, the Liberian Citizens’ Budget is different from the Liberia National Budget. The Liberian Citizens’ Budgets provide pictures or statements of finished projects or unfinished projects. It also has limited pages, ranging from 15 pages in 2018/19 to 65 pages in previous fiscal periods. Although it provides pictures, the pictures do not reflect the scope of the budget. On the other hand, the National Budget, about 355 pages, is the Document that both the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch sign each year. It also the same documents that policymakers and researchers rely on to make projections, review revenue, expenditure, debts, etc., for example.

This is the million-dollar question; is this USD $612M agricultural project another fiasco as was the USD $30M Lofa Rice Project? The USD $30M project was one of the visions of the late Muammar Gaddafi to liberate Africa-the Libyan leader killed by Americans in 2012. To its credit, the Lofa Project bought equipment, leased the farmland, and employed former combatants, for example.

However, unlike the USD $612M agricultural project, the Lofa Rice Project attracted third parties such as the global news leader, the Cable News Network or CNN, which visited and filmed the Project in Lofa, according to the FrontPage Africa article called “Why The Foya Rice Project became A Fiasco-The True Story.” Additionally, local newspapers and Social Media showed that investors bought heavy farm equipment, etc.  But the USD 612M project has no such evidence to show that the INGOs and/or private farmers started any farms.

***DONORS: USD $5B (USD $0.6B, $0.6B, $0.8B, $0.9B, $0.7B, $0.7B +$0.6)

 

MONEY-LENDING INSTITUTION (IDA): USD $927M

 

The Liberian Citizens’ budget documents did not make a distinction between loans, donations and/or grants. Officials should have provided clarification since grants can be loans. This is important because low interest loans can be classified as grants, but this is debt, which has to be repaid.

In conclusion, because of the foregoing, I am proposing the following:  The Ministry of Finance, Development and Planning, if it has already not instituted, should, (1) reform external audit procedures, and require INGOs seeking government projects to publish their financial statements; (2) require evaluation reports, recommendation reports, etc., from all INGOs; (3)  include nongovernmental institutions and stakeholder in helping to select INGOs for any donors’ funding; and  (4) should prepare comprehensive reports and increase the number of pages from 15 pages to 65 pages since limited information does not help management and/or third parties to prepare an authentic report or reliable audit.

IRAQI FOOD FOR OIL SAGA: (https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2004/04/15/the-oil-for-food-scam-what-did-kofi-annan-know-and-when-did-he-know-it/)

Lofa Rice Project with Equipment: (https://frontpageafricaonline.com/opinion/why-the-foya-rice-project-became-a-fiasco-the-true-story/)

Lofa Rice Project: (https://www.facebook.com/notes/frontpage-africa/liberias-us30m-snafu-how-libyan-funded-agriculture-project-vanished-into-thin-ai/204694182884109/)

2012/2013: (https://www.cabri-sbo.org/en/documents/citizens-guide-to-the-national-budget-2012-2013-fiscal-year)

2013/2014: (https://www.cabri-sbo.org/en/documents/a-citizens-guide-to-the-national-budget-fiscal-year-2013-2014)

2014/15:(https://docs.google.com/a/mopea.gov.lr/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=bW9wZWEuZ292LmxyfG10ZWYtYnVkZ2V0fGd4OjUxODNkYzUwM2YyMzU5MTc)

2015/16: (https://www.cabri-sbo.org/en/documents/2015-16-citizens-guide-to-the-national-budget)

2016/17: (https://www.cabri-sbo.org/en/documents/fact-sheet-or-short-citizens-guide-to-the-fiscal-year2016-17-draft-national-budget)

2017/18: (https://www.cabri-sbo.org/en/documents/a-citizens-guide-to-the-national-budget-1)

2018/19: (https://mfdp.gov.lr/index.php/department-of-budget-reports/citizen-s-guide/citizen-guide-fy2018-2019)

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