20 September 2016•Update: 20 September 2016
By Evelyn Kpadeh Seagbeh
MONROVIA, Liberia
About 60 anti-corruption campaigners, police and legislators gathered in Liberia on Monday to discuss ways to strengthen the fight against the practice in West Africa.
Weak, or no legislation and a lack of sustained policies devoted to protecting citizens who expose corruption was blamed for the enduring presence of illegality.
Member countries of the Network of Anti-Corruption Institutions in West Africa (NACIWA) are meeting for several days in Monrovia, the Liberian capital.
“The challenge in fighting corruption is mainly due to the lack of willpower from the political class and weak legislations,” said Agom-Tor Ngutsha, Director of Intelligence, Investigation and Monitoring at the Code of Conduct Bureau of Nigeria.
Ghana, however, stood tall among NACIWA member states for having strong legislation to protect whistleblowers, Jame Verdier, Executive Chair of Liberia’s Anti-Corruption Commission said.
At the same time Samuel De Jaegere, Anti-Corruption Advisor of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes Regional Office for West and Central Africa, told Anadolu Agency that “as long the anti-corruption bodies are too dependent on the executive and political will to decide whether the fight against corruption can progress or not, the fight might be at the will of people who themselves might be involved in corruption”.
The UN executive said the surest way of strengthening the fight against corruption is to ensure people at the decision-making levels adopt laws which would build strong anti-corruption institutions -- which is one of the key focuses of the meeting.
