Nobody Stupid Here: A Response to Our National Legislature Sweet Talk on Systems Audit
By Wonderr K. Freeman, Attorney, CFCS
The leaders of our National Legislature – Nyonblee-Karnga, Darrius Dillon, Fonati Kofa, and Thomas Fallah are on the run. On the run, as in running from audits, from accountability, and more poignantly, from the long arm of the law. But “day na break” in Liberia and no political sweet-talk will cause them to escape audits and the subsequent legal ramifications for massive corruption at the Liberian National Legislature. Under Liberian law – the General Auditing Commission (GAC) Act of 2014 – §1.6, Type of Audits – there are only two types of audits:
- Regularity of Statutory Audit – a financial audit of the financial reporting or budgeting reporting of the [audited] entity, including compliance audit elements.
- Performance Audit – an audit of the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness with which the audited entity uses resources in carrying out its responsibilities
This is not the only law on auditing the accounts of the Government of Liberia (GOL) ministries, agencies, and commissions (MACs). We have the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act (2009) that calls for all MACs to be subject to accounting and reporting (i.e., Part VII – including accounting (§35), reporting (§36), External Audit (§37), and internal control and Part VII (§3)). Additionally, only the Auditor General has the right to determine which audits are to be carried out and [in fact] in the performance of his or her operational duties…shall not be subject to the direction and control of any person or authority [GAC Act §2.1.3C].
Now, the “Unity Party government (aka Rescue government) and its political opponent, the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) are both strangely “united” when it comes to evading audits and accountability for public funds. They have been running from audits from day one. Senator Darrius Dillon, the self-styled “Light”, was once a “champion” of transparency and accountability – when he was in opposition to the CDC (2018-2023). Today, Dillon runs the Senate 50-50 with Ms. Nyonblee Karnga – and they both are desperately running from audits. They tried to give us that “sweet talk” that they want a “systems audit”, whatever that means. Well, there is nothing called system(s) audit in the GAC Act of 2014. And there is certainly no “systems audit” either in the PFM law or the PPCC Act (2010; 2014). Unsurprisingly, that is the same type of audit their CDC opposition (i.e., Fonati Kofa and Thomas Fallah) wants at the House of Representatives. Let’s grant for the sake of the argument that there is such a thing as a “systems audit” [generally]. Instantly, Nyonblee-Dillon (i.e., UP) and Fonati & Fallah (i.e., CDC) say yes, yes, yes, “That is the audit we want!”. And we don’t care that it is not prescribed in the PFM Act or the GAC Act.” Ultimately, they used their political leverage and “strong-armed” or” sweet talked” the GAC into conducting a “systems audit”. The GAC went with their idea and conducted a “system audit”. However, as we quip in Liberia, when chicken white, it’s white! Even the Nyonblee-Dillon, Fonati-Fallah “systems audit” delivered bad news – in fact, very bad news. To get a gist of how bad the “systems audit” result is, check out this FrontPageAfrica news headline: Liberia: GAC Audit Reveals Alleged Collaboration Between Lawmakers and Executive Branch in Misappropriating $200 Million of Public Funds. https://frontpageafricaonline.com/news/liberia-gac-audit-reveals-alleged-collaboration-between-lawmakers-and-executive-branch-in-misappropriating-200-million-of-public-funds/.
The GAC auditors took one hard look at the Nyonblee-Fonati “system” and said, “Boy oh boy, this place reeks of grand corruption, misapplication, national treasury looting and pure economic sabotage”. According to the FrontPageAfrica story, this was Senate Leader, Nyonblee Karnga’s response to the USD 200m grand corruption scandal:
The Senate will work with the GAC, and other relevant financial institutions to develop a financial management system and procedure that can easily be audited congruent to the PFM law of Liberia. As it stands, this report is based on a non-systematic financial regime spelt out in the report and as such its findings do not also conform to a breach of any system that was not followed at the Legislature.
Nyonblee, Nyonblee, Nyonblee, Nobody Stupid Here, Ma!
It’s funny how our political leaders think that we are all fools. It’s really hilarious how they think they are the only people in Liberia with their five senses intact. In their opinion, the rest of us have only two or three senses intact. Now, let’s break down the Nyonblee-Dillon’s “VLAH”[1] or [audit] response with some cold, hard facts.
For your information Nyonblee-Dillon, Fonati-Fallah, Liberia has systems in place. We have a constitution, statutes, regulations and institutions to enforce and implement our laws. It is you, our political leaders, who refused to follow the laws and systems that are already in place. So, you think that when you say “systems audit”, then you will be let off the hook. As you envisage in your limited understanding, with a “systems audit”, you can just say: “Okay, our corruption is no big deal; it’s just some little systems issues that we are going to fix soon! You broke the law, and now $200m USD cannot be legally explained. Now, you want to sweet-talk your way out of the glaring stench of corruption oozing from the Capital. Honorable Senator, maybe you forgot, so let me remind you of the systems we have in place.
- The National Budget Law. This law is passed annually. It is your duty as a government official to follow this law. Your failure to follow that law, upon further investigation, may warrant administrative and criminal sanctions. That’s the law. And ignorance of the law is no excuse!
- The Public Financial Management Act (2009). This law tells us what we can and cannot do with the Liberian people’s money. It says when and how frequently to make reports. It calls for annual audits for every budgetary allotment.
- The Public Procurement and Concession Commission Act (2010; 2014). This law specifies the procedures for carrying out the procurement of goods, services, and works in the name of the GOL).
- The New Penal Law (1976). This is our criminal code. It lists all the acts considered crimes in Liberia, including what should happen to you when you steal GOL money (i.e., economic sabotage).” It also explains how long we can be jailed and what fines and other punishments we can expect if we break the law.
- The Criminal Procedure Law (1976). This law tells you how to deal with people who misuse and abuse GOL money – what procedures we must use to arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate people who break the law.
So, I don’t get it when the likes of Nyonblee-Dillon and Fonati-Fallah say they want to put systems in place. What systems are they talking about? I’m confused. We have laws telling us what to do and how to do it. We have laws telling us which institutions to carry out which functions. What other system do they want? For example, we have the following institutions:
- Audit and compliance – GAC, IAA, Office of Ombudsman
- Investigation of allegations of crimes (including corruption) – Liberian National Police, Anti-Corruption Commissions (LACC), Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA), Ministry of Justice); Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA)
- Prosecution – MOJ and LACC
- Punishment and Rehabilitation – MOJ & Bureau of Corrections
*** NOTE: I intentionally left out the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Executive Protection Service (EPS), because the two agencies have proven to be criminal institutions that should be shut down ASAP. They are absolutely no use to the Liberian people.
So, with all these systems in place, why is the Legislature of Nyonblee-Dillon and Fonati-Fallah’s are telling us that there is “no system” and that they are just about “to put the system in place”? Really, Nyonblee-Fonati? Are you serious? If our laws and institutions are not systems, please explain what you call a system. These are some of the reasons why ordinary people hate politicians. Your greed has blinded you and disarmed you of your common sense.
Below is a table of US dollars spent by our National Legislature for which you guys are evading audit
| UP Gov’t EJ Sirleaf (’06 – ’17) | 358,235,955.00 | Amt $ Millions of USD Spent. No Financial Reports, No Performance Report; No Audits | |
| CDC Gov’t GM Weah (’18-23) | 359,809,576.00 | Amt $ Millions of USD Spent. No Financial Reports, No Performance Report; No Audits | |
| 718,045,531.00 | |||
No Nyonblee, the GAC Law Does Not Allow Them to “Work with You”.
It is shocking that a woman who wants to lead Liberia has such deficient knowledge of the law. Ms. Nyonblee-Karnga wants to “work with the GAC to improve the system”. Funny! Real Funny!! What role is GAC going to play, Madame Senator? Financial Advisor to the Senate and Auditor at the same time? I suspect you don’t know, so here is the GAC law verbatim.
[GAC Act §2.1.3C]
The Auditor General shall have the right to determine which audits are to be carried out, to select the type of audits to be carried out, [and] when to carry them out and report the findings. So, Madame Senator, your decision to resist “statutory audit” in favor of “systems audit” has no legal basis – to start with. The same can be said of President Boakai’s decision to commission and decommission the NSA audit. Uh-hmmm, that too is, ipso facto, illegal.
[GAC Act §2.1.3D]
In the performance of his/her operational duties, as set out in sub-section C above, the Auditor General shall not be subject to the direction and control of any person or authority. Again, Madam Senator, after the “systems audit” you had called went horribly wrong, your decision to “willy-nilly” decide what should happen next is, again, ipso facto, illegal.
[GAC Act §2.1.3E]
The Auditor General and the staff of the GAC shall carry out audits but shall NOT be involved, in any manner, in management’s responsibilities of the organizations being audited. Again, Nyonblee your suggestion that you will “work with the GAC to put in “system” is null and void ab initio. The GAC’s job is to tell you what is unlawful, illegal, wasteful etc.. If you need to fix the “system”, according to this law cited here, the GAC simply cannot get involved at this level. Hire a consultant and pay them as much as you paid the “caterer” for the Buchanan workshop. How about that Madame Senate Pro-Temp?
One Last Thing Nyonblee-Fonati – about Audits and Suspicion of Corruption
When the GAC does an audit, and it’s clear there is corruption and acts of economic sabotage, they cannot just fold their hands. They cannot just let the “auditee” decide what’s next. If the wrongdoings were just about some administrative inefficiencies, perhaps they could recommend a proper way forward. However, not even the GAC has the “option” to determine what comes next after a very damaging audit report. That next step is prescribed by law. It is neither optional for the Auditor General nor the “auditee”. Here’s what the GAC law says about suspicion of corruption (i.e., §5.8 Suspicious Matters):
If, during the conduct of any type of audit, an authorized audit staff identifies matters of a suspicious nature in terms of potential fraud or corruption outside of the scope of the audit, such matter shall without delay be brought to the attention of the Auditor General. The Auditor General shall decide if any further work should be carried out by the GAC prior to referring the matter to the management of the audited entity. Where appropriate, the matter shall be turned over to the proper authorities, including the Anti-Corruption Commission or the Ministry of Justice.
The last sentence in the above-cited GAC law says: Shall. The use of “shall” here denotes a mandatory action. So, regarding the USD 200m in questionable financial transactions, you have precious little option left. This is not a matter of debate or of opinion or choice. It is required by the GAC under §5.8 (i.e., Suspicious Matter). The GAC must do at least one of the following:
- decide that given the heightened risk of corruption at the Legislature as found by the system audit (i.e., you called for), it must now do a “statutory audit” in keeping with §1.6 and §2.1.3C of their act; or
- They can complete their statutory audit and forward their findings to the LACC or MOJ where they suspect fraud and corruption. or
- they can do the statutory audit simultaneously with the LACC or MOJ’s investigation.
And I understand Nyonblee-Dillon, the ARREST agenda that brought you guys’ “Rescue” government to power has a “Rule of Law” component? Madam Senate leader, now that you know what the legal and financial systems require, are you going to allow the system to work? Or are you still going to use your “sugar tongue” to sweet-talk your way out? You and Dillon are now running the show at the Senate. It is now time to practice what you have long been preaching. Moreover, according to Dillon, you guys also have the keys to the Executive Mansion. Similarly, Fonati Kofa and Thomas Fallah run the show at the House of Representatives. This is my message to all of you. We need a full accounting and audit of the hundreds of millions of dollars (USD) you received and spent. This total amount is now approaching USD 800m spent without audits. This is scandalous! It is not your money! You must give account to the Liberian people for every dollar you’ve spent. And, regarding all those who committed unlawful and illegal activities involving public money at the Legislature, they must answer legally. It is that simple! Your systems audit is now over. It is now time to go for the audit mentioned in the PFM and GAC laws. It’s time for accountability. And just so you know, our eyes are shining “kolo kolo”. After all, Ma– NOBODY STUPID HERE!
[1] A contemporary local slang meaning fraud, empty talk or mischief.
About the Author
Wonderr K. Freeman is a Liberian Investment Attorney, Political Economist, Accountant, and Certified Financial Crimes Specialist (CFCS) currently based in Minneapolis, USA. Mr. Freeman’s professional interests span the intersection of law and economics, including the political economy of development, economic justice, international trade/investment law, and financial crimes law. He can be reached at [email protected]. He blogs at https://wonderrfreeman.com
