The magnitude and frequency of corruption scandals in Liberia read like a ferry tale about an ochlocratic regime: deafening silence of the Government’s chief prosecutor, and a media that largely substitutes “paid” press statements by the alleged parties for journalism. That Finance Minister Konneh, silent throughout the NOCAL scandal involving Robert Sirleaf, comes across as an anticorruption savior in the latest debacle at the RIA involving Liberia Airport Authority (LAA) Board Chairman Musa Bility, Finance Minister Amara Konneh, and the embattled RIA Managing Director Ellen Kwame Corkrum is instructive.

By all accounts from the parties involved in the RIA debacle, it is glaringly evident that laws have been broken, public trust abused, and public resources illegally squandered. The deafening silence of the chief government prosecutor Justice Minister Christaina Tah is troubling, but the complicity of the media is even more startling.

In spite of PFM and PPCC laws prohibiting these illegal translations, how does someone in such a position for merely four months have such unfettered access to public funds? Why is the Government paying these incompetent board members if they are obviously not fulfilling their fiduciary duties of providing oversight? For the sake of impartial justice, what happened to Ms. Corkrum‘s predecessor, the recently ousted Mr. Julius Dennis?

One has to commend Minister Konneh for blowing the whistle on the alleged fraud by Ms. Corkrum and her cohorts.  However, in the interest of impartial justice, the Government must be even handed in investigating these allegations. For example, when Melvin Snowe broke the NOCAL scandal that involved the son of the President, Robert Sirleaf no Government institution was willing to go on the record to advocate investigating or prosecuting the NOCAL matter?

Liberia is one of the few countries where most of the senior Government officials have divided patriotic loyalty. In fact, most have pledged their loyalty to at least one foreign nation. Where is the patriotism of these alleged criminals? Do they have any ancestral roots to Liberia? For those who lack any anthropological affinity to Liberia, it is seen primarily as a country with serious human resource needs that opens its door to folks who have impeccable credentials with poor business ethics.  We can only hope this experience serves as another lesson for the Government.