Combating Criminalized Power Structures by Dziedzic Michael;

Author:Dziedzic, Michael; [Dziedzic, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Incorporated
Published: 2016-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

GEMAP was overseen by the Economic Governance Steering Committee (EGSC) and a supporting technical team. The EGSC was chaired by the president of Liberia with the US ambassador as the deputy chair and was comprised of representatives of key government ministries and agencies, a representative from civil society, and the main members of the international community engaged in the GEMAP program. The working level technical team was similarly comprised but chaired by the US government. The modalities of implementation were worked out by the technical team with the EGSC acting as final arbitrating and decision making body for courses of action.

GEMAP undermined Liberia’s criminalized power structures in three ways. First, by reviewing Liberia’s contracts and concessions and cancelling those deemed illegal (including all existing timber concessions), GEMAP cut the economic lifeline for those who had benefitted from the pervasive corruption of the Charles Taylor regime and the subsequent transitional government and served warning that illegal contracts would no longer be tolerated. Second, GEMAP helped the government introduce reforms and accountability across a broad swath of the government’s fiscal and economic management machinery. By securing revenues due the government and responsibly accounting for expenditures, GEMAP reduced the ability of corrupt actors to feed on government finances and to undermine the country’s principal source of financing. Third, GEMAP provided a channel for corruption and governance challenges to be raised directly with the president. Previously, reports of corruption might have been blocked in the ministries or by the president’s advisors. The EGSC provided a mechanism for the internationally recruited experts and donors to raise corruption issues directly with the chief executive, who on several occasions expressed shock and displeasure that her advisors had not raised these issues previously. In this fashion, GEMAP enhanced the ability of the president to combat corruption by providing her eyes and ears in the ministries who were not beholden to government or Liberian interests and had direct communication channels to her office. These measures deprived criminalized power structures of the easy access and incentives to siphon revenues from government. They also introduced transparency and accountability into future government transactions, limiting opportunities for graft.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.