Liberia’s Civil Service Agency (CSA) has frozen pay for 216 of the 457 officials who were suspended by President Joseph Boakai last week for failing to declare assets.
Their salaries and benefits will be suspended for one month, or until they submit asset declarations to the Liberian Anti-Corruption Commission, the CSA announced on Tuesday.
Boakai, who was elected in November 2023, has pledged to combat the West African country’s widespread corruption.
His suspension of the 457 officials was the first time a government has taken steps to force officials to comply with asset reporting regulations since the Liberian civil war ended.
According to Boakai’s statement, which was issued on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, the officials would be “suspended for one month without pay or until they submit the required declarations.”
The CSA has only frozen the salaries of 216 officials that fall under its jurisdiction.
Its director general, Josiah Joekai, told AFP that more than USD 204,000 had been saved by the salary freeze.
“To effectively enforce the president’s mandate, the CSA immediately blocked the salaries of 216 public officials from these entities who violated the asset declaration rule and were suspended by the president,” Joekai told AFP.
The CSA also suggested that the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning set up a special fund so that the money saved can be put towards development projects.
Joekai also hinted that he had asked the Bureau of State-Owned Enterprises to block the salaries of officials who were not paid by the CSA.
“There should be no debate about our actions,” Joekai told AFP, encouraging other officials to disclose their assets.
“The president, vice president, and I have all done so, and everyone must comply.”
Liberia, a country of five million people, is seeking to return to normalcy following years of civil conflicts and an Ebola outbreak in 2014.
Liberia ranks 135th out of 180 nations on Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index.
Boakai suspended Rostalyn Suakoko Dennis, head of Liberia’s National Oil Company, in early February on suspicion of corruption.
