The actions and conduct of public officials in Ducor are governed by the Code of Conduct since 31 March 2014. Despite this, public trust in government is fast eroding and for good reason at that matter. Yesterday, an array of senior officials appointed public officials were seen actively endorsing the government’s candidate in Nimba. These actions, caught on video and widely shared across platforms, occurred despite Part V, Section 5.1 of the Code of Conduct for Public Officials.
Section 5.1 of the Code of Conduct explicitly states that presidential appointees shall not: engage in political activities or contest elected office; use government resources for partisan purposes; or serve on campaign teams of political parties or independent candidates. The Code of Conduct also provides that any public officials seeking to engage in campaign activities must resign.
The objective of this provision is in twofold: first, to ensure that public service is carried out only by those who are appointed by the president to do so by ensuring integrity of the public service, as delivered and rendered by public officials and secondly to ensure that public officials behave ethically and discharge their duties and responsibilities impartially, efficiently and effectively with diligence and dignity.
The Code of Conduct reflects about 11 years established prohibition against a public officials from engaging in unauthorised and illegal campaigning after being appointed by the president. Yet rather than uphold the law, attempting to defend the indefensible Mr. Amos Tweh Managing Director of LPRC and Secretary General of the ruling Unity Party sought to dismiss the matter altogether, justifying their action stating during a phone call with Clarence Jackson of OK FM that no violation had occurred because “the activities of endorsing their candidate happened on Saturday and Sunday, which are not working days.” In other words, non-working days.
This defence is not only legally flawed, but also arbitrary, capricious, deceptive, illegal and profoundly a dangerous distortion of the reality that they public officials owe to the people of Liberia. But the truth is, Mr. Tweh is legally dishonest about the law (Code of conduct) and the violation of does not cease to be a violation simply because it occurred outside official working hours.
Would Murder cease to be a crime because someone was killed on Saturday or Sunday? What about the police, do they not work on the weekends? Does the country stops running on weekends? Perhaps this is the explanation of why Liberia remains among the 10th poorest countries in the world. In fact, the Code of Conduct is not a clock in and clock out machine. It is a law; it does not clock in at 9am on Monday and clock out at 5pm on Friday. It exists to safeguard the integrity and neutrality of public office establish a duty of care for all officials. And while the Code of Conduct does not define the terms “campaigning” or “political participation,” or even “engaging ” Liberia legal system draws heavily from American common law which provides plain definition. The courts whether in Liberia or the United States have consistently interpreted ‘campaigning’ to mean activities undertaken to educate the public, raise public awareness, change public behaviour and/or mobilise public support. It can include ensuring that existing laws, policies or decisions are either maintained or changed or promote or oppose a candidate in an election.
This includes speaking at rallies, publicly endorsing a candidate or appearing in campaign materials. Therefore, when all those officials under the ambit of their party and through the radio endorsed a candidate by mobilising support in the pending Nimba election whether on a Monday morning or a Friday afternoon, or Sunday at 11:59pm, the law say they are engaging in political activity.
So, Managing Director Tweh if it looks like campaigning, sounds like campaigning, and endorsing like campaigning it is campaigning, regardless of the day or time. In public service, the duty of care means public sector employees and officials have a legal and ethical obligation to exercise reasonable care and diligence when performing their duties. Your job is not a part time job!
By invoking the so-called weekend illegal analogy, they are not only insulting our intelligence, but they are also attacking the very spirit of responsible government. If this analogy is allowed to fly without repercussions the message is clear, the law is flexible for the powerful, where accountability can be postponed and inflexible for the poor who are incarcerated on the weekend. In the words of Tom Kamara this too is Liberia! The conduct of these officials amounts to irrationality and dereliction of duty of care.
The argument that the law can be circumvented by attending an endorsement event on Saturdays is the peak of absurdity. This braggadocio repugnant and sickening to say the least. The president has a choice, he can choose to restore integrity to public service by upholding the rule of law or turn public service into a playground for the missionaries. But what I can say it this, the action is a breach of duty of care and a flagrant, blatant and unconstitutional misuse of delegable duties.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any institution or political party, nor the official position of any research institutions in which he is affiliated.
Discussion about this post