MONROVIA – The Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Transformation Index (BTI) 2026 has delivered one of its strongest assessments yet of Liberia’s democratic governance, painting a picture of a country that has preserved electoral democracy but continues to struggle with entrenched corruption, weak state institutions, widespread poverty, and fragile rule of law despite successive political transitions.
By Selma Lomax, selma.lomax@frontpageafricaonline.com
The report, which assessed Liberia’s transformation toward democracy, market economy, and governance quality during the period from February 1, 2023, through January 31, 2025, concludes that while Liberia has successfully maintained constitutional order through another peaceful transfer of power, the country’s institutions remain too weak to deliver meaningful improvements in the lives of ordinary citizens.
Covering the final year of former President George Manneh Weah’s administration and the first year of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s government, the report says the observation period was sharply divided by the January 2024 change of administration following one of Liberia’s closest presidential elections.
According to the BTI, former President Weah entered office with enormous public goodwill, particularly among ordinary Liberians who viewed him as someone who understood their struggles after growing up in one of Monrovia’s poorest communities. Expectations were high that his government would pursue broad-based economic development and improve living standards.
Instead, the report says those hopes gradually faded amid weak economic performance, declining public service delivery, expanding corruption, and a succession of domestic and international economic shocks, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Economic growth remained negative during much of Weah’s presidency, while donor confidence steadily weakened despite his retaining significant political support among nearly half of the electorate.
The report notes that President Boakai narrowly defeated Weah in the November 2023 presidential runoff, securing 50.64 percent of the vote
in an election that reflected what the BTI describes as a deeply divided Liberian society.
Following his inauguration, President Boakai introduced the ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development, centered on agriculture, roads, rule of law, education, sanitation, and tourism. According to the BTI, the development framework serves as a broad roadmap designed largely to engage Liberia’s international development partners while outlining priorities for national recovery.
The report credits the Boakai administration with focusing much of its first year on restoring macroeconomic stability after inheriting depleted foreign exchange reserves, elevated inflation exceeding ten percent, and financial obligations owed to international lending institutions. It says the administration prioritized rebuilding donor confidence, increasing reserves, reducing inflation, and clearing loan arrears accumulated under previous administrations.
Among the government’s most significant initiatives during the review period, the BTI highlights President Boakai’s decision to establish a War and Economic Crimes Court through an executive order issued in May 2024. More than two decades after Liberia’s civil wars ended, the report notes that many victims continue to believe justice has been denied.
However, while describing the establishment of the court as a landmark development, the report says implementation was immediately slowed by political manoeuvring, competition over appointments, and disagreements regarding the structure of the institution.
Beyond changes in government, the BTI paints a troubling picture of Liberia’s governance system.
Although the report gives Liberia credit for successfully organizing another largely peaceful election in 2023 and earning international recognition for its democratic transfer of power, it argues that democratic institutions remain weakened by corruption and political patronage.
It says elections have generally been regarded as free and fair since 2005 and commends the National Elections Commission’s introduction of biometric voter registration before the 2023 elections, describing the system as significantly improving transparency despite some criticisms.
The report also praises former President Weah’s prompt acceptance of the election results after his defeat, noting that the peaceful transition strengthened Liberia’s democratic reputation at a time when several countries across West Africa have experienced coups and democratic backsliding.
Nevertheless, the BTI argues that Liberia’s democratic gains remain overshadowed by weak governance.
It says corruption continues to influence legislative decision-making and judicial proceedings, while oversight institutions remain largely ineffective. According to the report, both the Legislature and Judiciary frequently struggle to function independently because political influence and corruption continue to undermine their credibility. The report points to the prolonged political crisis surrounding the Speakership of the House of Representatives during 2024 as evidence of institutional fragility. It recounts the bitter contest between former Speaker J. Fonati Koffa and Speaker Richard Koon, backed by the Executive Branch, saying the dispute exposed weaknesses in Liberia’s constitutional system.
According to the BTI, ambiguity surrounding a Supreme Court ruling allowed both camps to claim victory, further deepening the crisis before portions of the Capitol Building were destroyed by fire in December 2024. The report notes that investigations into the incident remained inconclusive during the assessment period.
The report further criticizes Liberia’s justice system, describing it as formally independent but functionally weak.
Judges, it says, continue to face undue influence from politicians and private interests, while corruption among judicial officials remains widespread. Trial delays have become routine, with suspects accused of non-bailable offenses often spending years behind bars awaiting trial despite legal limits on pre-trial detention.
Beyond governance, the BTI paints a sobering picture of Liberia’s socioeconomic conditions.
The report notes that Liberia remains among the world’s poorest nations, ranking 177th out of 193 countries on the Human Development Index. More than sixty percent of Liberians continue to survive on less than US$3.65 per day, while approximately 85 percent of the labor force works within the informal economy, including subsistence agriculture.
Although income inequality has shown slight improvement in recent years, the report says enormous disparities remain between political elites and the wider population.
It specifically highlights that lawmakers remain among the highest-paid legislators on the African continent while much of the country’s population continues to struggle with inadequate healthcare, poor educational opportunities, unemployment, and limited access to basic infrastructure.
The report attributes these inequalities to the lingering effects of Liberia’s civil conflicts, decades of weak governance, and an extractive economy heavily dependent on foreign-owned natural resource concessions whose profits are largely repatriated rather than reinvested domestically.
According to the BTI, although electricity access has improved to approximately one-third of the population, frequent power outages and unstable voltage continue to disrupt economic activity and damage equipment. Access to sanitation remains available to only a small portion of the population, while healthcare services outside Monrovia remain severely limited.
Educational opportunities also remain uneven, particularly in rural Liberia where many public schools struggle to function because of inadequate staffing, poor facilities, and insufficient resources.
The report further notes that state authority remains weak across large portions of the country despite the government’s constitutional monopoly over the use of force.
Private security companies, neighborhood watch groups, vigilante organizations, and traditional community authorities frequently assume responsibilities ordinarily expected of the police and government institutions, particularly in remote communities and informal mining settlements where state presence remains limited.
While recognizing progress toward decentralization, the BTI says implementation of the Local Government Act and Revenue Sharing Law has remained slow because of funding constraints and administrative weaknesses.
Meanwhile, Representative Musa Hassan Bility, Political Leader of the Citizens Movement for Change (CMC), has welcomed the BTI report, describing it as “a mirror held before our nation” rather than an attack on Liberia.
In a statement issued Thursday, Rep. Bility said the report merely confirms what millions of Liberians already experience daily.
“The recently released BTI 2026 Country Report on Liberia is not merely an international assessment. It is a mirror held before our nation. It confirms what ordinary Liberians already know from daily experience: our democracy is surviving, but our institutions are weak; our economy is growing on paper, but poverty remains real; our leaders speak of reform, but corruption continues to defeat the hopes of the people,” Rep. Bility said.
He acknowledged that the report credits Liberia for maintaining democratic elections and peaceful transfers of power but argued that democracy cannot be measured solely by successful elections.
“Democracy must mean justice, accountability, service delivery, opportunity, and the fair use of national resources. On those deeper questions, the report is deeply troubling,” he said.
Rep. Bility further described the BTI’s findings on corruption, weak legislative oversight, judicial independence, and institutional capture as a serious indictment of Liberia’s governance system.
“No nation can develop when public service becomes a pathway to private enrichment. No country can defeat poverty when national resources are consumed by recurrent spending, excessive benefits, political patronage, and weak accountability,” he stated.
The Nimba County lawmaker also said the report’s assessment of Liberia’s economy should serve as a wake-up call, arguing that widespread poverty, poor healthcare, weak education, limited electricity, and high youth unemployment represent “a human tragedy” rather than simply unfavorable economic statistics.
While emphasizing that the BTI covers both the Weah and Boakai administrations, Bility cautioned against using the report for partisan political attacks.
“The truth is that Liberia’s crisis is structural. It is deeper than one president. It is deeper than one party. It is a failure of governance culture, institutional discipline, and national accountability over many years,” he declared.
At the same time, Rep. Bility argued that the current administration now bears the responsibility to demonstrate measurable reforms through stronger anti-corruption enforcement, transparent procurement, mandatory asset declarations, effective legislative oversight, and an independent judiciary.
He urged all branches of government, civil society organizations, the media, and development partners to treat the BTI findings as an opportunity for genuine reform rather than political point-scoring.
“This report should therefore be treated as a national warning. Liberia is not failing because we lack resources. We are failing because we lack discipline, accountability, and the courage to confront corruption wherever it lives,” Rep. Bility added.
