Sirleaf Admits Failure to Defeat Corruption

MONROVIA, October 7, 2026 — Former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf admitted Tuesday that her administration failed to defeat corruption despite instituting several governance and transparency reforms during her 12 years in office.

Speaking at a Governance Commission symposium marking Good Governance Month, Sirleaf recalled declaring corruption “public enemy number one” after taking office in 2006.

She cited reforms that included strengthening the General Auditing Commission and establishing the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission, Governance Commission and Public Procurement and Concessions Commission.

Sirleaf also pointed to the Freedom of Information Act, forestry reforms, extractive-industry transparency measures and nearly US$5 billion in public debt relief.

But she acknowledged that those efforts did not defeat corruption.

“I wish that I could tell you that with all this effort, we won the corruption fight. We did not,” Sirleaf said.

She cited weak enforcement, inadequate funding for integrity institutions and the limited number of corruption cases reaching the courts or resulting in convictions. She also acknowledged that people close to power were sometimes not held to the same standards as others.

“Accountability without consequence will only be a report on the shelf,” she warned.

Speaking on the symposium’s theme, “Promoting Good Governance Through Accountability and Transparency in Liberia,” Sirleaf said accountability must begin at the highest levels of leadership.

“Accountability begins at the top. The very top. Or it does not begin at all,” she said. “Citizens believe and follow not what leaders say, but what they do.”

Sirleaf called for adequate funding for integrity institutions, greater transparency and accountability in the Legislature, and a properly staffed judiciary whose decisions are respected and implemented.

She also urged citizens to use the Freedom of Information Act and encouraged journalists to “keep asking the hard questions.”

The former President stressed that Liberia’s transformation cannot be achieved by one administration or within a single election cycle, saying lasting change requires collective responsibility from leaders, institutions and citizens.