The Ministry of Agriculture, which is supposed to be the nucleus of President George M. Weah’s “Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development”, has been suffering from leadership deficit since 2018, with its first boss, Dr. Mogana Flomo, being sacked a year after his appointment as Minister of Agriculture.
On Thursday, January 16, 2020, President Weah nominated Jeanine Cooper as Minister of Agriculture; she was subsequently confirmed by the Liberian Senate.
However, since her appointment, much has not been seen from the ministry as it relates to catering to the welfare of local farmers, improving the workings and rating of the ministry, setting standards for future heads of the ministry, etc.
Minister Cooper came to the position with a solid portfolio—from working for the United Nations System for 13 years to making FABRAR, an institution she headed prior to her ministerial position, one of Liberia’s largest rice producers. But with all the accolades, praises and expectations, it appears like she, too, has continued the business-as-usual at the ministry, and further dragging the institution into corruption, nepotism and financial malpractices.
Early this year, the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) initiated a series of intelligence operations at the Ministry of Agriculture following reports of corruption. Following the operations, the LACC immediately commenced corruption investigation, in order to ascertain whether all legal requirements were satisfied in the awarding of government contracts to different companies, including FABRAR, and whether the Korean Value Chain Project was properly being managed.
On Friday, June 17, 2022, the LACC made public its findings at an elaborate press conference, held at its headquarters in Congo Town.
The Executive Chairperson of the LACC, Cllr. Edward Kla Martin, who read the findings, said after its investigative processes the LACC found out that, in the Agriculture Ministry’s contract with FABRAR, Minister Jeannie M. Cooper, in the discharge of her duties as Minister of Agriculture, knowingly awarded a contract valued at US$180,000 for the supply of 200 metric tons of 25kg bags of rice to FABRAR Liberia, Inc., a company that she is the beneficial owner.
The LACC investigation also indicted Minister Cooper for illegally relieving Raymond Ogunti as Director of the PMU/MOA (who had an existing two-year valid contract) without justifiable reasons, and thus taking a unilateral decision of replacing him with Ansu Konneh against the expressed advise of the donor partners (World Bank, African Development Bank and IFAD). She was also held liable for unilaterally awarding a contract to one of her relatives, Zubin Cooper, as Consultant on the National Agriculture Fair (NAF) Program.
In the discharge of her duties as Minister of Agriculture, the LACC report said, Minister Cooper knowingly provided false and misleading information to the investigation that a second account opened at the Liberia Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI) was as a result of the first account, opened at Ecobank, being inconsistent with the PFM Law by not referring to the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP), but knowing that her actual reason for taking such decision was to get rid of the names of Precious Tetteh, Deputy Minister for Administration/MOA, and H. Nyounkpao Funnebo, Comptroller/MOA, as signatories and replacing them with names of her choice.
The LACC also indicted Minister Jeanine Cooper and Bob Fassa, in the discharge of their duties as Minister of Agriculture and Project Accountant/KOAFEC-MOA, for knowingly and willfully paying US$18,000 (US$2,000 + US$16,000) to Curtis Jackson and Asatu Shannon under the pretext of services provided by them but failing to provide any evidence of performance to account for or justify the expenditure of the amounts.
For these reasons and many more, the LACC recommended that Minister Cooper be charged and prosecuted for violating a number of sections of the law, including Section 1.3.6 (Conflict of Interest) of the National Code of Conduct for all Public Officials and Employees of the Government of Liberia (GOL); Subchapter E (Abuse of Office), Section 12.72 (Speculating or Wagering on Official Action of Information) of the Penal Law of Liberia; Subchapter D (Theft and Related Offenses), Section 15.56 (Misapplication of Entrusted Property) of the Penal Law, Subchapter F (Economic Sabotage), Section 15.80 (c) (Fraud on the Internal Revenue of Liberia), and Section 10.4 (Criminal Conspiracy) of the Penal Law of Liberia.
The Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) disclosed, in the presence of the media, foreign and local partners, that it was submitting the investigative reports to the Ministry of Justice, in keeping with Section 11.1 & 2 of the August 2008 Act creating the LACC.
“It is our hope, therefore, that the Ministry of Justice will act speedily and swiftly to bring to justice those who the investigations have found culpable,” the LACC emphasized.
Meanwhile, just days after the LACC report was release, a number of persons and institutions have began to call for the recusal of Minister Cooper from her position until she clears her name in court.