The President of the Republic, H.E. Dr. George Manneh Weah, has appointed Cllr. Archibald Bernard as Chairperson of an ad-hoc committee charged with the responsibility to pre-select candidates to serve as commissioners of the amended Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC).
Cllr. Bernard’s appointment by the President is consistent with Section 6.10 of the Act to Amend and Restate An Act to Establish the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission and to Re-establish the LACC. The new Act empowers the President to carry out pre-selection of candidates for the position of commissioner.
President Weah has mandated the ad-hoc committee to submit the list of candidates to his office within thirty-five working days from the deadline for submission of applications.
The act also provides that the ad-hoc committee shall be composed of nine (9) persons, a chairperson appointed by the President of Liberia, and the eight others (one each) from the General Auditing Commission (GAC), the Governance Commission (GC), the Liberian National Bar Association (LNBA), the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), and the Liberia Business Association (LiBA).
Others include the anti-corruption advocates of the civil society organization, the Liberia Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the international donor community which provides technical assistance to Liberia in the area of prevention of and combat of corruption.
The Chief Executive insists that persons elected to the committee must possess impeccable business and professional reputation, high moral values and qualities, excellent public reputation, and must never have been convicted of any crime.
The act also states that the ad-hoc committee shall pre-select two (2) candidates for each Commissioner position and submit said list of candidates to the President of Liberia for his nomination to the Liberian Senate for confirmation.