ABSTRACT
Corruption in Liberia has long attracted international attention. Liberia's history has featured cycles of foreign interventions targeting corruption and mismanagement. Most of these interventions brought in foreigners to manage the government's revenue collection, and even to directly control government spending (Maugham 1920: 84–106). The Governance and Economic Management Assistance Program (GEMAP) established in 2005 is the most recent in this series. Expiring in 2010, it challenged established rights of sovereign states to run their own affairs while placing foreigners at the centre of Liberian internal administration. International experts from the UN, IMF, World Bank, the European Commission, the United States and African regional organisations had counter-signing authority in the country's central bank, state enterprises and the government's auditing office to prevent or permit spending ( World Bank 2005a ). GEMAP also provided for external auditors and an anti-corruption commission, continuing the battle against corruption in Liberia in an intrusive manner that characterised international efforts in the last two centuries.
