This book is intended to contribute to the ongoing discourse about Liberia or about Africa, which has often left people perplexed. According to a 2013 World Bank report, Africa has 30 percent of the world's minerals and proven oil reserves equivalent to 10 percent of global stock. How is it that Africa, which has such enormous mineral and oil wealth, is the poorest continent in the world? A similar question would suffice for Liberia, which became independent since 1847, has been a sovereign nation for over 170 years but is ranked as one of the poorest countries in the world. This is irrespective of the fact that the country is endowed with abundant natural resources. Accordingly, I herewith submit that Africa or Liberia is not poor but poorly managed, and that corruption is a major source of bad governance, widespread poverty and instability on the continent. There can be no question that corruption is like a cancer eating at the vitals of Africa, my beloved country Liberia being one of the worst affected on the continent. This is why this book is titled, Corruption is Destroying Africa: The Case of Liberia. Because of corruption, critical public services such as health and education have remained in a state of dysfunction.
About the Author: Gabriel I.H. Williams Gabriel I.H. Williams is a diplomat and former deputy minister of information in the government of Liberia. A career journalist, he has worked with several news organs in Liberia and the United States as a reporter and editor, including serving as Managing Editor of The Inquirer independent newspaper in Liberia, and Staff Writer of The Sacramento Observer Newspapers in Sacramento, California. He was acting President of the Press Union of Liberia, the national journalists' organization, during the early years of the Liberian civil war before fleeing to the United States due to death threats for his role as a journalist. Mr. Williams is the author of the book, Liberia: The Heart of Darkness - Accounts of Liberia's Civil War and its Destabilizing Effects in West Africa, which was published in 2002 in the United States. The book, which features nearly 75 photographs of the death and destruction of Liberia's senseless civil war, also provides first-hand and compelling accounts of one of the most brutal and barbaric civil wars in Africa and the world, during which more than 250,000 people were killed. It is unfortunate that the evils of the past that brought about the mindless bloodshed and destruction in Liberia, such as corruption and other manifestations of bad governance, have continued in the post-war country. Liberia's peace and progress would be undermined until Liberians change their mindset, and the interest of the country and the people are placed above self-aggrandizement.