Liberia: Oil Company: Spent US $138m In 2012/13; No Report In 2013/14

May 5, 2014 | J. Yanqui Zaza, The Perspective
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Liberia’s annual budgetary document, like any other budget, should fulfill at least the civil obligation in providing transparent, verifiable information to the public. This practice, used partly to gain public confidence, has been around for centuries. In fact it was the desire for transparency and accountability that gave birth to the idea of capitalism in 1602, according to Jacob Soll, a professor of history and accounting at the University of Southern California.

Mr. Soll stated that, the Dutch, believing that accountability and transparency did sustain stability, required profession-from prostitute to scholars, merchants of Nassau, and Prince of Orange to keep an accurate record of business transaction. Subsequently, having won the trust of the electorate Dutch, for the first time, sold bonds at an interest rate of four percent, an experience that expanded into capitalism. In Renaissance Italy, merchants and property owners relied on accountability and transparency not only for their businesses, but also for the purpose of a moral reckoning with God, their cities, and their families.