Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf won the second round of presidential elections in November 2005. She is scheduled to become Africa's first elected woman head of state, running Africa’s oldest republic.

From Kenya to Georgia, Indonesia to Peru, from Mexico to Nigeria, the world has witnessed in recent years the emergence of new political leaders with strong anti-corruption agendas coming into office following long periods of unchecked kleptocratic rule. Confronted with high public expectations and often with political inexperience, these new governments face enormous challenges to deliver on election promises and overcome resistance to change. Key reformers face a variety of obstacles in managing anti-corruption reform processes alongside many other targets for reform.

In the late 1980s, economic mismanagement led to collapse as Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) militia led a civil war that overtook much of the country including the capital city of Monrovia.

In 1995, Taylor was elected as president under a negotiated peace agreement. This agreement that fell apart by 1999, when further anti-government fighting broke out in the north, leaving an estimated 250,000 people dead and thousands more displaced. War left the country in economic chaos, marked by widespread corruption and unemployment. In 2003, Taylor stepped down as president and left for exile in Nigeria. Presidential elections in 2005 have paved the way for Johnson-Sirleaf’s inauguration.

To use the window of opportunity presented by this major political change successfully, the new government of Liberia must have the knowledge required to act quickly in this critical period following transition. Members of the international community, private sector and civil society also need to know how best to promote and support reform processes.

Recognising the challenges faced by new governments such as Liberia’s, Transparency International helped to organised the New Anti-Corruption Governments meeting that took place 11 - 13 October 2004 in Nairobi, Kenya. The conference produced messages from the organisers, recommendations; programme; summaries of plenary speeches; ten country studies; workshop reports and a list of participants.

The purpose of the New Anti-Corruption Governments meeting was to foster dialogue on anti-corruption strategies open to new reform-minded governments and to develop key recommendations to support these strategies. It also examined the role that civil society, international donors and private sector actors can play to support government reform efforts. The meeting brought together approximately 230 participants from 33 countries, among them a cross section of representatives from eleven key transition countries; namely, Georgia, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Slovakia, South Korea, South Africa and Zambia.

Transparency International has identified a pervading petty corruption in this country that makes it difficult to mobilize the populace to combat corruption and not to tolerate instances of grand corruption.

Liberia’s institutions of accountability and pillars of integrity (such as the judicial system, the media and civil society) have been decimated by years of conflict. The judiciary is limited in its capacity both in terms of staffing and infrastructure. The Office of the Attorney-General has only four prosecutors to cover cases over the entire country. The Court and Prosecution structures as presently constituted and resourced cannot support an anti-corruption regimen.

In light of the national situation, one major recommendation by Transparency International is for the new administration to push for public sector reform and wage reviews, in tandem with well-planned poverty alleviation strategies.

While many observers, including the international donor community in Liberia, see an immediate anti-corruption campaign as a necessity, Transparency International advocates implementing a longer-term strategy recognising the connection between poverty and corruption. There is an urgent need to simultaneously rebuild some of Liberia’s Pillars of Integrity. But the process must also emphasize the payment of minimal wages for the civil service and increased resources for the judiciary.

A key to formulating such an anti-corruption strategy will be a National Action Plan that involves the participation of civil society in its broadest sense. Merely enacting anti-corruption legislation and setting up an anti-corruption commission will not ultimately address the deep-rooted nature of the problem of corruption within the country.

Much of the country’s hopes can be placed on the return of a number of educated and skilled Liberians who fled conflict and left the country. Their technical expertise makes them vital allies in any struggle against corruption. At the same time, care must be taken to avoid massive importation of ‘experts’ whose consultancy fees deplete the donor aid meant for rebuilding the country.

Many experiences that could be used to guide Liberia’s next steps were discussed at the October 2004 Transparency International Annual Meeting. In the plenary sessions of this meeting the audience was inspired by the late Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania's commitment to change, and was confronted with the difficulties of bringing about change in transition countries by then TI-Kenya Executive Director Gladwell Otieno. Four case studies presented in plenary provided an assessment of the situations in Kenya, Georgia, Indonesia and Peruand a panel of high-level government officials discussed successes and failures in their countries' reform processes, under the able chairmanship of former Financial Times Editor Michael Holman.

The conference was especially noteworthy in examining the problem of corruption reform from a dynamic perspective, taking account of issues of prioritisation and sequencing, in contrast to the more static analysis common to discussions and analysis to date.

In coming up with a set of recommendations for anti-corruption reformers in new governments, the organisers and participants at the New Governments meeting were well aware that conditions differ from country to country and that there are no one-size-fits-all solutions that can be applied to all transition countries. Developing a viable anti-corruption political strategy is more of an art than a science. It requires courage, imagination, perseverance and creative alliance – building, good communication and political experience. It is in this context that we share the most important lessons and recommendations of the New Government meeting in Kenya.

Fourteen Key Recommendations for New Governments:

The conference also noted the need for more donor coordination in support of transition governments. It concluded that donors should have rapid response funds to enable them to make quick decisions to assist anti-corruption plans of transition stakeholders. Donor support needs to be flexible and fast, with allowance for learning by doing.

The enormous interest shown in the New Governments meeting by governments, donors and civil society organisations indicated that this was a subject of great concern and that those involved in anti-corruption work in a reform context needed a forum for discussion. The discussions at the new Governments meeting revealed that much further work is needed in the form of research, analysis and exchange of ideas and experience. It is important for those who have learned lessons about anti-corruption reform during a transition period to pass these on to new governments coming into to power, to save them from making the same mistakes. Transparency International is planning further work in this area.