John Sembe Morlu

Auditor General

Education: Double Bachelors, Economics and International Relations, Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia; MBA, Finance, Johns Hopkins; Masters, International Commerce and Policy, George Mason University

Biography: Audit Manager, Unisys Corporation; Senior Consultant, BearingPoint; Senior Financial Analyst, Teligent; Auditor General, Liberia, 2006 to date.

Commentary: John Morlu is known for his willingness to speak out. 2007 saw him declare the Johnson-Sirleaf government 'three times more corrupt' than the National Transitional Government (2003-05) under Charles Gyude Bryant. He did not claim that Johnson-Sirleaf was personally corrupt but he did raise questions about 'parallel budgets'. Johnson-Sirleaf responded angrily to the criticisms, claiming that he was working outside of his mandate: 'The Auditor General's review and analysis of the draft National Budget amounts to pre-audit and not post-audit as mandated by law …In conducting such a pre-audit, the Office of the General Auditor acted in conflict with, or at best in deviation from, its statutory duty.' He was viewed by many Monrovians as a hero who stood up the bureaucrats and raised important questions about the meagre budget.
Earlier this year, Morlu also slammed the ministries of Health, Education, Mines and Finance, over several million dollars of unaccounted funds. He was supported in the audit by President Johnson-Sirleaf but she continued to blame the findings on systematic failures rather than willful corruption.