Monrovia, Liberia: Liberia’s Commerce Inspector General D. Dorr Cooper has been exposed not as a guardian of trade and integrity but as an academic fraudster who climbed the rank of Commerce IG on the back of a dead man’s credential.
The University of Liberia has stripped IG Cooper of a degree he never earned after an investigation made known the shocking revelation that the government official had never set foot in a classroom as a legitimate student. Instead, the country now watches in disbelief as the credential of a dead man, long buried, became the golden ticket that ascended the Commerce Inspector General into public office.
A public servant entrusted with enforcing trade regulations now finds himself exposed as an academic fraudster who shamelessly paraded stolen degrees to gain prestige by using the identification number of a dead student.
The Student ID #26371 that rightfully belonged to the late Dahnbaye Wogbeh, a former Chairman of the Unity Party, Nimba Chapter, was hijacked by Inspector Cooper and used to fabricate a career built on deceit and falsehood.
The deceased, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in public administration in 2009, had his student ID revived and used for fraud’s ambitions. An official task with maintaining ethical business practices is being dragged for academic fraud.
A scandal of this magnitude is not merely an embarrassment but a full-fledged indictment of Liberia’s institutional incompetence. An individual climbed the ranks of public office with fake academic credentials, and not a single gatekeeper thought to verify his legitimacy. The revelation sends a message about how easily the system can be manipulated by fraudsters posing as educated elites.
A Commerce Inspector General ought to be a beacon of integrity, yet Liberia now bears witness to an official who has turned a state office into a mockery of professionalism.
Public trust, already fragile in a country battling corruption at every level, has been further eroded by a scandal that could have been avoided with the most basic level of scrutiny.
The entire ordeal raises alarming questions about the depth of negligence in government hiring processes and whether those who sit in positions of power even have the credentials they claim.
The University of Liberia’s investigative committee made known the staggering truth that IG Cooper never enrolled, never sat for an exam, and certainly never earned a degree.
The number assigned to his supposed academic according to the UL records belonged to a man who has been in the grave for nearly a decade. Yet, armed with nothing but the audacity of a seasoned deceiver, Dorr Cooper made his way into the upper rank of governance.
Manipulating academic records is not just an administrative error; it is a crime against public trust. A government official who fraudulently assumes power on the basis of false qualifications is no different from a counterfeit currency deceptive and a threat to economic stability.
The gravity of the deception cannot be understated, especially when public service positions should be occupied by individuals with the expertise and experience to make decisions that affect the lives of millions. Instead, Liberia has been ridiculed to the point where an unqualified fraudster holds a position of influence, dictating policies with credentials that belonged to a man whose voice had long been silenced by death.
The failure on the part of the University of Liberia to detect such an act sooner is a stain on the credibility of an institution that prides itself on being the cornerstone of higher education in Liberia.
IG Cooper’s audacity to create his way into power makes a mockery of every hardworking student who has endured the courage of higher education to earn an honest degree.
Academic fraud devalues the efforts of genuine scholars, damages the reputation of educational institutions, and erodes confidence in public entities. If the government fails to take decisive action beyond the symbolic revocation of Inspector Cooper’s fake degree, the message will be clear that fraud is tolerated, integrity is optional, and deception is a viable path to power.
The fraudulent rise of an academic imposter to the level of Commerce Inspector General is a disgrace that should never have happened in a nation striving to rebuild itself.
Edited: E. Geedahgar Garsuah, Sr.
