Liberia, June 18 -- In January 2009, former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf honored a hero. A year prior, in 2008, Richard Karyea, a customs officer for the Liberia Revenue Authority assigned at the Roberts International Airport (RIA), had turned down a US$20,000 (thousand dollars) bribe from a Nigerian drug smuggler attempting to bring a massive quantity of cocaine, hidden in a DVD player, into Liberia. Due to his exceptional honesty and integrity, Karyea was named the 2008 Civil Servant of the Year.

When he was later asked by the BBC how difficult it was to reject a bribe, Karyea replied: "It wasn't difficult to turn down the money. If it took me 50 years to earn that money, I'd want my conscience. I will always want my conscience." ...