MONROVIA: Liberian Leader, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai is expected to introduce bill for the Establishment of the Ministry of Local Government.
He said this bill is aimed at advancing modalities to operationalize the Local Government Act passed in 2018 to fast-track the transitioning of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the new Ministry of Local Government.
In his state of the Nation Address to the 55 National Legislature on Monday January 29, 2024 President Boakai said the Ministry of Local Government will have the authority to drive the Government’s decentralization program.
Commenting on the operationalizing the Revenue Sharing Law he said the Revenue Sharing Law needs to be synchronized with existing laws including the Project Financial Management Act (PFMA), and the current Revenue Code.
According to him, the Revenue Sharing Law (passed in 2022) and these two other instruments were designed for different systems of Government.
He stressed that, while the new Revenue Sharing Act is designed to facilitate fiscal decentralization in a decentralized system of governance, the other two cater to a centralized system where the sub-national bodies do not have any authority to use a portion of locally generated revenue.
President Boakai said this has left County Service Centers that should be functioning and raising revenue, often stranded to raise operational costs adding “We will work with the relevant institutions of Government to align the new Law with the existing Law; popularize the Law and ensure adherence and enforcement across the Country,” he said.
In another development, President Boakai said one of the major recommendations that came out of the mandate and functional review of the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs, and Tourism was the need to divest culture and tourism from the Ministry of Information.
He said a National Tourism bill has since been sent to the Legislature with a first public hearing. Improving tourism is one of the pillars of the ARREST agenda.
“We will work with the Legislature on the status of this bill pending necessary actions to complete this process. Once passed, Liberia will have a National Tourism Authority” he mandated to draw up regulations and the appropriate governing framework for the tourism sector” he said.
Torching on the Establishment of the Office of the Ombudsman he noted that, Passage of the Code of Conduct for public officials has not had the full effect of the Law. A major hurdle is a lack of ‘implementation infrastructure’.
He said to this end, there is a need to establish the Office of the Ombudsman and when established, this office will supervise the enforcement of all provisions of the Code of Conduct and will also impose sanctions for infractions.
“We must begin looking at appointing an individual with the requisite moral standing to head and run the office,” he said.
