Liberia: CBL, LRA to Face Public Hearing Over Liberia’s Fiscal and Monetary State
Senate Pro Tempore Nyonblee Karnga Lawrence
Barely a week following their elections by white ballots, the heads of the Senate Committees on Public Accounts and Audit and Banking & Currency are set to conduct their first public hearing, affecting the Central Bank of Liberia and the Liberia Revenue Authority.
The Plenary of the Liberian Senate, during its 5th day of sitting Tuesday, mandated its Joint Committee on Public Accounts and Audit as well as Banking and Currency to conduct an inquiry into the current fiscal and monetary position of Liberia.
The Public Accounts and Audit Committee is chaired by Gbarpolu County Senator Amara Mohammed Konneh, while the Banking and Currency Committee is headed by Lofa County Senator Joseph Jallah.
The inquest will involve the holding of a public hearing with the Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia and the Officer-in-Charge of the Liberia Revenue Authority.
The plenary's action was triggered by both communication and deliberations from the River Gee County Senator, Francis S. Dopoh, regarding the pronouncement by President Joseph Nyumah Boakai.
In his address to the nation, President Boakai said that the amount of money left in the Government’s account is US$20.5 million, as opposed to former President George M. Weah's declaration indicates that he left the amount of US$40 million in the government's consolidated account.
According to the communication from the River Gee County Senator, both the fiscal and monetary administrators of the economy are mandated by law to submit annual reports to the Legislature within three to four months of the previous year, but these reports are not yet available to the public.
Senator Dopoh further lamented in his communication that there is a need to allow a public hearing on the matter as soon as possible to clear the doubts in the minds of the Senate and the public at large.
It can be recalled that during the early days of leadership in 2018, former President George Manneh Weah informed Liberians that then outgoing President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had left an empty coffee; as a result, the country was economically broke.
President Sirleaf at the time, however, maintained that her government left US$150 million and that such was part of her turnover note, challenging President Weah’s government to conduct an open inventory, which was never done.