Liberia: Pres. Boakai Convenes Cabinet Meeting to Address Declining Aid and Boost Domestic Revenue
Monrovia — President Joseph Nyuma Boakai on Monday convened a high-level cabinet meeting aimed at developing strategies to increase domestic resource mobilization amid significant cuts in international aid.
The meeting, held at the Tea House on the Executive Mansion grounds, brought together cabinet ministers and heads of state-owned enterprises to discuss funding challenges facing the government’s ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development.
Speaking to journalists following the session, Minister of Information Jerolinmek Piah emphasized the urgency of the meeting, noting that 27 out of 29 programs previously funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have been cancelled.
“It is very important because we are having all of the global challenges. The US is our major partner, and we are in the situation with the cancellation of most USAID programs,” Piah stated. “As a government, we think the best thing we can do to keep our development initiatives on track is to focus more on domestic resource mobilization.”
According to Minister Piah, the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) presented a draft domestic resource mobilization policy during the meeting. The proposal was reviewed in detail and received endorsement from the cabinet to begin implementation.
“What we are looking at is to increase our budget far beyond a billion dollars or more,” Piah said. “Because that is how we are going to tackle all of the problems in this country.”
He added that cabinet members were asked not only to endorse the policy but also to commit to supporting its implementation across their respective institutions.
At the start of the session, President Boakai announced plans to make unannounced visits to government ministries and agencies to assess their performance and working conditions. According to Piah, these visits are not intended to catch officials off-guard but to gain firsthand insight into the daily operations of government and interact with ordinary public workers.
“The goal is to see what the people inherited, what they are doing, and to talk to one or two staff members,” Piah explained. “The President wants to engage not just with ministers but with the employees who form the backbone of the public sector.”
By FrontPageAfrica.
