MONROVIA: President Joseph Nyuma Boakai has ordered with immediate effect, in part, the long-awaited revenue sharing Government policy, which requires central administration in Monrovia to retain 40 percent of all revenues generated at County Service Centers.
Speaking at the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Decentralization Meeting at the EJS Ministerial Complex, Congo Town, President Boakai said “this will help address the old-age financial challenges that have impeded the effective and efficient operations of the County Service Centers”.
President Boakai called on the relevant Ministries, Agencies and Corporations (MACs), including the Liberia Revenue Authority and the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, to begin to implement the Revenue Sharing Act, especially Chapter 7.2, which calls for retention of 40% of all revenues generated at County Service Centers.
The Chief Executive also directed all sector Ministries, Agencies and Commissions related to the County Service Centers to devolve approvals and signing authorities to their respective representatives with the necessary safeguard to enhance service delivery at the subnational level.
“This is intended to ensure adequate and timely service delivery and to reduce transaction costs for citizens who usually bear huge costs to travel to Monrovia to obtain signatories to complete whatever documentation processes that are initiated at the County Services Centers,” the President stressed.
“You will recall during my SONA on January 29, 2024, I informed the nation amongst other things, about my Legislative Agenda including the Bill seeking for the establishment of the Ministry of Local Government, which is aimed at advancing modalities to operationalize the Local Government Act passed in 2018 and to drive the Government’s decentralization program,” he said at the occasion.
“We also mentioned taking steps to operationalize the Revenue Sharing Law to facilitate fiscal decentralization in a decentralized system of governance. We note that the Centralized system of governance has impacted the sub-national bodies as they do not have any authority to use a portion of locally generated revenue to address development needs.”
According to the President, the system has left the County Service Centers that should be functioning and raising revenue, often stranded to raise operational costs.
He further recalled that since 2012, the National Policy on Decentralization and Local Governance was launched as a mean of establishing a framework for effective and efficient service delivery at the sub-national level, while enhancing participatory decision making to strengthen local planning and capacity development for local government administrations.
“I am informed by the Minister of Internal Affairs that we have made some progress in government’s decentralization reform efforts but are challenged by a number of factors that continue to impede acceleration in our drive to improve service delivery to our people,” he noted.
He added: “Our meeting here today as the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Decentralization (IMCD) which comprises of all heads of Ministries, Agencies and Commissions (MACs) involved with the decentralization program under my supervision, provides perfect opportunity to take critical decisions to address the impediments and other challenges that are impacting decentralization, in particular the delivery of services to our people.”
President Boakai thanked the leaderships of different line MACs for their cooperation but encouraged them to strengthen coordination amongst themselves, even at the county level, so as to contribute to the cumulative impact of the decentralization program.