Liberia: The New Meaning Of “Dismal”
(GOL Response)
The
Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
January 15, 2007
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Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
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From a thorough reading of the Report, it is immediately
clear that it is biased and one-sided in its assessment
and, despite it own details of positive accomplishments
by the Government, a deliberate attempt to cast negative
aspersions on the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Government is
rather obvious.
Against worldwide, continental and national opinion,
Front Page Africa declares that the first year of the
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf administration was “dismal”.
Exactly how Front Page Africa reaches this conclusion
is difficult, almost impossible, to see. Front Page
Africa states that performance records on government
Ministries, Agencies and Institutions are unavailable,
and that these Ministries, Agencies and Institutions
are “missing in action and cannot be measured
and rated”.
Despite this, Front Page Africa goes on to give a detailed
rating and assessment of thirty-eight Government entities
that are supposedly “missing in action”,
assigning each a grade.
Even more surprising is that Front Page Africa itself
assigns passing marks to about thirty government entities
that it says had a successful first year. Apparently,
that the Government had a successful first year is a
fact that the Front Page Africa itself is not morally
able to deny.
Yet, Front Page Africa states that the government’s
first year was “dismal”.
One is therefore, for the record, forced to outline
some, only some, of the details of this dismality Front
Page Africa refers to and to list here under some achievements
of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf led Government in 2006:
1. Established an inclusive and competent Government
which included the repatriation of well established
Liberian professionals;
2. Activated the GEMAP mechanism to enhance efficient
resource management in the expenditure of government
revenues;
3. Introduced goal setting in government operations
through the establishment of the “deliverables”
system;
4. Commenced the settlement of huge arrears inherited
from previous governments to civil servants, Liberian
Missions abroad, security personnel, former Legislators,
State enterprises, etc.;
5. Remained current in payment of increased salary and
wages, and increased pensions by an additional LD$1000
from levels as low as LD$200 with full settlement for
the holiday season;
6. Launched the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
and reorganized the Governance Reform Commission, the
latter completing the process of ratification of the
African Union (AU) and the United Nations Anti-Corruption
Convention and the drafting of a National Anti Corruption
Policy and Strategy, including drafting of legislation
for a Code of Conduct for Public officials;
7. Issued and published regular fiscal reports on Government
revenue and expenditure;
8. Established a system of accountability for foreign
and domestic travel through travel Ordinances, including
a requirement for travel expense reports;
9. Started the process of addressing corruption and
accountability through due process by calling several
authorities of the previous Government to respond to
charges levied against them in several audit reports;
10. Cancelled all non-compliant forestry concession
agreements leading to the passage of a new Forestry
Law and the lifting of sanctions on the forestry sector;
11. Currently proceeding with the review of over 100
concession agreements and contracts to ensure that appropriate
national interest is protected through cancellation
or renegotiation;
12. Put Liberia back on a sound footing with the International
Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the African Development
Bank, concluding successfully with the IMF a Staff Monitoring
Program and obtaining for the first time Pre-arrears
settlement grants of US$70million from the World Bank
and US$4million from the AFDB;
13. Restored some electricity and water to the Capital
City for the first time in over 14 years and currently
proceeding with plans for the expansion of power and
water in Monrovia and the conduct of a feasibility study
for the reconstruction of the Mount Coffee Hydroelectric
Dam;
14. Commenced the restoration of destroyed infrastructure
including road rehabilitation and public buildings,
with rehabilitation of the Monrovia-Buchanan highway
and the Monrovia Streets Rehabilitation Project programmed
to commence shortly; also, repair of approximately 475
miles of cross-country highways with World Bank, UNMIL
and EU assistance already undergoing;
15. Enforced the free and compulsory primary education
system in Government Schools, with a result of 80 percent
increase in enrollment at the primary school level;
16. Reinstituted the national local scholarship program
with the payment of all arrears due high schools and
higher institutions of education in the amount of LD$17,800,000.00;
and the granting of approximately 1990 scholarships
to students from all 15 counties for academic 2006/2007;
17. Restored services to over 350 Health Centers throughout
the country in partnership with the World Bank and other
NGO’s;
18. Obtained the first bilateral budgetary support of
US$1.3million from the French Government;
19. Won support from the United States Congress and
Administration for an additional US$50,000,000.00 in
supplemental funding for continued assistance to ex-combatants,
health, education, roads and electricity rehabilitation,
the expenditure of which is ongoing;
20. Launched the Transfer of Knowledge Through Expatriate
Nationals Program (TOKEN). This program will facilitate
the recruitment of at least 20 expatriate national professionals
and 15 local professionals to fill a range of critical
technical posts required by the government over the
next two years;
21. Arranged with the United States and Chinese Governments
support to commence the relocation of the University
of Liberia to its Fendell Campus;
22. Engaged with the Chinese Government the upgrading
of the Liberian Broadcasting System;
23. Concluded through the United Sates-based African
Development Foundation in collaboration with the National
Investment Commission loans totaling US$1 million to
eight Liberian businesses with another US$ 1million
allocated for 2007;
24. Took measures that resulted in Liberia becoming
eligible for the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act
(AGOA) of the United States which will assist in promoting
Liberian exports to the United States, attracting American
Investors to Liberia and helping to promote employment;
25. Concluded renegotiations of a new US$1billion Mineral
Development Agreement with Mittal Steel with substantially
improved benefits to Liberia;
26. Mobilized resources from private sources resulting
in over US$2.5million for girls’ education, school
rehabilitation and literacy program to be undertaken
throughout the country;
27. Commenced the process for mobilizing resources with
some US$200,000 to date from private sources to support
the improvement of markets throughout the country;
28. Following Presidential speaking engagements, engaged
several Universities in the United States to provide
scholarships and consider exchange programs with the
University of Liberia;
29. Appointed an Auditor General through a European
Commission competitive process and with EC funding under
GEMAP arrangement to ensure independence and efficiency
of the General Auditing Office.
On a personal note, during the year, the
President:
- Received unprecedented international acclaim at her
Inauguration which attracted African Presidents and
Representations from other international institutions
and governments including the First Lady and the Secretary
of State of the United States.
- Received in Monrovia a large number of eminent persons
including UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former US
President Bill Clinton, the World Bank and ADB Presidents
and several African Presidents;
- delivered a widely acclaimed address to the Joint
Session of the United States Congress, only the 4th
African President to be granted this privilege.
- Returned approximately US$32,710.20 to Government
coffers in respect of travel advances-US$800 in May,
US$9, 328 in July, US$2,926 in July and in December
US$19,656.20 for the last four trips.
- Introduced monthly media exchange with the people
through “Conversation with the President”.
- Maintained overwhelming support of the Liberian people
whom she engages continuously on the streets, in the
communities and visits to the Counties.
Clearly, with the country coming out of so many years
of war and destruction, the Government is not perfect
and did not achieve all that it could or should have
done and clearly the brouhaha with the media has been
unfortunate. However, there is an improved relationship
with the Media with the government and the Press Union
of Liberia agreeing on setting new and improved standards
for the media, including the granting of local and international
scholarships to Journalists.
But if the performance in its first year of the Government
as summarized above can be called “dismal”,
then Front Page Africa needs to go back to the dictionary
or the word may need to be redefined.