Their Call Must Be Heeded

A call by participants, who attended the  Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) one- advocacy workshop recently for inter-faith religious leaders in Monrovia, for the Government of Liberia(GoL), through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP), to be transparent and open in expending funding from international partners, must be heeded.

The participants drawn mainly from the Muslim and Christian religions lamented that the GoL normally announces when credits and grants are approved by international partners but usually fail to update the Liberian people on the usage of these funds.

The religious leaders bemoaned the lack of basic social services and essential medicines in public medical facilities across the country, which is contributing to urban migration, increased crime rates and morbidity.  

The one- day workshop, we understand, is part of a campaign being carried by the JPC with support from Caritas Africa and Jubilee USA as part of a wider African effort promoting Inclusive Economy Recovery in Africa during the post COVID-19 pandemic era.

The project being simultaneously implemented in Ghana, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria and Togo is campaigning for richer and developed countries with huge Special Drawing Rights (SDR) holdings to re-allocate some of their holdings to poorer African countries being weighed down by bi-lateral and multi-lateral debts alleviate some of the burden.

It is important for the GoL via the MFDP to provide regular update to the Liberian People on the usage of these funds for transparency and accountability.

By doing so, we believe the international partners would be encouraged to provide more funding to Liberia, thereby improving the living conditions of the Liberian People.

To this end, it is our hope that the call by the participants would be heeded by the GoL via the MFDP for the betterment of the Librarian nation and People.