By: Jerromie S. Walters
Capitol Hill, Monrovia, Liberia: Lofa County District #4, Representative Mariama Fofana, has asked for the indulgence of the House of Representative, to invite before its Plenary the Inspector General of the Liberian National Police (LNP), Colo. Patrick T. Sudue, and the Acting Director General of the Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS), Mr. Lawrence George, to provide update on burning issues from their respective institutions.
According to a communication written to the plenary of the House of Representative, the Chairperson of House Committee on Education and Public Administration, wants the Inspector General of the Liberian National Police (LNP) to be invited, to provide information on the LNP’s investigative findings relative to the discovery of a huge cache of arms and ammunitions at the nation’s port,
Freeport of Monrovia, at a private residence in Brewerville, Montserrado
County.
It can be recalled that a joint security operation on January 7, 2023, busted a smuggling operation involving caches of firearms and ammunition at the Freeport of Monrovia and the ringleader of the smuggling operation named as Boye Benjamin Baker, a Liberian who lives in Texas, Us.
Barbara Debah, a resident of the Old Road community and another lady only identified as Melvina were named as Baker’s accomplices. The former was the designated recipient of the consignment while the later was the clearing officer.
Less than 12 hours following the Freeport bust, the police said, another joint security operation was carried out at the ringleader’s home in the township of Brewerville during the early morning hours of Thursday, where an additional consignment of smuggled arms was discovered.
However, it has been over several days and the Liberia National Police is yet to provide additional information on the matter, as such, the female Lawmaker believes that it’s important for the Inspector General to be invited.
In addition, she wants the Acting Director General of the Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS), Mr. Lawrence George, to provide to the Liberian people substantial information and updates on the conduct of the 2022 National Population and Housing Census in Liberia.
Following weeks after Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor took the initiative to work with LISGIS to ensure a smooth condor the census, she announced on ELBC that the census was scheduled to climax on Saturday, December 17, 2022.
She referenced operational issues, which include the recovery of tablets from enumerators, as a huge challenge for the process at the time.
It was also established that the process was completed in Grand Gedeh county and the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) begun payments of enumerators in the same week.
It was also made known that LISGIS had an issue with Montserrado County, with regards to the counting process, but despite the challenges, they completed 77 percent, as all of the other counties were at really good numbers.
In Bomi County, it was disclosed that 264 houses out of 303 were enumerated, which is around 84 percent of the total household population in the county.
Also In Grand Gedeh, it was said that out of 435 households, the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Service LIGIS’s team exhausted 100 percent.
Conspicuously, it was mentioned that other counties, to include Lofa County, were at 99 percent in December.
The Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) was established by an Act enacted by the National Transitional Legislative Assembly (NTLA) and approved by the Chairman of the National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL) on July 22, 2004.
The Act is known as “The Liberian Code of Laws Revised, As Amended, By Adding Thereto a New Chapter 50A, and as indicated in Section 50A.1 its short title is known and cited as the “National Statistics and Geo-Information Act”.
The House is expected to address Representative Fofana’s concern, during its next session.
