BY: Shallon S.Gonlor
SANNIQUELLIE, NIMBA CO. — Local county leaderships of Liberia’s 15 counties are benefiting from the Ministry of Financial and Development Planning (MFDP) and partners’ three-day training on ‘County Treasure Framework and the Revenue Sharing Law Validation’. This is in keeping with Chapter 10, Article 10.1 of the Revenue Sharing Law (RSL) 2021.
The law states that the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning shall issue regulations on the schedules and methods of transfers to local governments and subnational governments units”.
Chapter 10, Article 10.2 provides that revenues allocated and transferred to Local Government shall be subjected to the Public Finance Management Law and attendant regulations, including budgeting, accounting, pre- and post-audits as managed by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
Under the theme “Capacity for Sustainability”, the three days training session is aimed at strengthening fiscal decentralization and financial management of public funds and revenue sharing law and the local government act.
Held in Sanniquellie, Nimba County, 11-13 June, 2024, the Local Government Act of 2018 requires local Government officials to be subjected to the same legal requirements as national government officials based on the local financial management consistent with the Public Financial Management Act of 2009 (Section 4.33).
According to the framework, local governments will make financial reports as required by the Minister of Finance (Section 4.35), Local finances will be audited according to the national laws and regulations on audits (Sections 4.36 to 4.38); and Procurements and contracts will be subject to the Public Procurement and Concession Act and Regulations (Sections 4.38 and 4.39).
The Local Government Act provides a revenue sharing framework that will be spread over a ten-year period as of the effective date of the law which was September 2018.
Counties, cities, townships and boroughs will have four sources of revenue which include own-source revenues, central government transfers, social development funds and grants from external sources including development partners.
Superintendents, County Administrative Officers, County Finance Officers from the fifteen (15) counties of Liberia, Acting Governance Commission Chairman, and officials, Ministry of Internal Affairs, and officials, consultant and technicians from the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning converged in the city of Sanniquellie to share knowledge and experte on the full implementation of the fiscal decentralization and financial management.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Internal Affairs Deputy Minister for Operation, Selena Polson Mappy emphasized the importance of the gathering, capitalizing on Revenue Sharing Law.
She said the training aimed to inform county superintendents and administrative officers about the Local Government Act which she noted has given full control to superintendents to take seat to management development funds and government’s agenda.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs Deputy Minister for Operations stressed that the process of fiscal decentralization and financial management are key to the full implementation of the local government Act.
She than lauded the United Nations Development Program or UNDP and authorities of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning for organizing such training for local county authorities allowing the full implementation of the fiscal decentralization and financial management.
For his part, Dr. Romeo D. N. Gbartea, the Director for Fiscal Decentralization Unit of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning-MFDP highlighted the impact of fiscal decentralization and challenges that a country face in practice.
Dr. Gbartea cautioned stakeholders to embark on a potentially transformative process of decentralization, with the aim of strengthening social cohesion, improving local governance, and promoting access to basic infrastructure and service delivery. He noted that Liberia still faces significant development challenges.
The lack of a proactive fiscal decentralization and full implementation fiscal management and local government act coupled with low mobilization of local revenue and nonexistent transfers from the national budget threaten the financial viability of communes, which struggle to support even basic operating costs.
Addressing a specific government officials, the Director of Fiscal Decentralization Unit of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning-MFDP provided a concrete policy positions helping the government to improve the financial and institutional sustainability of the decentralization reform process, enabling local county leaderships to address popular demands and deliver better services.
