Why Hurry to Dismantle Mechanism to Improve Revenue Generation in Liberia, the LRA Saga?

With the noise raging from pillar to post, the investigative team at Knewsonline and kool91.9fm, had to dive into happening at the LRA, since the new appointees got confirmed and took up positions at senior management levels within the establishment.

The appointments were said to be counterproductive to the core function that lead to the setup and establishment of the Liberian Revenue Authority (LRA) which place serious responsibilities on the shoulder of the Commissioner General.

The act in Article 21 made it a duty bond that the day-to-day running of the establishment, shall be the full responsibility of the Commissioner General of LRA and not anyone else.

Knwes gathered, that indeed changes were made at the LRA, including rotation of staff without notice, to clear desks, and movement of staff from location to location was done in such haste, that the question becomes pertinent to know why the rush.

The singular act by a senior management member to institute such actions sends shivers down the spine of technocrats and seasoned administrators who understand that for such to happen unilaterally, even by the commissioner general, without consultation with his subordinates, would also send the wrong signal.

The press release issued by the Deputy commissioner for administration, Aaron B. Kollie quotes section 7.17 of the 2015 act, which provides for rotation and movement at least every 24 months, thus his action is in line with that provision in his office acted.

Knwes also spoke directly with several middle management and a few Junior staffers of LRA, their concern, is spelled in the following words, (We hope this is not the Nathaniel Party kind of activity at the central bank, where he said, if need be, he would put aside the Central Bank’s policy to carry out the President of Liberia, George Manneh Weah’s agenda to fully employ partisans, as well as the list from the chairman of CDC and Mayor of Monrovia, Jefferson Koijee.

The fact that these rotations, new employments, and shifting are occurring without the concentration of the commissioner’s directive or consent, sends a terrible signal to the public that indeed some serious sinister act is unfolding and these acts will put the economy into a downward trend when it comes to revenue generation, thereby directly affecting the citizens who are in dire need of social services.

With elections just months away, the security sector requires even better funding in terms of logistics, and every sector of the economy in 2023, requires a better functional LRA.

Some staff members of LRA are perplexed as to why the commissioner would refuse to instantly reverse all appointments and devolve all appointments made by the Deputy Director and bring sanity to the institution, they also wonder why the commissioner will keep the process ongoing for so long, allowing the grater staffers begin to suffer from motivational fatigue, they even questioned, why the changes were directed at the Borders and other core areas of national security, whereas, the present commissioner of customs had no idea who was being shifted from one point to the other.

However, Knwes is following the saga closely and will bring all updates to the public as this unfolding tends to see workers go on strike for lack of pay. If they are not paid for a few months by the respective agencies who depend on the revenue collected and distributed for such action.

Knwes also unraveled a memo from the office of the commissioner to the Deputy Commissioner for administration, where he was informed to not start such action at the LRA, the memo was ignored flatly, thereby setting the stage for the very actions that could end up hurting the nation and its citizens.