9 November 2009
Liberia's development and reconstruction agenda, the Lift Liberia (Poverty Reduction Strategy), has gotten the much-needed boost with the three branches of Government meeting face-to-face for the first time with donors, the private sector and representatives of civil society organizations to discuss progress on implementation of the 90 Day Action Plan and lend their unwavering supports to the implementation process.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who is chairperson of the Liberia's Reconstruction and Development Committee (LRDC) on Wednesday, November 3, 2009, presided over the Steering Committee meeting attended by the Senate Pro-Temp, Hon. Cletus Wotorson, a representative of Speaker Alex Tyler and Chief Justice Johnnie Lewis. An array of other Liberian Government officials, the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG), the Donor community, African Union Representative, among others attended the meeting held in the C. Cecil B Dennis Auditorium at the Foreign Ministry.
Liberia has made solid progress in consolidating peace and advancing economic and political reforms in a few years. The population's expectation for rapid and concrete peace dividends remains high. Therefore, within this context, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President Pro-Temp Cletus Wotorson and Chief Justice Johnnie Lewis made strong commitment to making sure the development and reconstruction of Liberia is carried out without any hindrance.
Progress reports on the implementation of the Lift Liberia agenda were made by the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs. The updates indicate that the 90-day action plan for the PRS implementation has taken shape and is on course to full implementation. Robust data collection and analysis to track and accelerate the implementation of the Lift Liberia Poverty Reduction Strategy by the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs is beginning to show progress.
According to Planning and Economic Affairs Minister Amara Konneh, the scorecard for the 90 Day Action Plan will be published in early December at the conclusion of the 90 day period for the public. Expressing excitement that the PRS process was on course, Justice Lewis said out of the seven interventions under the judiciary, three have already been completed. He said the remaining interventions were on track. The chief Justice assured that the judiciary will do everything in its power to support the PRS implementation process.
The President-Pro Temp and the House Speaker, who was represented by Maryland County Rep. Chambas, both committed the national legislature fullest cooperation to ensure the process of implementation is not stained by any political maneuverings. Hon. Wotorson noted that the strategic national interest of Liberia is not the number of bill passed in the national legislature, but the quality of bill which is identical to achieving stability in the country.
He called on the Executive Branch of Government to encourage the sector ministries to engage the oversight committees at the national legislature to get updates on existing progress and problems in the PRS process. The Senate leader assured President Sirleaf and the Judiciary of the Senate's more proactive role in the PRS process. He emphasized the need for the Liberian development agenda to be accelerated in the realization of the poverty reduction program. "We are interested and will contribute to the PRS deliverables," he said.
For Rep. Chambas, the House will do more to help the PRS implementation process. He urged his colleagues in the House not to act based on any bigotry. He cautioned them to be more proactive and be open-minded in addressing issues relating to Liberia's development goals. He appealed to the donor community to align their projects to benefit the people of Liberia. He appealed for donor programs should be designed to do what is best for Liberia.
Both Senate Pro-Temp and House Representative informed the Executive Branch that they were better placed to get factual accounts of people's appreciation of the PRS process. They made commitments on behalf of their respective chambers to begin visiting their respective counties to beef up discussions around the PRS.
The lawmakers underscored the need for infrastructural development, particularly road reconstructions to create economic activities throughout Liberia. They called on the donors as well as national and international NGO's to align their projects in a way that these projects will benefit Liberians.
The two lawmakers acknowledged the vast contributions the donor community has made to lift Liberia, but that while their contributions are good intended, the donors should execute those projects to benefit the people of Liberia. "Let our people benefit. If you are not doing well, please do well for our people to benefit," Rep. Chambas admonished the donors.
Meanwhile, the President Johnson Sirleaf challenged the donor partners to do better in their approaches, especially when they are assigning projects for Liberia. She called for their fullest cooperation in the revitalization of Liberia key infrastructures, particularly the roads and bridges during the dry season.
However, the Liberian leader frowned on the current trend in roads reconstruction, adding that the road program has been disappointing. She called for a speedy and wide-ranging process to create access to the rural areas and also create economic activities throughout Liberia.
President Sirleaf also criticized the processes in the implementation of vital projects in Liberia by the donor community. "Over and over, we have said the processes are too long. I know we have our national capacity issue, but the process is too long especially from the multilaterals." She then asked for a change in strategy to speed up project implementations, especially during this dry season.
The two-day Cabinet Retreat held under the auspices of the Liberia Reconstruction and Development Committee (LRDC) on Friday, August 14, 2009 at the Liberia Baptist Theological Seminary near Monrovia steered up momentum for the PRS implementation. Since the review retreat, the LRDC has been working closely with ministries and agencies in the implementation of their 90 day action plans.
In furtherance of this programmatic and project management support, the LRDC partnered with the World Bank Institute (WBI) and the UNDP to train line ministries and agencies on Rapid Results Approach (RRA). This results-based management planning tool is geared toward helping ministries and agencies begin the process of program budgeting and will be used in the development of the second 90-day action plans.
The LRDC, in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning has committed to providing more support to build the capacity of ministries and agencies as we accelerate PRS implementation.
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