The Director General of Liberia Institute of Public Administration (LIPA) has decried the reduction of its 2012/13 budget by the legislature.

Professor Harold Monger said his institution submitted a budget of US$2.5 million but was drastically reduced to US$700,000.

He said the reduction of LIPA's budget was greatly hampering the work of the institution.

Prof. Monger recalled that prior to the 2012/13 budget, LIPA was operating on US$900,000.

He lamented that the institution's budget has been reduced to an amount that is inadequate.

The LIPA Director General said there is more pressure on the institution relative to providing training for government employees.

He disclosed that the institution is now providing training to 700 persons per cycle than the 250 persons when he first took over.

Prof. Monger said as a result of the increase in the number of participants for training at LIPA, new facilities are needed to cope with the growing demand.

He frowned that the current budget of US$700,000 is very small and cannot help the institution to effectively meet its goals.

Professor Monger wonders why the budget of LIPA would be reduced drastically taking into consideration the enormous work the institution has to undertake.

He told journalists that "we have been hearing that people believed that we are receiving substantial donor fund; this is not true."

Prof. Monger said USAID/GEMS project with LIPA has no transfer of fund.

He explained that USAID/GEMS project support to LIPA is technical which is geared toward facilitating delivery of quality market-driven services to the government and the private sector.

Prof. Monger further said USAID/GEMS support to LIPA is also to facilitate delivery of preparatory certification training, support toward change management and business development, support toward enhancing skills of staff, support toward improving the physical learning environment, support toward installing a program monitoring and evaluation system and support towards enhancing LIPA's program support services.

He emphasized that LIPA was not receiving any financial support from USAID/GEMS as being speculated, a reason that might have led to the cut in the institution's budget.