Monrovia — Despite the bad state of Liberia's economy, FrontPageAfrica has in its possession a list of partisans of the ruling Unity Party (UP) recommended to the governor of Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) for employment, a move that will further bloat the size of government at a time of general clamour for cutting down on the cost of governance.
In a communication sent to Aloysius Tarlue, dated April 23, 2024, UP's chairman, Luther Tarpeh, approved the names of 13 persons, bringing the total number of recommended party's faithfuls to 32 for appointments at the CBL, FrontPageAfrica gathered.
FrontPageAfrica gathered this is not the only place that Tarpeh, board chairman of the National Port Authority, has recommended partisans of the party for jobs after rumors surfaced on social media of him recommending the appointments of 43 persons in total at the Liberia Petroleum Refinery Company, Ministry of Labor, and Ministry of Finance, respectively. Boakai's predecessor, George Weah, was criticized for appointing partisans of his Coalition of Democratic Change into government even in an economy that was already nose diving into a recession. During the Weah administration, it was reported that the CBL was pressured to employ all of the CDC partisans that were recommended by the party. Then Executive Governor Nathaniel Patry infamously admitted that he received a list of people from the CDC for employment.
The Unity Party, while in opposition, said the former president's decision to bloat the government's payroll was the main reason the country was faced with revenue to cope with the requisite infrastructure and salary commitments.
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FrontPageAfrica gathered it's not only Tarpeh who is recommending partisans to government ministries and agencies, many including Bong County senator Prince Moye, Montserrado County senator Abraham Darius Dillon, Pro Tempore and Senator Nyonblee Karngar-Lawrence, among others.
Liberians say they had expected that the prevailing economic climate would compel governments at all levels to seriously cut down the cost of governance by scrapping or merging ministries and departments that could effectively handle the various sectors of government. That way, they added, governance would be smarter and more result-oriented.
Apart from the huge amount that will be spent in servicing this crowd of political appointees in a debt-riddled economy, political pundits say Unity Party's manner of over-bloating the government is bound to elicit other consequences down the road ahead.
Some Liberians are questioning why the government continues to get bloated with partisans of the UP when the country is among the top 10 poorest countries in the world, according to Global Finance magazine 2024.
"The cost of governance is too high," Alex Flomo, a civil society activist, said. He said Liberia is certainly living above its means with the rising recurrent expenditure.
"Liberia has ignored its revenue challenge by going on a recurrent expenditure spree. Yet, this has not impacted the economy, which has been stuck in a low growth path despite higher cost of governance," Flomo said.
