MONROVIA — The Ministry of Information's Capitol Hill headquarters, a 1965 building that had been falling apart when this administration took it over, has been fully restored on the inside for US$150,000, less than a third of what the General Services Agency assessed the whole job would cost, and President Joseph Nyuma Boakai on Friday committed the government to financing the exterior work that remains.
Information Minister Jerolinmek Matthew Piah said the interior "is done," that "there is some manual work done on the exterior," and that the question facing the ministry now "is how we can get additional funding to the entire exterior of the building." What is left, he said, is the exterior finishing, landscaping and a parking lot.
Piah said the completed work took enormous effort, given the dilapidated state in which the administration met the structure. The General Services Agency assessed that restoring the building inside and out would require nearly US$500,000. The ministry received US$150,000 through the Public Sector Investment Project, and that allotment covered the entire interior.
The roof was replaced at a cost of nearly US$60,000, financed separately through donations from goodwill individuals and institutions. Among those who contributed were Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti, Jetty and the Liberia Telecommunications Authority.
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The interior work covered tile laying, refurbishing of the reception room and replacement of doors and windows. Wall panels and hallway ceilings were installed on all three floors and in a number of offices, neither of which the building had before. Unused and abandoned space on the third floor was converted into new offices, more than four new bathrooms were created, and as many as four general staff bathrooms that had been out of use were restored. Glass doors at the main entrance, the Charles Gbenyon Press Hall and the ministerial conference room were replaced and newly installed, the electrical system was reconfigured across the entire building, and chandelier lighting was fitted.
Outside, the main entrance to the compound was rebuilt and expanded, a security booth was constructed and the external fencing was improved, among other works. The facelifting done on the exterior of the building itself, including the pillars, is temporary and will hold until the next phase of the renovation is financed.
Beyond the building, the ministry has acquired two large staff buses, a mini-bus for the Liberia National Culture Troupe that is to be turned over to the entity responsible for that sector, and a pickup for tourism operations that has already been turned over to the Liberia Tourism Authority. It has also installed two generators, a 110 KVA unit and a 45 KVA unit, and multiple air conditioners, including standing units. The ministry says it inherited no generating capacity beyond a 5 KVA generator that the New Liberia newspaper used for production work.
President Boakai, on his second visit to the Ministry of Information since taking office, toured all three floors, including the Charles Gbenyon Press Hall and its VIP lounge, the reception area, the art gallery, the newsroom, the art displays on the ground floor and staff offices, before meeting privately with Piah and his deputies.
He was accompanied by Minister of State Samuel A. Stevquoah, Director General of the Cabinet Nathaniel Kwabo, Political Advisor MacDella Cooper, Senior Advisor Augustine Konneh, Spiritual Advisor the Rev. Gurley Brown and Ambassador at Large Charles Snetter, among others. Liberia Broadcasting System Director General Eugene Fahngon, Ambassador Emmett Kennedy and Heritage publisher Mohammed Kanneh were also present.
The building dates to 1965 and had deteriorated for decades. The Liberian Investigator reported in October 2024, during an earlier stage of the work, that the ministry had begun replacing the entire roof, that the newsroom was flooded with damaged ceilings and inadequate furniture, that general staff bathrooms were out of use and that the central studio lacked chairs, desks and broadcast equipment. Deputy Minister for Administration Johnny S. Tarkpah said then that Piah's administration had inherited the building in a severely dilapidated state.
The president of the ministry's workers' union said the physical transformation was the largest he had seen in 13 years of employment there and graded management "at least 98%." He described the buses as a major achievement that had eased workers' transportation, and said the union supported the president and the ministry's management team.
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Snetter, a former director general of the Liberia Broadcasting System, said he was "overwhelmed" by the change. Asked what the work would mean for the state's information apparatus, he said, "the way to bring talent out is to have a decent place. So you'll see more imaginative things coming to light." Of the press hall named for Charles Gbenyon, the ELBC journalist killed in 1985, Snetter said he had known Gbenyon personally and was sure that "wherever he is today, he is overjoyed that he's been honored in such a way."
The renovated ground floor now carries cultural and historical displays, including a model ship representing the Elizabeth, a depiction of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a tableau on the making of the Liberian flag ahead of Flag Day on Aug. 24, imagery referencing the late President William R. Tolbert Jr.'s "From Mats to Mattresses" slogan, masks of the tribes of Liberia and portraits of former information ministers.
