Monrovia — Liberia needs to break away from a cycle of development planning that is repeatedly reshaped by presidential elections and political transitions and establish a long-term national framework capable of surviving changes in government, former Liberian People's Party (LPP) vice presidential candidate and current Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Emmanuel K. Urey Yarkpawolo, has argued.
Writing following recent engagements in the United States, including meetings surrounding the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council in New York and the Liberia Diaspora Conference in Washington, D.C., Dr. Yarkpawolo proposed a 25-year National Development Framework, supported by law and implemented through successive five-year plans.
Since the end of Liberia's civil wars, successive administrations have introduced national development strategies, including the Poverty Reduction Strategy, the Agenda for Transformation, the Pro-Poor Agenda for Development and Prosperity, and the current ARREST Agenda.
According to Dr. Yarkpawolo, the central challenge is not necessarily the absence of development plans, but whether national commitments are consistently translated into measurable results that citizens can track across successive administrations.
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He argued that Liberia's six-year presidential cycle can complicate long-term development planning.
An incoming administration, he said, may spend its first year developing its own program, with implementation gaining momentum in the second year. By the final years of an administration, political positioning and electoral considerations can increasingly compete with long-term development priorities.
That, he argued, can leave a relatively short period for sustained implementation.
"Planning is necessary, and development does continue during elections," he wrote, "but we must ask how much momentum we lose through repeated planning and political competition."
Dr. Yarkpawolo said his proposal is not intended to prevent governments from establishing their own priorities. Rather, he wants Liberia to establish national objectives that remain broadly consistent while allowing each administration to determine how best to pursue them.
Dr. Yarkpawolo also highlighted the recurring political dispute over which administration deserves credit for major development projects.
A government may launch a project that is later completed by a successor under a different program or name, creating competing claims of ownership.
He said such disputes can deepen political divisions and obscure the fact that development projects ultimately belong to the country.
"Citizens deserve an honest account of each administration's contribution, while the project remains a national achievement," he wrote.
To address the issue, he proposed the creation of a National Project Register that would provide a factual record of when projects began, how they were financed, their implementation status and the contributions of successive administrations.
At the center of his proposal is a 25-year national framework divided into five-year implementation plans.
The process, he said, should begin with consultations across all 15 counties, involving political parties, local communities, businesses, civil society organizations and the Liberian diaspora.
Those consultations would establish measurable national goals in areas such as employment, education, healthcare, infrastructure, food security and environmental protection.
The objective, he said, would be to create national priorities broadly owned by Liberians rather than identified primarily with a particular political party or administration.
Dr. Yarkpawolo proposed a National Development Continuity and Planning Act that would require successive administrations to align their programs with the national framework and report regularly on implementation.
Under his proposal, major changes to the framework would require public consultation and legislative scrutiny.
However, he cautioned against turning the 25-year framework into a rigid blueprint.
Five-year plans, he said, should identify priorities, costs, financing arrangements, responsible institutions and deadlines, while governments retain sufficient flexibility to respond to new evidence, technological changes and unforeseen circumstances.
Periodic reviews could accommodate changing national conditions, with emergency adjustments subject to public explanation and oversight.
Rather than creating another government institution, Dr. Yarkpawolo proposed expanding the role of the Governance Commission.
The Commission, he said, could coordinate national development reviews, maintain institutional records, assess progress and publish independent findings.
For such a role to be credible, he argued, the Commission would require operational independence, transparent funding and the ability to report without political clearance.
Ministries and agencies would remain responsible for implementation, while the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning would retain its fiscal and budgetary responsibilities.
The Governance Commission, he said, would remain accountable to the Legislature and the public.
Dr. Yarkpawolo also called for greater protection of professional expertise within government.
He argued that Liberia loses valuable institutional knowledge when experienced technical personnel leave government with changes in political leadership.
Designated technical positions, he said, should be filled through open competition based on qualifications, competence and integrity, allowing professionals to serve across electoral cycles.
He proposed staggered terms for commissioners and protected career appointments, accompanied by performance reviews and fair procedures for addressing misconduct or poor performance.
"Public service should offer security for competent work and accountability for failure," he wrote.
Dr. Yarkpawolo said long-term planning would have little impact unless national budgets are aligned with the country's development priorities.
Annual budgets, he argued, should clearly demonstrate how public spending advances long-term national goals, while major projects should have realistic financing and maintenance plans.
He also called for greater transparency when governments discontinue projects inherited from previous administrations.
Before a major project is cancelled, he said, the government should publicly explain its reasons and assess the potential consequences.
The proposed National Project Register would complement that process by documenting each project's history and the contributions of successive administrations.
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Dr. Yarkpawolo said public confidence suffers when government announcements are more visible than measurable results.
He proposed an Annual National Progress Report setting out what was promised, what was spent, what was delivered and what remains unfinished.
Consistent indicators, he said, would allow citizens to track government performance over time and understand the reasons for delays, as well as the measures being taken to address them.
He pointed to Indonesia, Singapore, Japan and South Korea as countries whose experiences demonstrate the value of sustained planning, institutional capacity and consistent investment, while acknowledging that Liberia's circumstances are different.
For Liberia, he argued, the lesson is not necessarily to copy another country's model, but to build institutions capable of sustaining national priorities beyond individual administrations.
Dr. Yarkpawolo said the proposed reform could begin under President Joseph Nyuma Boakai and the current Legislature while the government continues implementing the ARREST Agenda.
Rather than discarding existing programs, he called for Liberia to build on work already underway while establishing a stronger institutional foundation for future governments.
As he returns home from his engagements in the United States, Dr. Yarkpawolo said his broader hope is that development will become a shared national commitment rather than a succession of competing political projects.
"Each administration should advance the work, receive fair recognition for its contribution, and leave the next government better placed to serve Liberia," he concluded.
