MONROVIA – Anderson D. Miamen, Executive Director of the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL), has called on President Joseph Nuyma Boakai government to urgently strengthen the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) if it is serious about addressing the country’s persistent governance and financial challenges.
In a public statement released on Monday, September 8, 2025, under the title “Growing Our National Budget and Maximizing Domestic Revenue Collection: The Need to Adequately Fund the Liberia Revenue Authority to Deliver,” Miamen questioned the government’s commitment to sustainable reform.
“Sometimes one wonders if we are serious about holistically and sustainably solving the major governance, financial, and other challenges Liberia faces,” Miamen wrote. “We see the gaps in revenue collection and loopholes in mining and other critical sectors. Yet, we do very little to address them. How do we expect to make the anticipated progress? How do we expect to ‘move our revenue to billions’?”
He argued that the LRA, which bears the responsibility of collecting domestic revenue, has not been given the support necessary to perform effectively. Despite repeated calls to grow Liberia’s national budget, he said, the government has failed to provide the LRA with the financial, human, and logistical resources it needs.
“Government is still reneging on giving the Liberia Revenue Authority the resources it needs to address loopholes in the revenue collection process; recruit, train and deploy more manpower to collect all lawful revenues; explore new and under-utilized revenue sources; and improve on internal accountability measures to fully safeguard public resources,” Miamen stressed.
The CENTAL boss urged both the Executive and Legislature to engage in “evidence-based and inclusive conversations” with the LRA leadership, with the goal of producing clear and measurable revenue projections. He insisted that any commitments made by the LRA must be documented and publicly shared to allow civil society, the media, and citizens to track progress.
“We can’t keep doing things the same way and expect different results,” he warned, pointing to the urgency of reform in the wake of USAID’s withdrawal of support and declining aid from other donors. “Hence, we need to prioritize the things that really matter and stop spending wastefully. And empowering LRA to perform at full capacity should be a top priority of the government.”
Miamen’s remarks come at a time when Liberia continues to grapple with budget shortfalls, growing debt obligations, and unmet development needs across critical sectors like health, education, and agriculture. His call adds to growing pressure on the Boakai administration to demonstrate stronger fiscal discipline and reduce reliance on donor funding by maximizing domestic revenue collection.
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