The Civil Service Agency (CSA) has officially launched its Five-Year Strategic Plan (2025–2030), the Consolidated Annual Work Plan for fiscal year 2025, and its new Financial Management Policies and Procedures Manual.
These three historical documents, unveiled during a press conference held Wednesday at the CSA headquarters, are poised to usher in a new era of efficiency, transparency, and innovation across the civil service.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, April 9, 2025, Dr. Josiah F. Joekai, Director General of the CSA, described the launch as a “historic moment” for the Agency and the country at large, emphasizing the critical role these documents will play in reforming public service delivery and aligning civil service operations with the government’s national development agenda.
“The Civil Service Agency has reviewed, drafted, validated, and adopted three critical instruments, and this is a huge achievement,” Dr. Joekai stated. “First, I have in my hand the Civil Service Agency’s Five-Year Strategic Plan. It has been validated and adopted. We now have a strategic plan to guide us for the next five years.”
Dr. Joekai explained that the strategic plan lays out a clear roadmap to transform Liberia’s civil service by enhancing institutional effectiveness, aligning programs with national development priorities, fostering innovation in governance, and building a resilient and skilled public workforce. The plan is fully aligned with the government’s ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development (AAID), particularly in areas focused on governance reform, anti-corruption, rule of law, and economic transformation.
“The strategic plan outlines a clear and actionable roadmap for achieving the agency’s mission of advancing governance reform, building institutional capacity, and transforming public service delivery in Liberia,” he added.
He also presented the agency’s Consolidated Annual Work Plan for the 2025 fiscal year, noting that its finalization had been deliberately delayed ensuring it aligned with the newly launched ARREST Agenda.
“This is our annual work plan that guides everything we are doing this year,” Dr. Joekai explained. “We had to delay a little bit so that we concluded the ARREST agenda for inclusive development to ensure appropriate alignment. And that’s why we are presenting to you the adopted Consolidated Annual Work Plan and the Strategic Plan.”
Dr. Joekai further unveiled the CSA’s Financial Management Policies and Procedures Manual, describing it as a critical tool for ensuring accountability and transparency.
“This manual is consistent with existing financial policies of the government,” he noted. “It is just guiding us to make sure that we are not only compliant, but also that we effectively ensure prudent financial management systems in our processes.”
He emphasized that copies of all three documents will be submitted to the national legislature, the Office of the President, and other relevant institutions as part of the CSA’s commitment to transparency.
As part of the reforms, the Director General announced the ongoing automation of the civil service time and attendance system to improve employee performance monitoring and reduce payroll fraud.
He cited current efforts to prorate the salaries of employees with unexcused absences and warned that further measures would be automated using biometric and AI-powered systems.
“Right now, the analysis is ongoing for the month of March. We will soon be coming out with a memo—how much we’re going to save and who all salaries were prorated,” he said. “A few months from now, we’re going to have the time and attendance system automated. Our cameras will capture your presence, and you will do your fingerprint. If you don’t come to work for certain times, automatic prorating of your salaries will happen.”
He reiterated the agency’s policy message: “Do your job, keep your job.”
Touching on disciplinary measures, Dr. Joekai revealed that the CSA recently ordered the National Bureau of Concessions (NBC) to suspend nine employees without pay for one month for inappropriate behavior, including hosting rival press conferences inside the agency.
“Those employees held press conferences, disrupting the normal activities of the institution,” he explained. “Those are behaviors unbecoming, in keeping with Chapter 4, Section 2.2 of the Standing Orders. We have launched an investigation. The entire examining committee is joining our Director of Legal Affairs, Anthony Denisua, to conduct the investigation, and we will make the results public.”
The Director General underscored that such disciplinary actions reflect the CSA’s firm stance on enforcing accountability and supporting the broader anti-corruption drive of the government.
“CSA is on record for holding people accountable,” he stressed.
Dr. Joekai also highlighted the agency’s drive toward digital transformation, stating that automation is now at the core of all CSA operations, including recruitment, testing, and performance management.
“This year is a year of automation,” he declared. “We are automating our employment system. We have already automated the testing system… Now we’re going to do our performance management system. The time and attendance—we’re automating it.”
He said these automated systems will make the CSA more resilient, sustainable, and efficient.
“Paper-based systems are not resilient,” he noted. “The automated system is resilient and sustainable.”
Dr. Joekai concluded by thanking his deputies, directors, and the entire CSA team for their tireless work in producing the policy documents. He gave special recognition to Hon. Dahnu Mianyen, Deputy Director General for Administration and Finance, for his leadership during the process.
“Honorable Mianyen, I want to take this time to congratulate you and your colleagues. I know it was tough—sometimes we stayed in this very room until 10 p.m., working. Sometimes we had to improvise, put money together to buy fuel when electricity was gone.”
He called on all government institutions to adopt similar reforms in line with the President’s vision for inclusive development and effective governance.
“We’re doing this for the country. This is a sacrifice,” he concluded. “I want to encourage everybody across our government to adapt, to institute reforms if we have to deliver on the mandate of the people and achieve the President’s vision.”
