The Liberia Standards Authority (LiSA), a newly established semi-autonomous government institution, has reviewed and validated key policy documents to guide its operations.
The exercise took place on June 17, 2025, at the EJS Ministerial Complex in Congo Town, attended by several key line ministries and agencies, including the Ministry of Finance Development and Planning (MFDP), the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI), the Internal Auditing Agency (IAA), the Civil Service Agency (CSA), the Public Procurement Concession Commission (PPCC), the National Social Security and Welfare Corporation (NASSCORP), the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), and representatives from the private sector.
The reviewed and validated policy documents include the Administrative Policy, Human Resource Policy, and Financial and Procurement Policy, which are pivotal to ensuring that LiSA meets legal, regulatory, and organizational standards, thereby helping the institution achieve its mission.
LiSA is a key regulatory body charged with promoting standards, quality assurance, and consumer protection, vital to the country’s development agenda. It came into being in 2018 through an Act of legislation and later became operationalized in 2024, by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, now making it the nation’s premier standards regulatory authority.
Delivering the keynote address during the event, Armed K. Sirleaf, Founder and Executive Director of the Liberia Governance and Justice Initiative (LGJI) challenged the participants to see the exercise as not simply about updating manuals or fulfilling a regulatory requirement but about reinforcing the very foundation of the institution for which it was established.
“It is about embedding transparency, accountability, and operational efficiency into the core of how the Liberia Standards Authority—and indeed all of our governance institutions—conduct their business,” he said.
He said that sound administrative policies, especially those governing human resources and financial management, are the backbone of every credible public institution.
“They define how people are hired and managed, how public resources are safeguarded and accounted for, and how services are delivered to the public. Without such policies, even the best leadership and intentions can dissolve into inconsistency, confusion, and mismanagement,” he further stated.
According to Sirleaf, the Standards Authority is uniquely positioned to lead by example—to set a new benchmark in policy-driven institutional excellence that others in government will be encouraged to follow.
He expressed the hope that the institution will emerge as a model institution, not only fulfilling regulatory mandates and donor expectations but also restoring public trust and setting a benchmark for other government agencies to emulate.
“Let this policy review and validation not be a conclusion, but the starting point of an institutional culture marked by discipline, clarity, and continuous improvement,” he pointed out.
Also speaking, the Deputy Minister for Commerce and Trade, Wilmot A. Reeves, said that there is always a need for policy and a system for an institution to become effective.
He praised the leadership of the Standard Authority for being proactive and assured his institution’s unwavering commitment to working with them to achieve their mandates.
For his part, the Director General of LiSA, Stephen Mambu, said that the occasion demonstrates that his entity is resolved to do what is required to be recognized for transparency and accountability.
He went on saying that the development of the pieces of policy by his institution can serve as a means for recognition of the government’s performance management compliance.
“I declared that we would do everything to make sure that we don’t just achieve a set standard for Liberia. I want to make sure that the institution is built in such a way that it will reflect integrity, transparency, and every other thing that goes along with good governance”, he said.
He promised his institution’s commitment to providing the right services that will enhance the facilitation of trade to have Liberia recognized internationally.
