Liberia Revenue Authority Commissioner General James Dorbor Jallah draws back on the conversation regarding purchasing a jeep valued at US$150,000 for Ex-Minister of Commerce Amin Modad when he appeared for Thursday’s Senate hearing.
By Lincoln G. Peters
Monrovia, Liberia, November 1, 2024—The Commissioner-General of the Liberia Revenue Authority, James Dorbor Jallah, ignored conversation at the Liberian Senate public hearing on his facilitation of the purchase of a jeep valued at US$150,000 for former Commerce Minister Amin Modad.
The Senate had invited both CG Jallah and self-resigned Commerce Minister Modad based on a communication from Margibi County Senator Nathaniel McGill and others calling for an immediate investigation into allegations of abuse of power and misuse of public resources.
The communication seeks to establish whether or not the authorization of public resources for the purchase of the jeep was done within the confines of the law, which Senator McGill believes violated statutes of the Liberia Revenue Act, Public Financial Management Law, and Budget Law of 2024. The law clearly states that all government institutions’ purchase of vehicles should not exceed US$45,000.
However, honoring the senate’s communication, CG Jallah and his Commissioner for contracts stormed the Liberian Senate on Thursday, 31, 2024.
When given an opportunity to speak on the charges brought against him, the LRA Boss said that even though the LRA has a statutory mandate to collect legitimate revenue for the country, it does so in collaboration with other agencies and ministries of government.
He recalls that over the years, the LRA has provided resources to agencies to enhance revenue mobilization. In the specific case of the vehicle purchase, he seeks the body’s indulgence to provide some historical information about the performance of the DI contract and the purchase of the vehicle under that contract.
Jallah notes that on July 1, 2021, the Government of Liberia signed a customs Destination Service Inspection contract with MTN. Under said agreement, the LRA benefits from a 20% share intended for both hard and soft capacity building in customs. He adds that he was never in government at the time or a signatory to the contract.
The LRA Boss continues that he inherited the contract almost three years later from the last administration. In his fervent respect for the rule of law and the sanity of contracts, he wouldn’t have endeavored to kill any defect in the contract execution, irrespective of whether or not the government or the contract is at fault for said defect.
According to him, all of his efforts on the contract have been to achieve two goals: upholding the law relating to the contract and getting the maximum benefit the government negotiated for itself in the contract.
“Regarding the allocation or purchase of vehicles for the Ministry of Commerce, which is the subject of this meeting, following all the precedents from my predecessors I outlined, and considering the Ministry of Commerce as a key stakeholder to LRA particularly, Customs was constrained at the beginning of the financial year. We accepted the request to make good fate allocation as my predecessors have always done. The question that remains unanswered in my mind is, what did my predecessor of the last administration do right by providing resources for the purchase of vehicles for the Ministry of Commerce and other government agencies? What did they do right that I did wrong? What did they do then that was right? Now I do the same thing, and that is wrong.” He contends.
He reminds the Senate that the legislature has also benefited from the resources expended by the LRA to send its members on joint study tours and other activities.
“As we speak right now, to investigate and analyze what our counterpart countries are doing in the sub-region, we now have a proposal from the Senate and the House for a study tour in our neighboring countries to learn how they are solving allocations similar to the road fund. And that proposal is from members of this august body, this legislature. If that is not wrong, how is expanding the resources to enhance domestic revenue mobilization wrong?
He continues that unless the legislature, in its wisdom, grants the LRA the power to do so, the LRA has no legal authority to determine or enforce the specification and value of vehicles that government agencies should buy.
He recalls that on July 19, 2012, the Government of Liberia, represented by Senator Amarah Konneh, then Minister of Finance, and others, signed a customs inspection Services Contract with BIVA. Under that agreement, the company procured ten vehicles for customs, some of which were given to customs services.
Also, he notes that on September 30, 2016, the Government of Liberia again signed another customs contract service with BIVA. Under that agreement, the company provided capacity-building services to customs, including the provision of equipment and contribution of residential buildings, among other things, at a cost of US$825,000.
He adds that the capacity building also included providing three vehicles and ten motorbikes for the Ministry of Commerce. In 2018, the government extended the contract and benefited from approximately US$400,000, which was used to procure vehicles for Deputy Ministers at the Ministry of Commerce that are still functional.
However, CG Jallah left the conversation on the US$150,000 jeep and began providing information on the historicity of LRA contracts, the utilization of funds, and the institution’s interventions to boost domestic revenue mobilization.
He says they have helped the Liberia National Fire Service print its certificate and funded a joint enforcement exercise by the Ministry of Labor, Liberia Immigration Service, Ministry of Transport, and other institutions.
Based on his detour, he was called to order to leave the success stories and specifically focus on the purpose he was invited for.
I already discussed the issue, but since they want a full context for public consumption, we will stop here.”
But senators insist that the order states that the witness presented a global position of the LRA and seemed bent on lecturing how it should conduct its hearing.
However, the LRA Boss retorts: “They said that we misallocated public resources. My point from all those resources is that we have not, ” he says.
The presiding party then adjourns the session to resume next Tuesday, 5 November, with copies of CG Jallah’s presentation distributed to all senators. Editing by Jonathan Browne
