A member of the Liberian Senate is calling for separation of the Ministry of Finance from Planning and Development for effectiveness and efficiency.
By Ethel A. Tweh
Monrovia, Liberia, July 5, 2024 –Grand Kru County Senator Numene T. H. Bartekwa is calling for disaggregation of the Ministry of Development and Planning from the Ministry of Finance to drive the country’s developmental agenda effectively.
Senator Bartekwa discloses that the 15 counties of Liberia, through their local authorities, have been advised to do planning in their areas despite the existence of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
He recounts that during the Ministry of Development-Planning’s existence, each of the 15 counties had Planning Officers to oversee the entire country’s development and planning activities.
According to him, those Officers were liaising with the county local administrations to craft their development and planning agendas, with the consent of the Central Government, to implement those planned programs.
“We need to revisit that Law; those two ministries need to be disaggregated. They need to be separated, let the Ministry of Planning take its full charge and the Ministry of Finance take its full charge,” Senator Bartekwa suggests.
The lawmaker indicates that the strength of the Ministry of Finance and Development-Planning has mainly been seen in the preparation of the national budget and the disbursement of funds to key sectors of national government.
He stresses that the Deputy Minister for Planning at the Ministry of Finance and Development-Planning only focuses on the country’s planning issues. However, the minister’s planning task is broad and overwhelming, and as such, that office is ineffective and inefficient in meeting the development and planning agenda of the entire country.
The Grand Kru County Senator believes that separating the Development and Planning segment from the Ministry of Finance and Development-Planning will enhance the country’s developmental agenda and ensure that the Ministry of Finance only focuses on the disbursement of finances.
Senator Bartekwa intervened during the 32nd Day Regular Sitting of the 1st Session of the Liberian Senate on Thursday, July 4, 2024, following a report from the Joint Committee on Public Works and Rural Development, Lands, Mines, Energy, Natural Resources and Environment, and Public Corporation on the flood situation in Monrovia and other parts of Liberia.
The Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, or MFDP for short, was created in 2013 by an Act of the National Legislature, in line with international financial management best practices.
The new MFDP effectively replaces the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs with the mandate to formulate, institutionalize, and administer economic development, fiscal, and tax policies to promote the sound and efficient management of the government’s financial resources.
As custodian of the country’s economy, the MFDP combines expertise and experience in public finance, development planning, and economic management to manage the economy effectively.
However, some national leaders, politicians, civil society actors, and activists, among others, believe that since the combination of the two public institutions, the effectiveness and efficiency of the Development and Planning segment of the MFDP has not been realized in many parts of the country. Editing by Jonathan Browne
