The Liberian Senate has enacted a law approving operational autonomy for various ports in the country.
By Lincoln G. Peters
Monrovia, Liberia, November 20, 2024—The Liberian Senate has controversially passed into law a bill seeking to create the Liberia Sea Port Regulatory Authority and Liberia Sea Port Decentralization, thereby granting ports across the country autonomy.
Presiding over the session here on Tuesday, November 19, 2024, Vice President Jeremah Kpan Koung, also President of the Senate, ordered the secretary of the Senate to read the communication and open the flow for voting.
Disappointingly, after reading the communication, Vice President Koung remarks: “Fellow colleagues, you have listened to the reading of the communication; now, all those against say yea and all those in favor say nail.
Following the strange practice introduced by VP Koung, which contravenes Senate rules permitting members to vote on the record, several senators expressed opposition to the decision but later conceded on the grounds that “town trap is not for rate alone.”
Providing justification for his action, the Vice President jokingly noted that it’s the wisdom of the presiding to tell how vote is done on an instrument while noting that he has set a precedent.
Meanwhile, the bill, when concurred by the House of Representatives, will provide for the regulation and sustainable development of Seaports and Inland Ports’ operations and services in Liberia. It will also facilitate a safer, orderly, and transparent development of port facilities and services and other purposes.
The Senate made the decision following a recommendation by the Joint Committee on Public Corporation and Judiciary, Human Rights, Claims, and Petitions.
The bill is consistent with the decentralization strategy of the Government, which includes but is not limited to decentralization of the Management and operation of the four seaports that had been managed by the National Port Authority, including the Freeport of Monrovia, the Port of Buchanan, Port of Greenville, and the Port of Harper, respectively. Editing by Jonathan Browne
