President George Manneh Weah: “This year we plan to expand the LPA scheme to rural Liberia to benefit more civil servants, including teachers, health workers, security officers, traditional leaders and workers. This expansion will also benefit rural businesses by increasing their sales and profits.”
President George Manneh Weah has disclosed that in this year, the Liberian Government will do all to expand its National Legal Power of Attorney, known as the LPA scheme for Civil Servants, to embrace a number of Liberian Government’s employees, including health workers.
Delivering his sixth and final State of Nation Address (SONA) for this Presidential Term of Office, President Weah told the 103 lawmakers on Monday, January 31st, 2023 and others, that his Administration would do all to include these civil servants in the scheme.
The LPA Scheme
The Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, in 2021 started the LPA Scheme at two commercial banks, the GT Bank and Ecobank. The Finance Ministry signed the National Legal Power of Attorney for Civil Servants who are employed with the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Civil Service Agency, three of the Government of Liberia’s agencies.
The objective of the Legal Power of Attorney (LPA), seeks to empower civil servants by improving their lives in terms of infrastructure development and other human basic needs. Through this initiative, civil servants will have access to goods and services through salary credit schemes from various vendors in the country.
Finance and Development Planning Minister who signed on behalf of the Government, Samuels D. Tweah Jr. had reaffirmed the government’s commitment and openness to work with all financial institutions in Liberia to turn the country’s economy around, and by moving towards economic growth.
According to him, under the Pro-Poor Agenda for prosperity and Development, government salary payment is guarantee and the entire scheme is all about “cash flow”.
“We believe that credit in our financial institutions is turning around; therefore we need to support that recovery with strong judicial reform”, he said.
He had underscored the importance for Liberians to explore opportunities to grow business and to develop their economy; adding that the credit scheme is probably going to be the biggest game changer in the Liberian economy for the next two years going forward.
State of Nation Address
Further delivering the SONA, President Weah disclosed that in the first week after assuming power, Liberia’s development partners had met with him and informed him that the Health Pool Fund, which had been paying the salaries of some 2,000 health workers, had dried up.
“They asked us to take these workers on to the Government’s payroll, at a cost of about $12 million U.S. dollars a year. The United Nations Mission, which had been spending some $115 million US dollars annually in Liberia, was also leaving, thereby depriving the economy of these resources. By 2018, all of these inflows were gone.”
“The truths of the difficult decisions and courageous corrections we have made during our tenure, concerning the pro-poor investments in education, health, roads and electricity, are out there for all Liberians to see and experience. It is on these truths that we stand, as we continue to face existing challenges to deliver a more prosperous future for all Liberians.”
During the year under review, the President reported that the Government made significant interventions in a number of sectors including Health, Education, Social Development Services, Energy and Environment.
“In the health sector, we spent about US$17.3 million on vaccines and vaccine-related supplies; COVID-19 vaccination administration; and drugs and medical consumables.”
“Since establishing pay-grades for all positions at the start of our reforms in 2019, we have partially or fully increased or adjusted the gross salary of more than 28,000 Government workers, out of more than 70,000 Government employees. These beneficiary employees include teachers, health workers in rural and hard-to-reach counties, and security officers within various security agencies.”
The President also used the occasion to thank lawmakers for the “record-breaking passage of these various bills, we would like to remind you, however, of some important bills that are still pending before you, including the following: Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area; An Act to Establish the West African Police Information System; The Statute of the International Renewable Energy Agency; The Legal Aid Act of 2022; The Liberia Corrections Service Act; An Act to Establish the Civil Service Commission; A Revised Public Health Law of Liberia just to name a few.”
“These Bills are very significant to the success of our Pro-Poor Agenda, and we therefore urge you to consider their urgent passage in this Sixth Session.”
Also on the health sector, the President reported that his Administration constructed and dedicated a 100-bed state-of-the-art Referral Hospital known as the Emirates Hospital, in Bopolu City, Gbarpolu County.
