IPNEWS: Monrovia City Mayor John-Charuk Siafa appeared before the National Legislature today for his first budget hearing, calling for more financial allocation for effective and sustainable city management.
Mayor Siafa, speaking on behalf of the City of Monrovia, said that sustainable waste management needs proper fiscal support, which the Monrovia City Corporation lacks and contributes significantly to the city’s present waste management dilemma.
Heย noted that in the fiscal year 2023 budget, ceiling for GOL direct support to the cleanliness of Monrovia under the clean cities budget was US$ 600,000 with a drastic reduction of USD$ 400,000 in the 2024 fiscal budget .
He further revealed that Data collected by the MCC indicates thatย to clean Monrovia City at 45%, the Monrovia City Corporation needs a total amount of USD $2.8 Million only for the collection, disposal, and management of waste within Monroviaโsย city limits.
Additionally, Mayor Siafa during his presentation at the Legislature added thatย ย the CLUS project budgetary allocation and payment under the GOL last fiscal year 2023 was US$750, 000 as opposed to the required US$1.5 million support.
For this fiscal year 2024, the ceiling projected for the CLUS project has instead declined immensely to USD $ 500,000 instead of USD$ 1.5 million as government agreed commitment to the project, thatโs according to the Monrovia boss.
Mayor Siafa also lamented that if the government canโt live up to its agreed USD $ 1.5 Million commitment to the counterpart funding which he considers an error, there would be an eminent possibility for the CLUS project closure by the World Bank.
Additionally, Mayor Siafa told the Legislators up Capitol Hill that the Monrovia City Corporation requires an actual 11,023,583 USD for the City of Monrovia’s effective and proactive functionality, which could potentially close the city’s current funding gap and support its cleanliness efforts, thereby improving Monrovia’s overall waste management.
Mayor Siafa said that the MCC would provide 2,813,032 USD from internal income collection towards its budget, while the national government needs to provide 8,208,551 USD, a vital sum that will improve the MCC’s functioning.
However, the Monrovia City Corporation has 3,777,965 USD in the 2024 draft national budget, which is far lower than the MCC’s entire budget forecast to meet personnel and clean city efforts .
This indicates that the MCC needs an additionalย $4,430,586 USD from the national government, as well as an internal income contribution of $2,813,032 USD, to equal its entire planned budget of 11,021583 USD.
The MCC-approved budget for the fiscal year 2023 was set at 4,654,415 USD, with a 3777,965 USD decrease in the proposed budget maximum for 2024, resulting in a difference of 1,133,253 USD, or 23%.
Mayor Siafa believes that without achieving the Monrovia City Corporation’s overall actual budget of 11,023,583 USD, the city authority will find it extremely difficult to address Monrovia’s waste management challenges, which does not bode well for the country and its people, given that Monrovia is the country’s capital.
He conscientiously called on lawmakers during the budget hearing to see a just reason to allocate the much-needed and deserving resources that will enable the Monrovia City Corporation to handle Monrovia’s affairs notably waste management.
