IPNEWS: Finance Minister Samuel Tweah has threatened to hold the salaries of Government Ministers who renege on making financial reports during the accounting period.
Minister Tweah disclosed that the Public Financial Management Law gives him the authority to hold back the salaries of Government officials who refused to make financial reports on allotments received from the National budget.
The finance minister’s statement comes weeks after the political leader of the Movement for Progressive Change Simeon Freeman accused the government of not implementing the budget properly due to the lack of a financial performance report.
Freeman said in one of his media appearances that the government of Liberia lacks the ability to execute the budget in the absence of budget performance reports.
MPC Simeon Freeman has been on the back of the government criticizing the Weah administration for its poor handling of the economy and the refusal of government officials to produce budget performance reports every budget year.
In agreement with Freeman’s assertion, Finance Minister said Internal auditors have found it difficult to audit the books of Ministries and Agencies due to the lack of reports on their spending.
He said going forward, all ministers and heads of Government institutions will be obligated to make their reports to the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning before receiving salaries for the ensuing month.
Minister Tweah made the statement when the European Union and Government of Liberian signed four financing Agreements worth 80 million euros (88million USD).
