IPNews-Monrovia: September 1, has come and passed yet the retirement of Central Bank of Liberia governor Nathaniel Patray, still hangs in the balance against promised made on July 4^th, 2019, by President George Manneh Weah for Nathaniel Patray, to say good bye to the Central Bank following controversies over the disappearance of 16 billion Liberian dollars and 25 million United States dollars which rocked the country earlier this year.

Since the pronouncement by the Liberian leader for the retirement of governor Patray, and subsequent setting up of a special presidential committee for the vetting of new applicants for the position of Governor, Central Bank of Liberia-CBL, still remains a dream come through.

In recent days, the action of governor’s Patray , has shown that he has no intension of leaving anytime soon as he continued to discharged full duties of the office of Executive Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), without fear or thoughts of leaving.

It may be recorded, governor Nathaniel R. Patray, III led a high-level Central Bank of Liberia delegation to the annual meeting of the Association of African Central Banks (AACB) held in Kigali, Rwanda from July 28 to 1^st of August 2019, at an invitation to serve as a panelist during the Symposium on the theme “Rising African Sovereign Debt and its Implications for Monetary Policy and Financial Stability.

Hon. Patray, also held talks with his Nigerian counterpart Governor Godwin I. Emefiele , on issues of mutual interests including Liberia-Nigeria trade during the just-ended joint statutory meetings of WAMZ (West African Monetary Zone), West African Monetary Agency (WAMA) and West African Institute for Financial & Economic Management (WAIFEM), held in Conakry, Guinea from 16-23 August, 2019, which centered around the use of both domestic currencies that would pave the way for utilization of both Liberian Dollars and Naira in the transaction and purchase of goods and services unlike having to change to United States dollars before.

The silence of the offices of both President Weah and governor Patray on the retirement pronouncement which has since expired raises more worries following the recent caution from the International Monetary Fund for the government of Liberia to slash its massive wage bill, with governor Patray doing just opposite.

According to sources at the CBL,  Patray has hired a little over two hundred new employees over the last three months leading to a current salary standoff in the tone of US$ 500,000.00.

It may also be recorded, Liberian President, George Weah,  on May 29, 2019, stated in a nationwide speech that governor Nathaniel Patray, would retire honorably due to age.

President Weah: “The Executive Governor is scheduled for age-related mandatory retirement in the next three months. During that period, we will work to transition the Bank to a new management.

“This measure is intended to overhaul Central Bank of Liberia, and restore confidence in an institution that has been beset by scandals and is hampering efforts to deal with an economic crisis.”

The President’s comments came on the back of numerous scandals involving the Bank’s poor performance over the handling of the $25-million intended to revive the struggling economy with the mop-up of excess Liberian dollars liquidity.

It may further be recorded another inquiry by the USAID-backed Kroll report into the alleged disappearance of about $100 million in cash (16billion Liberian dollars ) that was printed abroad found out that while no money was missing, there were lapses in the accuracy and completeness of the central bank’s internal records.

The President than stated on July 18, 2019, that the reports point to a major lapse of controls at the CBL and “calls into question the ability of its present leadership to effectively revamp its internal mechanism to provide greater accountability and professionalism.”

Additional information available states that Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) is about to charge ten persons, including Governor Patray and Dr. Mounir Siaplay, Former Deputy Governor of Fraud, money laundering and violation of the Public Finance Management law. Detail comes our subsequent publication.