Monrovia – The Liberian Senate is eager to get financial independence, something the body says will allow them effectively discharge their statutory responsibility without bottlenecks from the Executive in terms of the disbursement of funds allotted them in the national budget.
Report by: Alpha Daffae Senkpeni, [email protected]
The Senate is expected to hear a motion of reconsideration for the passage of the bill today despite criticisms from fraction of the Liberian public.
Bong County Senator Jewel Taylor submitted the bill entitled, “An Act Granting Financial Autonomy to the Legislature,” seeking to give financial autonomy to the National Legislature. When ratified, the bill will grant the Legislature an authority similar to that of the Executive and Judiciary branches of government.
The Senate ad-hoc committee responsible to lead the senate to making the decision is headed by Senator Joseph Nagbe (Sinoe County) with two other members including Grand Bassa County Senator, Jonathan L. Kaipay and Bong County’s Jewel Howard-Taylor – the crafter of the bill. The committee has submitted its report to plenary.
Speaking to FrontPageAfrica Wednesday, the Grand Bassa Senator justified that the bill seeks to promote and practicalize accountability at the senate considering constant calls by members of the public for the Liberian Senate to be audited and he insists that the senate is capable of managing its own finances.
Senator Kaipay argues that the senate’s funds are expended on their behalf by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning which makes it difficult for the senate to be audited holistically but he hinted that the body may be partially audited.
“Amidst all of these things, I think for us to be audited is to create the spirit of independence,” Senator Kaipay said, adding, “I think the act is clear about abiding by the PPCC regulations, the different auditing standards and financial procedurals as enshrined in the different financial laws other legal financial instruments.”
He continued: “What we seek to achieve in this bill is to ensure that by the passage of this act we will now put the structure in place to carry out our financial transactions.”
Currently, the Liberian Senate lacks the financial framework to effectively run its own fiscal dealings and relies on its Ways, Means and Finance Committee to provide oversight for monetary activities for the body.
Senator Kaipay says what is anticipated is that the aforementioned committee will continue its oversight responsibility if the bill is passed.
The Senate budget is around US$12 million per fiscal year but with the passage of the pending financial autonomy act, Kaipay says it is expedient that the body opts for strengthening its financial structure before the autonomy comes into play by the next fiscal year.
“There’s need to create an administration wing or department to handle the finances, so if we have such department then it needs to be strengthened, because the task that is about to be assigned to that unit was not assigned before and there’s a need to ensure that if there’s one, we need to access their capacity and do in service training to build their capacity to ensure they effect the different functions of a financial unit,” explained Sen. Kaipay.
He is confident that initiating such system will put in place the right mechanism for regular audits, stressing that it will be more appropriate to ensure the financial structure is up and running before the bill takes effect in other to avoid lapses and flaws.
The Liberian Senate is under pressure from the public following allegations of bridging the public procurement regulations in the purchase of their vehicles which prompted the PPCC to insist that the government will not pay for the cars.
Responding to the dissenting public opinions about the bill, Senator Kaipay said lawmakers will have to explain to their constituents the relevance of the law especially before it takes effect, adding that public perception comes from the background that the senate has not been audited but he maintained that most of the body’s expenditure is done by the Executive through the MOFDP.
On the other hand, observers say, the senators are seeking the financial independence to limit the Executive leverage on them as frequent delays in disbursing their salaries and incentives impede their regular functions while another source told FPA that the Executive branch often strangulates the lawmakers when there are controversial issues emulating between the two branches of government.
Like the Judiciary which enjoys financial autonomy, the Liberty Party Senator is confident that the bill will further fortify the separation of power amongst the three branches of government as provided by the Liberian constitution but he clarified that financial independence will not thwart the coordination amongst the three branches.
“I think we are also credible enough to be able to manage our resources and give us the opportunity to be audited annually which will be an instrument that the Liberian people can measure us by because if we are not audited it will means that we are hiding something,” he said.