Monrovia – In the midst of rapid depreciation of the Liberia dollars against the United States dollars, Rep Edwin Melvin Snowe (Bomi, Dist. #1) has called for a total involvement of every Liberian in solving the problem.
Report by Gerald C. Koinyeneh, [email protected]
The situation has led to the continuous increase in prices of commodities on the Liberian market, leading to a public outcry.
Rep. Snowe, a stalwart of the opposition Unity Party said in these ‘tough times’ it is prudent for leaders to put partisanship aside and form a united front in addressing the situation.
“I can say to you that as a ranking member of the opposition block, our economy is in a challenging state. These are tough times on our economy. And this not unique to Liberia,” he said.
“We need to call an economic forum. Economic scholars of our country must get together and look for solution. This is not about a political party anymore. We are out of campaign mood now. If this government fails, Edwin Snowe fails, Unity Party fails, CDC fails, Liberty Party fails, and Liberia fails. If it succeeds, we all succeed,” Snow told a group of Legislative reporters at the Capitol.
Speaking further, he called on President George M. Weah to ‘look outside of the box and bring on board’ qualified Liberians to sit at the round table and discuss the way forward.
He noted that there was a need to strengthen the information arm of government to furnish the general populace with needed information on the issue and called on policymakers to take some drastic measures to address the situation.
Said Rep. Snow: “I just want to encourage the President and his cabinet for us to look outside of the box. Let’s bring qualified people on board, whether from opposition or not.”
“Let’s have a roundtable conference and let us now strengthen our information arm so that the people out there will know that it is not only in Liberia we are experiencing these things.”
“This is a very popular government, the people voted for this government and love the government, but the government must take some drastic decisions that people may not necessarily like but in the end, we all will benefit from the decision.”
Plenary Steps in the debate
Meanwhile the ‘unprecedented and continuous depreciation of the Liberia Dollars’ has claimed the attention of the plenary of the House of Representatives.
The House’s Committee on Banking and Currency following investigations on the continuous depreciation of the Liberian dollars recommended that the Economic Management Committee (EMT) meets with the President of Liberia to find a solution in managing the exchange rate and put in other measures to mitigate ‘worsening of the situation’.
The Committee further recommended that the Central Bank of Liberia, after meeting with the EMT and the President, should appear before the full plenary to give updates on the issues with the relevant proposed solutions and reassure the plenary of measures that will avoid the recurrence of the matter.
The committee’s investigation was triggered by Montserrado County District #2 Representative, retired Lt. Colonel Jimmy W. Smith, craving the indulgence of his colleagues to invite authorities of the Central Bank of Liberia and the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning to plenary to give reason for the “unprecedented daily increment in the exchange rate and to also state what they are doing to stabilize it.”
