Liberia: LINA Workers Petition Legislature Over ‘Missing’ US$700K, Non-Functional Website, Operational Collapse

Monrovia  — Concerned employees of the state-owned Liberia News Agency (LINA) have petitioned the Liberian Legislature, raising alarm over what they described as severe institutional stagnation, unutilized budgetary allocations exceeding US$700,000, and the near-collapse of the agency’s operations.

The petition, presented on December 11 to members of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Information, Broadcasting and Communications, outlines a series of critical challenges that workers say have crippled LINA over the past two years.

According to the employees, despite budgetary allocations and transfers totaling more than US$700,000 in the 2024 and 2025 national budgets, the agency has seen little to no improvement in operations, infrastructure, or staff welfare.

“As the central news collection arm of the state, LINA has suffered serious stagnation due to the lack of resources for management to effectively run the institution,” the petition states.

The workers questioned the status and utilization of the allocated funds, noting that the lack of spending has directly affected core functions, including news gathering and dissemination.

Among the most pressing concerns highlighted is LINA’s non-functional website, which has reportedly been offline for nearly two years. Employees blamed the situation on the Ministry of Information’s refusal to allocate funds for its restoration, describing it as an embarrassment for a national news agency.

“LINA is the only news agency in the African region, probably in the world, without a website,” the workers said, warning that the situation severely limits the agency’s reach and relevance in the digital era.

The petition also cites widespread operational challenges, including the absence of essential equipment, limited training opportunities, and inadequate welfare support for staff.

In addition, the workers called for an immediate audit by the General Auditing Commission (GAC) into the handling of LINA’s 2024 and 2025 budgetary transfers by the Ministry of Information, seeking clarity on how the funds were managed.

Addressing what they described as politicization of the agency, the employees emphasized that LINA workers are civil servants who operate strictly under the agency’s editorial mandate. They cautioned Information Minister Jerolinmek M. Piah against making broad statements that portray LINA staff as collaborators of a past regime.

“We cannot be held liable for the actions of past governments or previous leadership of the agency,” the petition states. “All we want is to do our jobs without being dragged into political narratives.”

In closing, the workers appealed to senators and representatives to intervene and help establish what happened to LINA’s 2024 and 2025 budget allocations, which they say amount to nearly one million U.S. dollars.

The petition was signed by “Concerned LINA Employees,” who expressed appreciation to the Legislature for receiving their complaint and urged a swift response to restore the state-owned news agency to full functionality.

As of publication time, the Ministry of Information had not issued an official response to the employee’s claims. 

The Liberia News Agency is Liberia’s official state-owned news institution, established to serve as the central news-gathering and dissemination arm of the Government of Liberia. It was founded in 1978 during the administration of President William R. Tolbert Jr., with the mandate to provide accurate, timely, and nationally representative news coverage across the country.

LINA was created to ensure that government activities, national development programs, and public interest information reach both domestic and international audiences, while also giving voice to communities in Liberia’s counties that are often underserved by private media.