Monrovia – Cllr. Negbalee Warner, Dean of the Louis Arthur Grimes School of law, says though progress relating to transparency are excellent, the suceas is yet to be translated to practical benefits to impact the lives of Liberians.
Report by Bettie K. Johnson-Mbayo, [email protected]
Warner said Liberia has reached the stage where they do not only make strive in sectorial transparency but now amount to one of the few countries that have the freedom of information as a statutory right.
“Budget transparency, freedom of information act, the extractive industry transparency act, and many other transparency regimes have come but it appears that (what) they have all desire are belated,” Cllr. Warner.
Cllr. Warner spoke at the launch of an online portal making national budget information implemented by Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL) supported by USAID/ Internews.
He hailed the mechanism of achieving the information that has been shared and actions taken by civil society leaders with the mind of society to act on information received as factors affecting transparency in the country.
“Transparency is not an end in itself, but it leads to an end.”
Cllr. Warner said Liberia has little progress but the dissemination of information is still a challenge, adding that in time past the issue of transparency was not as compare today.
Cllr. Warner said Liberia is now moving “more and more to focusing on persuading or realizing the promise of transparency”.
“Like many countries, specifically for the case of Liberia public information, that considered so important and so much of a high nature that ordinary citizens were not trusted with it. But we have had a conversation on that and so where in less than two decades we have come to a stage where transparency is fairly achieved in our society.
“We have difficulty in physical transparency, procurement transparency, transparency in every sector. With the help of our donor’ partners and largely civil society advocacy of which CENTAL is the head it is gradually improving,” said Cllr. Warner.
He said the launch of the portal will improve open governance, inform citizen to be able to judge the government.
Cllr. Warner added that the public needs information to decide on what is allocated in the budget and how it is or was spent.
“Contract transparency is one thing that we still struggle to get clear.”
”Today we have many of the contracts that government signed online yet but not much adequate comparison or ground of advocacy that is been done around this.”
Cllr. Warner said the portal will show a comparative view on budget figures.
CENTAL program Manager Gerald Yeakula said the launch of the portal will enable citizens to have access on budget-related issues.
He said the portal will have information and analysis of the budget to helps citizens.
Yeakula added that the portal has a budget process, community projects and budget stories published by media entities which according to him will benefit citizens.
The program was on the theme “Tracking Public Funds to ensure greater Accountability and Citizen Participation”
Meanwhile, Emily Krunic, USAID Democracy and Governance Office Director said the Open Budget Index explains transparency and inclusive budget process.
She said it is now seen as essential to facilitating investment, ensuring efficient outcomes, and holding government accountable for managing public resources
According to her, the report indicated that the current system in Liberia is particularly weak in providing the public with opportunities to engage the budget process.
She said the analysis was supported in a recent poll conducted by USAID partner Geo-Pol through the Liberia Accountability and Voice Initiative. Among a host of potential issues, respondents selected “budget transparency” as a major concern – even greater than security.
“Specifically, respondents felt that the Government of Liberia and civil society organizations did not support transparent, participatory processes in making budgetary decisions.”
Krunic said the portal is to assist the Government of Liberia and Civil Society partners to strengthen the process, “USAID has been working with Internews to improve access to and analysis of budget practices and expenditures at the national level through the “Liberia Media Budget Monitoring for Accountability” activity.”
According to her the activity has helped media entities to effectively report and strengthened their capacity.
“At the local level, focus has been on concessions agreements and their fiscal effects, particularly since concessionaires contribute to Social Development Funds.”
She said through increasing the availability of information to the public and encouraging greater transparency and accountability in the budget process, Liberia’s institutions will be better positioned to drive more inclusive economic growth, reduce poverty, and consolidate peace and democratic values.