MONROVIA – When Sirleaf Ralph Tyler, Liberia’s new Minister of Transport took over the helm of the ministry following his official induction ceremony, he publicly vowed to ensure that all vehicles, tricycle and motorbikes will be registered and insured.
He said: “Under my administration, all vehicles including a moving train will be registered and duly insured under the Compulsory Third Party Liability Insurance Scheme as provided by law.”
However, with three weeks into the exercise, vehicle owners have expressed utter dismay and frustration over the slow pace of the exercise. According to some, it has been more than two weeks since they paid for license, Vehicle plates and vehicle renewal stickers, but they are yet to receive them. Yet, they are made to go to the ministry every day.
“Nobody is saying anything to us. We don’t know what is happening. We paid for our documents but the ministry is delaying in releasing them. On the other hand, Police officers are arresting our cars due to expiration,” said David Sumo, one of the registrants.
Sumo is one of hundreds of people who troop to the Ministry of Transport every day for their processed documents and materials including driver’s license, vehicle renewal and new or upgraded license plates. We are made to stand in queues for hours just to be told that the document has not come down,” Sumo added. When they are told documents have not come down, this means their items are not yet ready. They are still being processed upstairs.
Another vehicle owner added: “This is not fair. With all the big promises, we expected this to be well organized. But what we see here is a disorganized procedure.”
They blamed the ministry for the “snail pace” employed by the Ministry of Transport in giving out Driver’s license, vehicle registration certificate and plates.
In mid-April, the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Transport commenced the inspection and registration compliance enforcement exercise across the country.
The induction program of the new minister, who served in the capacity as Deputy Minister for Administration and Insurance for 6 years under the George M. Weah’s Administration was attended by scores of high-ranking officials of government and representatives of key national stakeholders, including members of the International Community
The Ministry under Minister Tyler, who served as Deputy Minister for Administration and Insurance for six years had earlier informed the public that in order to decentralized the exercise, it would be carried out at service centers across major cities including KaKata, Margibi County, Ganta, Nimba County, Buchana, Grand Bassa County, Gbarnga, Bong Country and Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County.
In addition to the Ministry of Transport, the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ministerial Complex in Congo Town, Monrovia was designated as another venue.
The Ministry says it is committed to ensuring the process is smoothly implemented. Earlier, Minister Tyler said he and his team inherited an institution that was engulfed with systematic malfunction, mismanagement of the human resource management system, coupled with insufficient logistics and unaccountability of the Ministry’s assets registry. In addition, he said constant interruption of power supply, unavailability of internet at times, and lack of conducive environment, amongst others.
Besides, the minister disclosed that the two major fire disasters that occurred at the Ministry the last six years affected it to some extent.