Monrovia- The Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) and the Liberia Institute of Public Administration (LIPA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) aimed at enhancing the skills of 221 staff members at the MFDP..

This partnership will provide training in customer service for 175 staff members and safety training for 46 drivers.

Speaking on behalf of Finance and Development Planning Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, Deputy Finance Minister for Administration Bill McGill Jones emphasized the initiative’s alignment with President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s vision of using the country system to empower Liberians to take ownership of their development and drive positive change within the country.

 “This ceremony highlights the importance of on-the-job training for staff, which has a greater impact on the ever-changing work environment,” he stated.

Citing Section 43 of the Government of Liberia Human Resources Manual, Hon. Jones noted the obligation of Ministries, Agencies, and Commissions (MACs) to provide necessary training for their employees. 

He encouraged each agency to designate a representative to oversee the implementation of training programs in collaboration with LIPA.

Hon. Jones stressed that the training is more than a routine task; it is an opportunity for employees to gain valuable knowledge and skills that will enhance their effectiveness in fulfilling government processes and goals.

 “This opportunity is intended to equip our employees with relevant tools and techniques on the job to increase productivity and performance,” he said.

The Deputy Minister reaffirmed the government’s commitment to investing in its workforce across various MACs to cultivate specialized skills. He expressed gratitude to LIPA for their support in bridging the training gap. Hon. Jones urged employees to view the training as vital preparation for the challenges ahead. 

“To our employees, please see this opportunity as a way of preparing you for the next biggest task ahead of you, he asserted. 

For his part, the Director General of the Liberia Institute of Public Administration (LIPA), Hon. Nee-A-lah Varpilah, stated that LIPA is fully committed to all the deliverables outlined in the agreement. 

He expressed his excitement that the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning recognizes the importance of enhancing capacity across the government in order to achieve its goals, starting with training of personnel at the lower levels of the civil service.

 Hon. Varpilah emphasized that LIPA will be a steadfast partner in implementing the memorandum of understanding between the two government agencies.

Monrovia – A report by the General Auditing Commission (GAC) has uncovered several financial discrepancies at the Liberia Institute for Public Administration (LIPA).

Report by Henry Karmo henry.karmo@frontpageafricaonline.com

The discrepancies, according to GAC include “Undisclosed Bank Account and Reconciliation, Payments without Adequate Supporting Documentation and Payments to Third Party,” amongst others.  

In the report, which covered the auditing period, auditors reported that during the conduct of the audit, the management of LIPA failed to disclose summary of cash balance in its Eco-bank Account (001014700378801) titled Liberia Institute of Public Administration (LIPA). 

Auditors wrote: “The balance per the bank statement at June 30, 2013 was US$96.85. Further, there were many inaccuracies observed on the bank reconciliation statements prepared by the LIPA Management.” 

The request by GAC for the presentation of bank reconciliation statements did not state reconciliation for only active accounts. 

The GAC argued in its report that it is standard financial management requirement to prepare reconciliation for both active and inactive bank accounts as their combined closing balances at the close of the fiscal period should constitute the actual cash balance of the entity. 

“The undisclosed Eco-bank account was obtained by the GAC through confirmation letters issued to various banks requesting banking information of LIPA. There were no bank reconciliation statements prepared for this account and its closing balance was not included in the cash balance at the close of the fiscal period 2013/2014.” 

According to the GAC report, LIPA management’s assertion that the undisclosed account reported in the GAC report is “not correct” cannot be materially supported.  This account mentioned in the audit report was obtained directly from the bank through the GAC confirmation procedure.    

The report also accused LIPA management of failing to address the inaccuracies between its bank reconciliation statements and its cash book. Therefore, the LIPA management is in breach of Regulation A. 20 of the PFM Act of 2009.

It was observed during the conduct of the audit that payment made for various items in the amount of US$11,315.00 and L$371,913.00 were without adequate support documentation. 

The report is recommending that LIPA management provides the necessary supporting documents for the purchase of items and that in the absence of the response by management, management is in breach of Regulation A.20. of the PFM Act of 2009. 

It was also observed during the conduct of the audit that the LIPA Management made payments to several employees amounting to US$14,358.00 for daily subsistence and incidental allowances for foreign and domestic travels without evidence that these allowances were retired and/or accounted for.   

Also, it was observed that the LIPA management did not obtain at least three quotations required to purchase air tickets for travels in compliance with the PPCC Act of 2010. 

It is being recommended in the report that in the absence of retirement of travel advances; the entire amount should be recovered from those who failed to submit their travel settlement forms. For those who have left LIPA, the entity should also recover the amount from them in line with the travel ordinance.  

It was observed during the conduct of the audit that the LIPA management made multiple payments amounting to US$54,238.00 to several individuals and/or employees of the entity rather than the service providers. 

It was also observed during the conduct of the audit that the LIPA Management did not prepare and present financial statements in accordance with the Cash Basis International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), standards as adopted by the Government of Liberia.   

It was observed during the conduct of the audit that the LIPA management wrote and issued checks to vendors out of numerical sequence. 

Twenty-five checks were missing from the numerical sequence of checks recorded in the entity’s cashbook for the period audited. Further, there was no evidence that checks written out of sequence were canceled and/or voided by the LIPA management. Copies of the missing checks were requested but were not provided. 

In the audit, LIPA management is being accused of not having a policy on petty cash and therefore, was subjected to the GOL’s Petty Cash Threshold as established by the amended and restated PFM Act.  

Multiple petty cash replenishment requests exceeded the required threshold of US$200.00 monthly and management failed to provide the petty cash replenishment report with the supporting transactions details.

Monrovia – The General Auditing Commission (GAC) has referred the Director General of the Liberia Institute of Public Administration (LIPA), Oblayon B. Nyemah and key members of the senior management team to the Liberia Anti-Corruption (LACC) for further investigation over transactions observed in an undisclosed account obtained through confirmation request submitted to International Bank Liberia LTD. 

Report by Gerald C. Koinyeneh – gerald.koinyeneh@frontpageafricaonline.com

According to the GAC audit report which covers the fiscal years 2012/2013 to 2015/2016 recently released to the National Legislature, LIPA Management did not disclose the International Bank Account to the GAC during the audit; which it noted that the entity carried out several transactions in this account. 

The LIPA Management admitted to the GAC finding that it takes note of the “inadvertent lapse on the disclosure of the Account Title: Liberia Institution of Public Administration Account”.  

But the GAC countered that “LIPA Management assertion that its failure to disclose its International Bank (Liberia) Limited Account titled Liberian Institute of Public Administration instead of the Liberia Institute of Public Administration was an inadvertent lapse and cannot be supported.  

The GAC said a sample analysis of transactions from the account shows that a total amount of US$80,725 was paid to Mr. Beford Quie, a staff at LIPA; while it also discovered that most transactions in this IB Bank account were not recorded in the cashbook of LIPA. 

The audit further observed that the Liberia Institute of Public Administration made payment for various items in the amount of US$58,797 and LD$490,293 without adequate support documentation. 

The GAC audit also noted that the LIPA Management made payments to several employees amounting to US$40,872 for daily subsistence and incidental allowances for foreign and domestic travels without evidence that these allowances were retired or accounted for; while also revealing that LIPA management made multiple payments amounting to US$118,063 to several individuals or employees of the entity, rather than the service providers of the goods and services to LIPA. 

The audit further noted the LIPA Management made payments in the name of  former and current employees who overstayed their leave but still maintained on the payroll amounting to LD$966,434, while US$13,379.00 payment was made for honorarium to employees and internal facilitators without evidence of a formal policy. 

The GAC concluded that the activities and financial transactions of the Liberia Institute of Public Administration are not that in compliance, in all material respects, with stated laws and regulations. 

“The LIPA Management did not maintain fixed assets registry that would show a list of coded assets, date of purchase, cost, location, assignee and current condition.”

“Due to the absence of fixed assets listing that meets the requirement of the PFM Act; we were unable to obtain reasonable assurance as to the accuracy and completeness of the assets owned by LIPA,” the GAC said. 

Despite the establishment of several anti-graft agencies to help curb corruption in public places, there continues to be reports of massive corruption in the Ellen Johnson led Government.