Monrovia – President George Manneh Weah put an end to series of speculations over who would be the next Director General of the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) when he appointed Thomas Doe Nah to fill the gap after the tenure of Elfreda Stewart Tamba expired this year.
Report by Gerald C. Koinyeneh, [email protected]
While many touted current Montserrado County Representative Dixon Seibo as a possible replacement of Madam Tamba, President Weah opted to nominate Mr. Doe-Nah, who has spent many years working in the civil society sector advocating for good governance and transparency in Liberia, to head the nucleus of the Liberian economy, the LRA.
But who is Doe Nah?
Here, FrontPage Africa takes a deep look at his profile.
Thomas Doe Nah is a 2016 graduate of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University with a Master degree in Public Administration (MPA). He is also a Fellow at the Edward S. Mason Program in Public Policy and Management and the Kistefos African Public Service.
He also holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree from the University of Liberia in Accounting and Economics.
Additionally, he holds Certificate of Achievement from several renowned institution in Economics, Banking and Commerce.
Some include the Foreign Service Institute, George Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training, United States Department, Training in Foundation BANKMASTER Banking Software, Kindle Banking System and Fighting corruption through Action in today’s Competitive Marketplace, Work Bank Institute Executive Development Program.
Nah is a highly motivated, team-oriented and proven civil society leader and advocate for good governance and transparency in Liberia.
He has more than fifteen years of work experience in civil society, commercial banking and analyzing the economic and commercial transactional issues in the political economy of Liberia for the United States Government.
He is also a leading contributor to the passage of critical legislation that has enhanced accountability in key public sector areas including public procurement, budget formulation and execution, natural resource governance and education and a facilitator of capacity building programs that contributed to enhancing access to information in the Justice and Security sectors.
He is well known for his work at the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL), where he served as Executive Director for eight years from 2008 to 2016 before taking up a new role at The Carter Center (TCC) Access to Information Program, serving as program Lead from 2016 up to present.
At CENTAL, he served as Chief Spokesperson for CENTAL on organizational and national issues and directed administrative, programming and fundraising operations.
His high marks were the establishments of links with key international stakeholders including the World Bank, United Nations, International Monetary Fund (IMF), African Development Bank (AFDB) and United States Agency for International Development.
In addition, he Initiated and managed projects that have enhanced accountability, and improved governance outcomes in education, natural resources, open government, poverty and corruption, police corruption, procurement, and urban sanitation. He also translated global initiatives promoted by Transparency International (TI) into locally acceptable programs and represented CENTAL at international conferences and forums and ensured that information about CENTAL’s work is more broadly shared.
At Carter Center, he headed the Access to Information (ATI) and Access to Justice (ATJ) programs. Some of his responsibilities were providing overall leadership to ATI and ATJ, serving as the representatives of the Peace Programs in Liberia with the responsibility to manage relationships with government ministries, donors, NGOs, UN agencies and other partners.
He represented The Carter Center (TCC) in Liberia with national and international media and Manage communications through the ATJ Executive Management Committee and as ATI Program Lead. He also monitored sub-grants and capacity building for local partners, particularly responsible for the oversight of TCC’s sub-grant with the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (JPC).
He also managed the general operations of projects consistent with TCC policies and donor guidelines and oversaw security and safety of Liberia staff, including MHP, in coordination with the Office of International Support (OIS) at TCC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
While serving as CENTAL boss, he also served as National Coordinator of the Coalition for Transparency and Accountability in Education (COTAE), the leading civil society coalition in the education sector between 2012 and 2016.
In that position, he among other things coordinated and provided technical support to COTAE, designed programs and projects in concert with regional coordinators and coalition members for the improvement of governance in the education sector.
Other portfolios include Economic and Commercial Assistant, Embassy of the United States of America accredited near Monrovia (from 2005-2008) where he among other things assisted and advised the Economic and Commercial Counselor and officers in dealings with government officials, business associations and non-governmental organization, contributed to enabling business environment to deregulate trade and attract US investors, supported US Government experts and programs in re-establishing good governance Economic Governance Management Program (GEMAP).
He also facilitated interactions between US and Liberian businesses to improve partnerships and garner interests for procurement of US goods and services and drafted commercial guides, economic climate statements and doing business guides.
The New LRA Director-General designate has also worked in the banking sector between 1997 to 2005 with stint at the International Bank Limited, serving as Vice President, MoneyGram Operations and Member Bank Loan Committee and Assistant Vice President for Operations IB Bank, and the Liberia Bank for Investment and Development (LBDI), as Loan Analyst-Portfolio Administration Section (PAS) from 1997 to 2002.