Liberia, some argue, is not a poor country but a country that is poorly managed. The level of truism to this statement is difficult to dispute. We have diamond, gold, timber, rubber, rich fish stocks in our territorial waters, fertile land for agriculture and potential hydro carbon reserves offshore. Yet, we are one of the 48 Least Developed Countries in the World. Poverty has continued to be the lot of the majority of the citizens. And the root cause of such is bad leadership manifested in decades of bad Governance.
One of such bad governance practices is the perennial practice of the Government of Liberia leasing of private properties as offices. And most tragic is the fact that despite the fabulous annual rent being paid by GOL, these premises are not representative enough as offices, and by extension, serious for business. A look at the Ministry of Education, EPA, Governance Commission, Liberia Maritime Authority, for examples, shows the pathetic state of Government Office Accommodation.
While there has been some efforts by the a few past Governments to address this issue, like the Ministerial Complex and Ministry of Health in Congo Town, the Weah’s Government needs to issue a strong policy directive for ownership of properties by Ministries as to being tenants. As a matter of priority, all Ministries that may not be housed in the new Ministerial complex, should initiate measures within the next 24-36 months to own their own properties starting with the purchase of land, office plan designs, etc to construction.
Equally important is the Government should stop renting from itself as in the case of Liberia Revenue Authority renting from the National Social Security and Welfare Corporation. Let every Agency be a its own tenant. The huge savings to be realised from such policies could be directed to other development needs.
Such a policy direction will be a break from some of the bad governance practices that have kept the country backwards, and therefore moving away from some of the bad governance practices that led people to label Liberia as ” a country that is not poor, but poorly managed”.