As GOL Ends 3-DAY Cabinet Retreat, President Boakai Establishes National Steering Committee for the National Development Agenda
The Government of Liberia, over the weekend, ended a 3-Day Cabinet Retreat, with the establishment of a National Steering Committee to guide the drafting and implementation of Liberia’s new Five-Year Development Plan, the ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development.
The steering committee is co-headed by President Joseph Nyumah Boakai, Sr., and Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung. The Committee will be co-chaired by the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System in Liberia, Christine N. Umutoni while Finance and Development Planning Minister Boima Kamara will serve as Secretary. Other members include the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Agriculture, Public Works, Justice, Health, Commerce, and Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism. The civil society of Liberia will also form part of the Steering Committee as well as the Liberia Business Association and members of the private sector.
President Boakai also announced four additional committees, the National Coordination Committee headed by Finance Minister Boima Kamara, the Technical Coordination Committee headed by the Assistant Minister for Development Planning at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Wellington Barchue, the Inter-Sectoral Coordination Committee comprising 11 sectoral working groups, and the County Facilitation Committee which will be comprised of officers of the 15 counties.
The Three-Day Retreat which began on Thursday, May 23rd, brought together Cabinet Ministers, their deputies and assistants, leaders of state-owned enterprises, commissions, public corporations among others. Also in attendance were Liberia’s development partners, including the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the World Bank, the European Union, the United Nations system in Liberia, the African Development Bank and the United States Government.
The Cabinet Retreat which is the first under the administration of President Boakai witnessed presentations of various action plans, and updates on activities that Ministers and Heads of Agencies have been able to accomplish during the first 100 days of the administration.
Notable among those was the fulfilment of the President’s pledge that “no car will get stuck in the mud” during the first 100 days. This action was accomplished by the Ministry of Public Works. Piped-borne water was restored to Monrovia, the capital at the start of the retreat on Thursday, May 23rd; an action accomplished by the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation.
The Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) acknowledged the challenge associated with power supply in the country but noted that it is due to the fact that demand for power is outpacing investment in the sector. Acting Chief Executive Officer Monie Captan indicated that plans are underway to expand the capacity at the Mount Coffee Hydro to 148 megawatts and to also install solar farms. These actions, LEC indicated, will be accomplished during President Boakai’s administration.
The Ministry of Public Works made a similar commitment to pave the major corridors across the country during the next six years. The Head of the President’s Delivery Unit at the Ministry of State, Mamaka Bility, disclosed that 285 pieces of earth-moving equipment will be secured to enhance the government’s road program, which includes the reconstruction of roads, and the creation of maintenance zones across the fifteen counties. This initiative will replicate the Government’s pre-war nationwide road maintenance strategy that ensured the availability of earth-moving equipment in each county. The zones will ensure that the country’s major road corridors are accessible and pliable in all seasons.