Minister Konneh has failed; He must be dismissed. By: Coleman J. Payne Cell #: 0776096133 Since the appointment of Amara Konneh as Minister of Finance, Liberia has experienced budget shortfalls for three successive budgetary periods. This situation has placed Liberia in a constraint position for not implementing its various projects in terms of reconstructing major roads, health facilities around the country, provision of electricity, education, water and sanitation, timely payment of government’s employees, etc,. With these lapses being demonstrated by the Minister of finance, any reasonable President would not allow such a minister to stay in power. Realistically speaking, Minister Konneh does not understand the dynamics and intricacies of Government Budgeting and financial Management. For me, any Minister who understands the intricacies of Government Budgeting and Financial Management, at this critical point in our country, such minister would formulate measures in consonance with what Government budgeting requires in order to make Liberia a middle income country, thereby reducing poverty, in such manner delivering basic social services to the people, and overall, the resources should been seen in the lives of the people. Two months ago, Minister Konneh had a press briefing at the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs, and Tourism, where he provided reasons behind our country budget shortfall, and two reasons he provided were that people or institutions were not timely paying their taxes, while others totally refused to pay. The issue of budget in a broader sense is about projection-what government expects to generate based on targeted sources-those individuals and institutions that are responsible to pay taxes, as well as donors. Critically speaking, his reason for budget shortfall is a mockery to our democracy and such man needs not occupy this well-paid position. In a contemporary society, a Finance Ministry must have an insight of budgeting in terms of controlling, monitoring, and evaluating. As a result of not implementing these three key elements of budgeting, our country has been experiencing budget shortfalls. Moreover, Minister Konneh and his lieutenants have not put in place strategic plans to ensure that the budgetary processes are being controlled, monitored and evaluated, so that the projected amounts are realized, and that government’s programs and projects are fully implemented. Minister Konneh and his lieutenants are not financially disciplined. Government budgeting calls for Financial Management-money collected must be properly managed and, must be used for its intended purpose. Continued Budget shortfalls under Minister Konneh leadership come as a result of being corrupt. What is happening at the Ministry of Finance is that Minister Konneh and his lieutenants at larger extend compromising in the collection of government’s revenues, and those taxpayers’ monies have been pocketed by them. Let us understand this- the national budget preferably called the “National Cake” is not intended to enrich one group of people-it is intended that the lives of the citizenry are improved. The national budget is for all, and all must equitably benefit, so that each must have asset to employment, health care, education, and overall, that people must meet their full potential in accordance with their needs and interests. Our country is aggressively going backward because for three successive periods of our national budgets, we have experienced budget shortfalls. Today, major government’s programs or projects are unsolved; government’s officials are not paid on time, government’s scholarships experiencing untimely tuition payment, while scholarships at some universities had closed, especially the Cuttington Graduate School; closure of major hospitals lack of medical equipment and manpower, etc. Looking at these critical problems confronting us, we cannot praise the Minister for seeing top government officials driving luxury cars, getting huge salaries, living in well-furnished homes, etc; but we want to see him (Min. Konneh) now dismissed or removed as Minister. We want to see an innovative Finance Minister, whose vision seeks to properly manage the public finances of the Republic of Liberia, so that our people can feel what is requires, “Sweet Land of Liberty Should Long Be Ours”.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Apr 2014 14:23:21 +0000
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