PHOTO: Participants pose for picture
Citizens’ Initiative for Dialogue (CID), a pro-democracy and human rights organization has ended a round of popularizing the Revenue Sharing Act of 2021 in Gbarpolu, Grand Bassa, Margibi, Bomi and Grand Cape Mount Counties with a call for citizens in these counties to take charge and demand the full implementation for the Local Government Act of 2018.
The Revenue Sharing Act of 2018 seeks to build equity in revenues annually transferred by the central government to local governments for undertaking development activities as well as for implementing devolved and delegated functions in furtherance of decentralization; provide equitable sharing of natural resource revenues between the Central Government and Local Governments, as well as between Local Governments and sub-local government units and create incentives that encourage Local Governments to be effective and efficient in tapping their own revenue mobilization potentials.
CID started the implementation of the project titled: “Enhancing Citizens Understanding of the Revenue Sharing Act through Civic Engagement” in April 2024 with the aim of assisting citizens in the project counties familiarize themselves with the Act and hold local authorities for the transparent and accountable utilization of resources generated for the benefit of the people and development of the counties. The engagements were done through town hall meetings, live radio talk shows and jingles on local radio stations in the target counties.
CID Executive Director, K. Boboh Kollie, during the separate engagements encouraged participants and citizens to take ownership of the Act’s implementation as it provided the surest opportunity for their counties to develop tapping on their own resources rather than looking up to international partners to always give them handouts.
The project was funded by the United Nations Development Program under the Liberia Decentralization Support Project (LDSP), and implemented in Bomi, Gbarpolu, Grand Bassa, Grand Cape Mount and Margibi and helped to increase citizens understanding of how revenues will be generated and shared between central government and local governments in support of the operation of the Local Government Act of 2018.
The Revenue Sharing Act is an amendment of the Public Financial Management Law (PFML) which stipulates that all revenues collected on behalf of the government of Liberia must be placed in a consolidated account at the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL). The amendment then gives power to local governments to raise their own revenues and also sets out formulas for the sharing of Natural Resource Revenues and Non-natural Resource Revenues collected by the central government of Liberia.
Participants at the different town hall meetings unanimously called for more awareness on the Local Government Act of 2018 and the Revenue Sharing Act of 2021 pleading with CID to reproduce and distribute copies of the Local Government Act of 2018, the 10 Year Implementation Plan of 2020 and the Revenue Sharing Act of 2022 to enable them constantly refresh their minds on the laws thereby serve as ambassadors in their respective communities and counties to teach other people about the laws.