The Officer-In-Charge of the Governance Commission, Commissioner Elizabeth Dorkin, has called on all institutions, including government offices involved in the management of the extractive industry to fully comply with regulations setup to promote transparency and accountability in the governance of the sector.
Compliance to LEITI regulatory framework brings several benefits to government and its people especially, revenues generation which support development and management of the environment. Compliance is also translated in good governance behaviors, which is key in the management of the Liberia extractive industries and support efforts to enhance national development.
Addressing a recent policy dialogue in Monrovia on Promoting Transparency and Accountability in the Management of Extractive Industries to Enhance National Development in Liberia the OIC stressed that the Governance Commission is Liberia’s premium policy making institution, established by Legislative Act with mandates to promote good governance by advising, designing and formulating appropriate policies and institutional arrangements and frameworks required for achieving good governance.
The Commission will therefore, in keeping with its mandate continue to engage all relevant institutions and stakeholders to adhere to good governance principles aimed at improving the EITI governance system.
She said, the just-ended dialogue centered on existing governance frameworks and how the extractive institutions can be further strengthened to ensure transparency and good governance in the management of the industries and to boost more revenues for development.
She expressed profound thanks and appreciation on behalf of the Governance Commission to stakeholders in the extractive industries, government and non-government actors as well as international partners, and the general public for their turnout and encouraged all to continue the policy engagement processes, noting the dialogue is the beginning of a new policy initiative towards improving Liberia’s EITI framework that covers the mining, timber, agriculture, oil and gas sectors.
She said, the commission is highly impressed with the level of cooperation received in identifying the problems faced by the extractive industry. According to the Commissioner, the various presenters outlined numbers of policy and management problems that the commission is going to emphasize in its policy recommendation to government to improve the overall governance system of the sector.
Liberia joined the EITI regime in 2008, becoming its 14th member. The EITI, is the global standard to promote an open and accountable management of natural resources. This framework is guided by EITI standard and requires the disclosure of information along the extractive industry value chain from the point of extraction, to how revenue makes its way through the government and how it contributes to the economy and benefits the public.
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Article 4(b) of the LEITI Act of 2009, requires all extractive companies, Government’s ministries and agencies to disclose, at least once every year, the data of all payments made and revenues received relating to the extraction of Liberia’s forest and mineral resources. By doing so, the EITI seeks to strengthen public and corporate governance, promote understanding of natural resource management.
The Commissioner also disclosed that the commission is making all efforts in the near future to hold a policy dialogue on substance abuse and its implications on the country’s youthful population. The dialogue will bring relevant stakeholders together to study cause(s) of drug abuse and proffer workable recommendations through policy measures to government to find a lasting solution.
