The Association of Liberian Journalists in the Americas (ALJA) urges the Liberian Legislature to unanimously reject President George Manneh Weah’s recent request to print 35 billion new Liberian banknotes.
The government had made the request to replace the current Liberian currency in circulation. The request forms part of reported efforts by the Weah administration to revive the ailing economy.
However, ALJA says the proposal should be thrown out by the legislature because it is not in the national interest.
The Association notes the Weah administration lacks fiscal discipline and has failed to lay out a clear strategy for reviving the country’s struggling economy.ALJA says the government’s past actions, relative to the economy, do not engender any confidence that the 35 billion dollars, if approved, will not be misappropriated.
A press release quotes the Association’s National Leadership as saying the Liberian economy is currently challenged by hyper infliction as a result of the Weah administration’s failure to properly manage and account for the
country’s finances since it assumed the leadership of the country.
ALJA says it would be foolhardy for the legislature to grant President Weah’s request for the introduction of a new currency on the Liberian market while the Central Bank of Liberia and the Technical Economic Management Team(TEMT) chair by Liberia’s Finance and Development Planning Minister, Samuel Tweah, are yet to accurately account for the
16 billion Liberian dollars printed by the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf administration; and the US 25 million dollars, which the CDC government claimed to have infused into the Liberian economy for a
reported mop-up exercise.
ALJA also asserts that despite three audit reports compiled by the US based auditing firm, Kroll International, the Presidential Investigative Team(PIT) and the General Auditing Commission(GAC), which unraveled profound discrepancies that marked the implementation of the US$ 25 million dollars mop-up exercise, President Weah is yet to take any
concrete action that would ensure accountability in how the so-called mop-up exercise was executed; and how the 16 billion Liberian dollars was spent.
It says the printing of a new currency as requested by President Weah in the wake of the cited fiscal challenges would further compound the problem of excess liquidity on the Liberian market.
The Association maintains implementation of the President’s proposal for the printing of a new currency would further deepen Liberia’s economic woes; and create more hardship for Liberians both at home and abroad. Press Release
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