President George Mannah Weah appears to be facing challenges from all fronts including the international community as his administration struggles to bring some relief to the crippling economy.
The latest is a warning from the United Nations System in Liberia to withhold funding for projects here if agencies of government continue to delay in submitting reports of the proper and prudent use of project resources committed to them.
In a letter dated April 25, 2019 addressed to the Minister of State, Mr. Nathaniel McGill, the UN Assistant Secretary General’s Resident Coordinator for Liberia, Mr. Yacoub El Hillo said several agencies of the UN System here have been faced with the challenge of getting timely and accurate reports from their government counterparts thereby delaying the implementation of essential services and advisory support to the people of Liberia.
In the letter in which the UN envoy request that Minister McGill pass the necessary directive to all government implementing partners to expeditiously resolve any outstanding obligations, Mr. El Hillo said the delay in compliance by the government could lead to “withholding of funding by our partners in for UN programmes in Liberia with all the attendant negative consequences.”
He said in the extreme situation where the cash advance modality is not being use correctly by implementing partners, the UN Agencies, Fund and Programmes may discontinue and revert to Direct Implementation Modality (DIM).
The UN System according to Yacoub’s letter, migrated from the Direct Implementation Modality (DIM), to National Implementation Modality (NIM) to strengthen national ownership and accountability for development result under the Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfers (HACT).
Under the NIM it is expected that implementing partners assume full responsibility for effective use of the resources advanced to them and for reporting fairly and accountably on project progress against agreed work plans in accordance with reporting schedule.
But it appears that the Coalition for Democratic Change or CDC Government is delaying in ensuring that these reports are deliver in a timely fashion, something which has forced the UN Resident Coordinator to seek Minister McGill’s intervention.
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“In the last few months, several agencies have experienced challenges in getting timely and accurate reports from their government counterparts thereby delaying implementation of essential services and advisory support to the people of Liberia,” El Hillo wrote.By Othello B. Garblah
