By Mohammed M. Bamba, Jr
I have read the communication submitted by Honorable Jeremiah Sokan Sr of Grand Gedeh District 1 seeking to amend section 2.2(e&f) of the local government act of 2018 . The reason outline in his quest is according to him the “the county legislative caucus are excluded from exercising its oversight responsibility which he believes undermines the principles of checks and balances as well as hinder effective local governance and lead to a lack of transparency and accountability in the management of county resources”.
I beg to differ with the lawmaker and inform him that his request will only erode the spirit and intent of the Local Government Act and create overlapping functions and responsibilities of the legislature.
Firstly, the legislature already has a constitutional oversight responsibility, so what else does the lawmaker want? Is he proposing that lawmakers be members of the county council? The lawmaker needs to understand that Liberia is a unitary state, divided into counties for administrative purposes; and counties are divided into administrative and statutory districts, cities, townships, boroughs, chiefdoms, clans, and general towns. The intent of this division is for local governments to be responsible for the overall management and development of their respective jurisdictions.
According to Chapter 2, Section 2.1 of the Local Government Act of 2018, “Local Governments shall be responsible for the overall management and development of their respective jurisdictions. They shall exercise administrative fiscal and political authority , give direction to , and shall ensure that powers and authority devolved to local governments shall be exercised as envisaged by the local government act of 2018”. These powers also include the formulation and implementation of county development plan (g), promote good governance in local government administration (d), assume all functions of central government ministries , agencies and commissions as shall be determined in schedules set in the administrative procedure manual for local governments (k).
In the spirit of the separation of powers, lawmakers are not part of the local government structure of any counties. Instead, they are part of the national government, responsible for enacting laws for the entire country. Therefore, local governments have their own structures, which include county councils, city councils, and traditional authorities, all of whom are solely responsible for local affairs and administration.
Additionally, the county council, which is the highest decision-making body of the county, is composed of appointed officials from the central government, including a superintendent and commissioners, as well as advisory councils at the district and chiefdom levels. The legislators are not a part of the county council due to the principles of separation of powers.
Assuming we agree with the lawmaker’s position that legislators should be a part of the council, who then will provide oversight for the use of county funds? Is Honorable Sokan telling us that the lawmakers will be involved in the implementation of the county budget and simultaneously provide oversight for themselves? That represents a conflict of interest and an overreaching of authority.This can only work when we have a parliamentary system of government where ministers are also members of the parliament. However, we have a unitary system with local authorities deriving their powers from the central authority. We also have uniform policies and laws across the country that govern the various local governments.
The county council according to section 2.2 (e &f) states that , “the county council shall approve the county annual budget and approve the county development plan and its implementation “. This is intended to ensure the county council remains independent of legislative influence and intimidation, all in the spirit of checks and balances and the separation of powers. You can’t be implementing and providing oversight simultaneously. The legislature already has the oversight responsibility to know how funds for development purposes are used, based on the programs submitted to the national legislature that set the basis for the allocation of funding for the various counties. What more does Honorable Sokan want? Is it greed or ignorance? Whatever it is, it will only undermine our essence of checks and balances rather than promoting it. This suffices to say that the lawmakers will be doing the job of the executive and, at the same time, the job of the legislature, which will only expose a complete breakdown in the governance structure of the state.
Furthermore, section 2.9 of the Local Government Act states that , “ The county council members shall be paid honorarium from the county budget . The legislature shall set the ceiling for such honorarium every four years “. Is Honorable Sokan telling us that they too want to receive honorarium after they are being paid handsomely every months ? What a greedy and insensitive lawmaker is this ? Finding every means to eat taxpayers money as though the thousands he and his colleagues receive monthly are insufficient. This is pure greed and gross insensitivity on the part of the lawmaker from district One Grand Gedeh county .
Conclusion
The essence of the Local Government Act of 2018 is to decentralize governance and empower local communities, not greedy lawmakers. As a tool for citizen participation, the Local Government Act helps to increase opportunities for citizens to participate in local governance, policy development, and decision-making processes. This will not be curtailed by the selfish interests of Honorable Sokan and his colleagues.
If Honorable Sokan wants legislators to be a part of the formulation of the local budget and development plans, then they should resign from their positions as lawmakers and become part of the executive branch. Or better still, he and his colleagues can propose a referendum to amend the Constitution, changing our system of government from a unitary state to a parliamentary system.
I strongly believe that this proposed amendment is selfish, insensitive, and built on the ignorance and greed of the lawmaker because reintroducing legislative oversight by the county caucus might indeed create more problems than it solves. This could lead to political interference in daily administrative matters, potentially paralyzing local governance rather than improving it. Honorable Sokan needs to focus on his oversight responsibilities and leave the county authority to do their jobs with no interference, in the spirit of separation of powers and checks and balances.
It is our advice that the legislature trash that amendment, and it should remain in the committee room forever, never to see daylight in a society where we are all trying to promote good governance and accountability.
About the Author
Mohammed M. Bamba, Jr is a political activist and an Administrator who holds a Master of Public Administration in Local Government and Rural Development Administration from the Cuttington University School of Graduate and Professional Studies.
