The Plenary of the Liberian Senate has mandated the General Auditing Commission (GAC) to carry out a comprehensive audit of all components of the controversial ‘stimulus package.’
According to a statement by the Press and Public Affairs Department of the Liberian Senate; issued
late Thursday, the Senate’s action was triggered by the refusal of the head of the management team, Professor Wilson Tarpeh, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning along with the implementing partner, World Food Programme (WFP) to appear before the Plenary of the Liberian Senate on Thursday, May 20, 2021.
The Senate Press and Public Department recalls that Government of Liberia and partners launched a US$25M COVID-19 Household Food Distribution Stimulus Package for vulnerable households in Liberia during the heat of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The statement says Prof. Tarpeh had previously reported to the Senate that over 2.3 million people have already benefited from the distribution exercise, indicating that such figure as released by Tarpeh, who is now the Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was vehemently rejected by many senators on grounds that the former minister of Commerce report was unrealistic.
The refusal of the team from the World Food Programme to appear before the Senate resulted to the decision during a brief debate on Thursday May 20, 2021 to mandate the GAC to conduct a comprehensive audit for onward submission to the Liberian Senate, the statement disclosed.
The statement noted that earlier, Senate Secretary Nanborlar F. Singbeh read an email communication from WFP indicating that partners are still working on reports to be submitted.
The WFP further stated in the email that the report will be submitted by June 30th 2021 and that the final report on the implementation of the Stimulus Package will be finalised by March 2022, according to the statement.
