27/01/2022
Bleeding Pen reacts to President Annual Address
Empty 5th Annual Address, as unedited grave mistakes found on Page 6 of the speech
What appears to have been the fulfilment of Article 58 of the Constitution of Liberia which mandates the President of Liberia report on the fourth working Monday in January of each year, to present the Legislative Program of the Administration for the ensuing session, and report on the State of the Republic, covering the economic condition of the Nation, including expenditure and income; the President on his 5th Annual Address grossly and despicably ignored the core of the occasion by not presenting any Legislative Program as prescribed by the constitution.
Key excerpts from the President 5th Annual Address:
1. The President speech lacks logical coherent, meaning the speech was delivered disjointedly. (Ex: the president needed to report firstly on the achievements of his legislative Program presented during his 4th Annual Address capturing the total bill passed and the ones still pending, status of developmental agenda etc
2. The president didn’t present a clear legislative agenda/program for the 2022 as spelt out in Article 58;
3. The 2022 fiscal budget is not the highest in our history because the indicator for budgeting is the HDI; currently we don’t know our population. The highest budget in our history was Tolbert last budget because it was around 300plus Million and our population was around 2m.
4. The president reported that LEC doing well but now the entity rationing current; how can he reconcile that?
5. The president failed to report on the status of the Census which is long overdue
6. On Page 19 where the president talked about Youth empowerment under the Youth Entrepreneur Empowerment Program with 2.4m he could provide statistic of how many youth have benefited from the 2m plus
7. Unedited cut and paste identified in the President speech on page 6; instead of the president reporting that the Government, through LRA which is the Liberia Revenue Authority, he said the LPRA also which is the Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority, has launched a program to keep 50 percent of all real estate taxes collected back to the counties, districts and cities where the real estate taxes are collected. This is a measure to boost real estate taxes by involving local communities and their residents, as well as ensure that part of the money stays at the local level, in keeping with the Decentralization Law that was recently passed under my Administration. The program is being piloted in Margibi County.
8. He didn’t report on the state of the environment and forestry
9. He didn’t present progress report on the legislative instruments presented to the 4th sitting of the Legislature on proposal like:
• The Convention of Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters;
• An Act to Establish the Liberia Standards Authority;
• An Act to Establish the Civil Service Commission;
• Agreement between the Government of the United Arab Emirates and the Government of the Republic of Liberia for the Avoidance of Double Taxation;
• Others include: An Act to Endorse the National Youth Policy of Liberia: An Agenda for Action;
• An Act Prohibiting the Tenure of Public Officials within the Executive Branch of Government;
• The Revised and Restated Charter of the University of Liberia;
• The Whistle-Blower and Witness Protection Bill;
• The Presidential Transition Act;
10. He said all the plan he presented last Annual address on road constructions; all the project are nearing completion. Look at RIA road it has not even gone 2% before completion
11. Status of the Coastal Highway, Bali Island and Ghandi Peace hall
12. What about the report on the COVID 19 stimulus package
Joseph Bush
Joseph Bush Trinity
