• House, Senate Approve Recast Budget, Source: Daily OBSERVER
• Government welcomes strong opposition, Source: The New Dawn
• ‘Over 300,000 Households in Extreme Poverty’ -Gender Minister, Source: Daily OBSERVER
• Government, Partners Launch National Adaptation Plan of Liberia, Source: FrontPage Africa
• Liberia CSO Working Group Stresses Urgent Need To Pass Land Rights Law, Source: News Public Trust
• Fear Gripping Liberians in America As Mass Deportation Looms, Source: FrontPage Africa
• PAN-Liberia Calls on President George Weah to Halt Wrongful Dismissals, Source: FrontPage Africa

House, Senate Approve Recast Budget, Source: Daily OBSERVER

The House of Representatives and the Senate have approved a Recast Budget of USD536.2million, with several austerity measures, including cutting off 100 percent of other goods and services amounting to USD27.4 million. About USD181million is estimated to be raised for the remaining four months, March 1 – June 30, 2018.

The House Tuesday approved the Recast Budget and immediately forwarded it to the Liberian Senate for concurrence. Representative Richard Koon voted against the passage of the budget, insisting that the Recast Budget must be discussed to know the “details.” He argued that the swift passage of the budget without it being “opened for discussion” would be troubling.

The Joint Committee maintained that the recast budget aims to address resource constraints while ensuring efficient service delivery over the remaining period of the 2017/2018 fiscal year, from March 1 – June 30, 2018, for ratification by the House of Representatives.

It has been gathered that with the remaining four months, USD11 million has been particularly allotted from about USD181 million to do “quick-impact pro-poor developments.”

Some of the Special Quick-Impact Projects include ground-breaking for the AFL’s 200-bedroom hospital (USD200,000); digital registration at the University of Liberia and installing Wi-Fi (USD300,000); paying the fees of all students for the West African Examination Council (WAEC) for the 2017/2018 school calendar (USD1.9 million); purchase and maintenance of traffic street lights in Monrovia (USD600,000); providing scholarships for doctors to undergo specialized training across the country (USD500,000), while another USD500,000 is allotted for Humanitarian outreach program by First Lady Clar Weah. Read more

Government welcomes strong opposition, Source: The New Dawn

Liberia’s state and presidential affairs minister says government welcomes a strong opposition bloc that will help to highlight challenges of the regime. Speaking to The New Dawn Thursday, Mr. Nathaniel McGill notes that the George Weah-led administration believes a stronger opposition could be a reliable contributing factor to the rebuilding of a country that had suffered 14 years of civil crisis and hit by the deadly Ebola Virus Disease. He adds that it is not the dream of government to paralyze the opposition community by battling them and creating narrow corridors for their scope of operations.

“We pray for stronger opposition bloc during our term of office because we believe that oppositions’ criticism can help to move the democracy forward, and where there is no opposition, that government may not know its shortcomings. We don’t need praise singers. Trust me on this, we support freedom of the press 200 percent and freedom of expression,” vows McGill.

According to him, the government supports freedom of the press and will always respect the media even the ones that want to fight unnecessarily. The state for presidential affairs minister continues that the primary focus of the George Weah-led administration is how to achieve its pro-poor agenda and bring governance to the people thru a participatory process. Read more

‘Over 300,000 Households in Extreme Poverty’ -Gender Minister, Source: Daily OBSERVER

Gender minister Williametta Saydee Tarr has indicated that Liberia has over 300,000 vulnerable households that she classified as “living in extreme poverty.” This, Mrs. Tarr said, includes vulnerable groups such as orphans, persons with disabilities and persons living with HIV, among others. The gender minister said the government is committed to implementing the Social Protection Agenda, which is under its Human Development Pillar.

Tarr, who spoke at a one-day HIV and Social Protection Planning Workshop in Monrovia, explained that Liberia cannot realize its transformation agenda without scaling up social protection strategies that can restore human dignity and foster social cohesion. “Our partners are committed to supporting our pro-poor development agenda, demonstrated by initiatives that include the social protection registry, payment of social cash transfers and the school feeding program,” she said.

According to the gender minister, if implemented, Tarr believes the Social Protection Program will reduce poverty, having a significant impact on the beneficiaries. Read more

Government, Partners Launch National Adaptation Plan of Liberia, Source: FrontPage Africa

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched the National Adaptation Plan of Liberia (NPA). The NPA is funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) created to support the effort of developing countries to respond to the challenge of climate change in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement. The project was launched at the National Adaption Plans Inception Workshop implemented by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the National Climate Change Secretariat on March 12 in Monrovia. Read more

Liberia CSO Working Group Stresses Urgent Need To Pass Land Rights Law, Source: News Public Trust

The media reports that with no letup in land conflicts across Liberia, the Civil Society Organizations Working Group on Land Rights is calling on President George Weah to use his good offices to influence the Senate to pass the Land Rights Act (LRA). The group said the Liberian Senate should be guided by good conscience, equality and influence in supporting the pro-poor bill aimed at protecting community land rights.

The spokeswoman of the CSOs, Lena Cummings said recently that the more CSOs and communities are excluded from participating in the lawmaking process, the more communities are left vulnerable to land tenure insecurity. According to her, this includes large-scale land transactions and potential unlawful land grabs by few groups of elites.

Mrs. Cumming urged the lawmakers to move “expeditiously and in a manner that protects the principles of all land tenure for all Liberians, especially majority of rural Liberians who contribute significantly to agriculture and food security in the country, but who at present do not have right to ownership.” Read more

Fear Gripping Liberians in America As Mass Deportation Looms, Source: FrontPage Africa

–FrontPage Africa reports that in 15 days or less, thousands of Liberians who have been living in the United States at the mercy of a temporary protection or deferred departure program could find themselves on a plane bound for their homeland with President Donald Trump appearing unlikely to renew the service.

At the height of the civil war in 1991, the Temporary Protective Status (TPS) was approved for Liberia - and - again in 1999 as fighting lingered. In 2007, President George Bush ended the program but allowed recipients to apply for another deportation reprieve called deferred enforced departure, or DED, which has been extended roughly every 18 months since. The program officially expires March 31, 2018.

Waquina Blay who runs an African-themed Fast Food restaurant in Minneapolis was quoted by CCX News as saying that not only her business, but the Diaspora community in the area would be affected when the March 31, deadline expires. Read more

PAN-Liberia Calls on President George Weah to Halt Wrongful Dismissals, Source: FrontPage Africa

The People Action Network-Liberia (PAN) has expressed dismay over the wrongful dismissal of some civil servant employees by some presidential appointees in the George Weah-led administration. PAN-Liberia in a release said the wrongful dismissal of workers by presidential appointees contravenes the many Supreme Court opinions on the decency of labor and respect for contractual relations. “Most presidential appointees of the current administration have taken unto themselves the authority to put down hundreds of Liberians who have served their country with honesty and distinction for many years,” the PAN-Liberia release said. “This action runs contrary to Legislative Status protecting workers and contravenes the many Supreme Court opinions on the decency of labor and respect for contractual relations,” the release added. Read more