The Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Samuel D. Tweah, says the Government of Liberia (GOL) will need 7,000 teachers across the country in 2022 in order to fill the gap in public schools. Minister Tweah made the statement on Wednesday, November 17, 2021 when he appeared on a local talk-show in Monrovia to answer questions regarding the country’s economy.
In order to have the 7,000 teachers across the country, Minister Tweah said the government needs US$24 million to settle the shortage of classroom teachers in public schools. He added that the government will again need US$12 million to pay for drugs. Some of these government’s priorities, according to him, will require some extra spending outside the national budget, observing that, by law, the Ministry of Finance is sometimes authorized to spend money outside the national budget with consent of the National Legislature.
According to him, those questioning the authority of the ministry to sometimes spend money outside the national budget need to read more because the ministry is permitted by law to spend money with consent of the Legislature outside the national budget.
He pointed out the outbreak of the Coronavirus as a classic example of the ministry sometimes spending money outside the budget. He was responding to a question relating to the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) government sometimes spending money outside the national budget, with specific emphasis on the Doe Community road project during the first year of President George M. Weah.
Minister Tweah disclosed that a government plan to have all pensioned employees receiving their pension benefit on time, noting that there is no good policy or system put in place for pensioners. The new policy, according to him, will enable government employees who are supposed to be pensioned to be informed ahead of time.
The Minister emphasized that the Finance Ministry has started discussion with protesting teachers in order to address their demands. He averred that it will be unfair for teachers to ignore the on-going discussion between them and the government to take to the streets. He cautioned the aggrieved teachers not to start a protest when there are issues on the table pending discussion.
He also disclosed a plan by the CDC government to have a standardized salary structure for government employees: security, teachers and nurses. If this is done, according to him, there will be little or no complaint on low salary payment. Explaining further, Minister Tweah claimed that the deduction experienced in government employees’ salary is due to the reduction in the exchange rate. The drop in the exchange rate, according to him, has largely affected the reduction in the price of commodities, especially a bag of rice.
Tweah assured the public that the 2022 draft national budget will shortly be presented to the Legislature for passage. The envelope for the draft national budget for fiscal year 2022 is in the tone of US$785 million, the Minister said.
The CDC government has made amendment in the Public Financial Management Law, thus changing the budget year from June 30 to July 31 every year to January 1 to December 31 of each year.