Monrovia, Liberia - Finance and Development Planning Minister, Hon. Samuel D. Tweah Jr, has said the government of Liberia remains committed to fiscal transparency.
He made the disclosure on Tuesday July 19, at the official inaugural meeting of Liberia’s Fiscal Transparency Advisory Group.
“The Government remains committed to fiscal transparency by making all of its financial reports and documentations available to the public, for example, these reports are in the print and electronic media outlets, as well as on government’s websites”, Minister Tweah explained.
The erudite Finance Minister revealed that the government will continue to involve civil society organizations into the budget process to increase fiscal transparency and accountability.
‘’Because citizens’ participation is key, it’s important for them to know how the government generates and spends public resources ‘’ he added.
Hon. Tweah said that public participation gives citizens an opportunity to participate in decision making, strengthens oversight and improves policy choices.
The aim of the advisory board is to allow citizens to increase their participation in the government process, and to know how the government generates, spends public resources and how they could participate in decision making.
For his part, the Open Government Partnership (OGP), Representative, G. Ralph Jimmeh said the establishment of the board is a great achievement and knowledgeable venture in fiscal transparency and open governance.
‘’ No government has succeeded without the participation of its citizens’’, said Mr. Jimmeh.
According to him, citizens’ participation is a driver to inclusive national development and sustainable ownership. It also gives citizens access to government, improves governance and solves public participation challenges which promotes transparency and accountability thereby making government more efficient.
He added that ‘’ We believe that the inauguration of the fiscal transparency advisory board is a very fundamental action towards increasing citizens' participation that produces an open government and stimulates more constructive dialogue between CSO and government.
It is my hope that the establishment of this fiscal transparency board will increase citizens' trust and improve public service. Again these small steps towards fiscal transparency is commendable and an intentional delivery of actions that will improve governance.
This is a positive collaboration between increasing citizens’ participation and the fight against corruption. We called for a more cooperative and collective engagement and we believe that this inauguration board work has begun.
The fiscal transparency advisors group is established to meet routinely to provide the MFDP with feed and recommendations on the selection, design and implementation of participation mechanisms.
The advisors group has the role of providing the MFDP with feedback and recommendation on the selection, design and implementation of the participation mechanism to be adopted in Liberia.
The meeting was attended by Government representatives and civil society representatives.