By Domingo Dargbeh
The Integrity Watch Liberia with funding from the Embassy of Ireland, has successfully ended a one-day round table discussion with lawmakers.
The discussion centered around standardized score framework to review mineral development agreements and concession contracts.
Integrity Watch Executive Director, Harold Aidoo, underscored the need to appropriately negotiate with concessionaires the country minerals.
By doing so, Aidoo said the state and its people would benefit from agreements with the government.
He said most of the concession agreements negotiated over the years have been characterized by flaws, thus denying the state of the necessary benefits to meet up with its development challenges.
“We are of the opinion that the natural resources can, if properly managed, can address some of the challenges in infrastructures, health and education,” Aidoo said.
He said the current national budget may not be enough to cover government’s ARREST agenda in four years.
The Ambassador of Ireland to Liberia, Geraldine Considine, said Liberia must unlock its full potential of its natural resources through effective governance, strategic stewardship and significantly increase its domestic financial resources.
Irish Ambassador, spoke of standardized score framework, which represents far more than a technical tool for institutional transformation.
On behalf of his fellow lawmakers, the Chairperson of the Africa Parliamentarians Network on Illicit Financial Flows and Taxation, Francis Dopoe, assured the Integrity Watch Liberia and international partners that the legislature will make good use of the knowledge gain from the discussion.
The discussion was graced by lawmakers from the Senate, and the House of Representatives representing the Liberia Chapter of the African Parliamentarians Network on Illicit Financial Flows and Taxation, the committees of concession, judiciary and directors of departments.