By: Godgift Harris
Workers of the Liberia News Agency (LINA) have petitioned the National Legislature, calling for an immediate investigation into the agency’s near-collapse despite receiving more than US$700,000 in the 2024 and 2025 national budgets.
In their petition submitted to lawmakers recently, the employees said the sizeable budgetary support has failed to yield any institutional improvement, noting that LINA has operated without a functional website for almost two years a situation they describe as a national embarrassment that leaves Liberia “the only country in Africa with a non-operational state news agency website.”
The workers are demanding a full General Auditing Commission (GAC) audit into how the funds allocated to LINA and managed through the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism (MICAT) were used.
Their requests include, disclosure of the status and utilization of FY2024–2025 allotments, immediate restoration of the website, provision of equipment, mobility, training and logistics protection from administrative decisions they consider punitive or politically motivated.
The petition revealed that staff continue to operate with broken equipment, zero training opportunities, and no transportation, severely hampering their ability to collect and distribute government information nationwide.
The petition also pushed back against statements attributed to Information Minister Jerolinmek M. Piah, which workers say were intended to portray LINA staff as loyalists of the previous administration.
They argued that they are career civil servants, not political operatives, and called on legislators to address what they described as “misleading characterizations” that undermine their professionalism.
LINA employees further highlighted longstanding welfare issues, including salary disparities and extremely low pay, with some reporters earning as little as US$100 (about LRD 8,000) per month an amount they say is incompatible with the rising cost of living.
The petition also outlines broader institutional failures within MICAT, including, a weekly press briefing that “focuses solely on the Ministry itself”
Persistent inactivity of the government-owned New Liberia newspaper, salary inequalities among personnel performing similar duties, a lack of equipment, forcing reporters to use personal mobile phones to gather news
According to them, funds intended for internet services, equipment and newsroom support have not translated into any visible improvement, leaving public information officers demoralized and unable to perform their statutory roles.
The distressed workers concluded their petition by appealing directly to President Joseph NyumaBoakai to intervene, warning that discontent is growing among public information workers across various departments.
“This is not just about LINA employees,” the petition states. “Other public information workers are also dissatisfied and may soon resort to protest if these issues remain unaddressed.”
With nearly US$1 million in recent allocations, no operational website, and an agency running on “virtually nothing,” the workers say LINA’s current state threatens Liberia’s ability to maintain a credible national news service.