By Precious D Freeman
Following the refusal of authorities of the National Road Fund to honor the invitation of the House of Representatives, the august body has ordered them to appear before the plenary of the House of Representatives on Thursday with their lawyers to give reason why they shouldn’t be held in contempt for their actions.
This followed the failure of the Director General of the National Road Funds not appearing before the plenary of the House of Representatives without any excuse on Tuesday after they were served an invitation by that august body.
It can be recalled that on Tuesday, January 31, the House of Representatives cited authorities of the National Road Fund, the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, the Liberia Revenue Authority and Petroleum Importers to provide updates on the remittance of levies on petroleum products collected or withheld by petroleum importers in keeping with the Act that established the National Road Fund.
The House took the decision, during its 5th day sitting based on a communication from Nimba County District #:2 Representative, Prince Tokpah, saying that the National Road Fund; established by an Act of the Legislature in 2006 was to ensure among other things that road-accessibility be sustained and that sufficient funds for both periodic and routine maintenance be also allocated for meaningful purpose.
He maintained that the National Road Fund is intended to ensure that National, Sub-national and feeder roads have sufficient share of the total fund such that these roads can operate as an integrated network and to ensure that the needs of the road users and those impacted by roads are considered in terms of safety, security and environment.
The Nimba County Lawmaker added that the ordinary citizens immensely contribute to the National Road Fund whenever they buy petroleum products as enacted and the source of revenue for the National Road Fund is levy collected from every petroleum product that is imported and as end users of the products, the levies are passed down to the citizens.
Road maintenance is a serious challenge with damaged bridges found all across the country,” he alarmed often wondering if the petroleum importers are actually remitting the levies placed on the Road Fund.
The contempt order brought war of words between lawmakers during Tuesday’s session as Nimba County District #:5 Representative took an exception to Lofa County Doistrct#1 Representative Francis Nyamadel.
Following a moment of argument, plenary voted to order the National Road Found and Attorney General of Liberia to appear before the plenary of the House of Representatives on Thursday with their Lawyers to give reason why they shouldn’t be held in contempt.
Meanwhile. the National Elections Commission (NEC) has showed preparedness to conduct the 2023 voter registration process.
The Chairperson of the National Elections Commission explain before the plenary of the House of Representatives yesterday in clear terms about the biometric voter registration Timetable process.
NEC’s Chairperson Davidetta Brown Lassanah disclosed that the Commission is fully prepared to kick-start the Biometric Voters registration process in March despite the low budgetary allotment of the Electoral Body.
The NEC’s boss stated further that the new Biometric Voter Registration System has a unique human physical characteristics, such as Fingerprints and Facial Recognition among others.
The Commission has therefore warned that double or multiple registration is a crime punishable by law as registered voters will be prevented from voting twice as the Biometric system will capture would-be violators matching their finger prints.
She further disclosed that the institution is carrying out Assessment at voter registration centers across the country to ascertain if there will be an increment in the voter’s registration centers.
The National Elections Commission is an autonomous public commission that is responsible to conduct elections for all elective public offices and to administer and enforce all election laws throughout the Republic of Liberia.
