Senate Rejects Request To Print Money

By Alex Yomah

The Liberian Senate has rejected a request from the Central Bank of  Liberia (CBL)  through President George Weah to print L$35 billion intended to replace all old legal tender banknotes on the market.

Making the disclosure on Friday October 4, at the close of the extra sitting of the Liberian Senate, Pro-tempore Albert T. Chie said that until the CBL officials are restructured, the Senate will object to such request due to the integrity issue besetting officials at the Bank. 

He admitted that the Senate did receive request from the CBL through the President of Liberia for its authorization to print L$35 billion in coins and notes to replace the existing Liberian dollars currency.

Following the submission of the request, the Liberian Senate took note of the need to print new banknotes to replace all of the existing ones, especially that approximately 86% of notes in circulation is out of the banking system, that there are reports of counterfeit Liberian dollars banknotes on the market and a significant amount of the notes on the market are mutilated and are termed in Liberian parlance as “Tear-tear.”

Nevertheless, senators raised issues of the functioning of internal controls at the CBL as indicated in the Kroll Report, confidence factor at the bank and funds to pay for the printing of the new banknotes, among other things.

“After extensive debates, the Liberian Senate declined to give the requested authorization until the restructuring of the CBL is completed,” Albert Chie stated as reasons for the rejection of President George Weah’s request.

Commenting on the number of bills passed, Pro-Tempore Chie divulged that the Senate   has passed 60 bills in its 79 days of sitting including the controversial bill on the Dual Citizenship.

The Dual Citizenship Bill among other bills which created public outcry that were introduced by President George Weah during his annual national message at the Liberian Legislature in 2018.

 “The total number of bills passed by the Senate consists of 45 engrossed bills and 15 bills which originated from the House of Representatives including the Financing Agreement,” the Pro-tempore explained.

The bills according to Sen. Chie are the Financing  Agreement  between the Government of Liberia and the ECOWAS  Bank  in the tone  of US$50m  which will begin  the construction  of the segment  of road  from Barclayville in Grand Kru County to Klowein in Sinoe County.

“This project is the beginning  of a network of roads planned for the Southeastern part of this country that has not benefited from infrastructure development for many years and two incentive agreements for the construction of two cement plants and another incentive agreement for a flour mills, these will help create jobs for our people,” he noted. 

 The presiding said the three constitutional propositions expected to go for national referendum in October 2020 are namely Dual Citizenship, Reduction in the tenure of the President, Vice President and members of the Legislature as well as the adjustments in the date of the general and legislative elections; that is from October to November each election year.

As part of instruments acted upon, Senator Chie also said, there was a suggestion to allot 15 seats in the Senate solely for women. “While this male-dominated Senate generally believes   in Affirmative Action, it was an unanimous opinion that allotment of senatorial seats for women alone is not the appropriate remedy for political empowerment for women, especially in the face of economic contestants facing our country.”

Nevertheless, the Senate has resolved to remain engaged to find alternatives, through statutes for women’s political advancement.

 The Senate has also passed an amendment to the 2014 Petroleum Exploration and Production Reform Law to resurrect the upstream petroleum sector and facilities the holding of a petroleum bid around within the next few months.

 A fortnight ago, he noted, the Liberian Senate   received a communication from the President of the Republic of Liberia seeking our advice on the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, plenary mandated the leadership committee of the senate to take appropriately. The matter is there before being studied by the senate leadership.

Pro-tempore Chie disclosed that the Liberian Senate concurred with the House of Representatives in passing the national budget at US$525m which is a significant decrease from the 2018/2019 fiscal budget and that the annual wage bill in the budget was capped at approximately US$297m.

 “This budget will also facilitate the acceptance of our country into the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which could eventually bring much more benefit to our country,” he explained.

However, Montserrado County Senator, Abraham Darius Dillon applauded his colleagues in the opposition bloc for reportedly influencing the Senate’s decision to reject President Weah’s request to print new banknotes.

In an interview with legislative reporter’s minutes after the closure of the Senate’s extra session, Dillon disclosed that some senators in favor of the request had been lobbying with them to grant the President’s request but that such appeal mainly from the ruling party’s lawmakers was vehemently rejected thereby leading to the Senate’s decision to reject.