By Moses M. Tokpah/MARGIBI
The Representative of Margibi 2nd electoral district, Ivar K. Jones, has delivered to residents of the district, his 7th annual legislative report covering the first year of his second term.
The report accounts for activities from January 8, 2024 to February 28, 2025 and some activities marking the closure of the 54th Legislature.
It focused on the three cardinal responsibilities of the lawmaker including representation, lawmaking, oversight as well as his campaign manifesto respectively.
The district report also captured activities of the House of Representatives, to include communications, passage of bills and other legislative instruments ratified during the first sitting of the 55th Legislature.
It provides pictorials and details of successful gains he made in year one of his second term as member of the 55th Legislature in keeping with his 2023 campaign manifesto and promises that he made during the 2023 elections.
Rep. Jones, making the report on Monday, March 3, 2024, said the energy of consistency to report his legislative activities for seven years is fueled by consistent willingness of his people to know what they have achieved as a district.
He explained that the quest of responsible leadership through participatory representation has induced accountability, transparency and integrity in all that they do and with these in mind, the composition of the report took into consideration Article 7 and Article 15c of the 1986 Constitution of Liberia.
He occupied some key positions at the Legislature including the Chairman on Post & Telecommunications, Co-chair on Investment and Concession, member on Public Account and member on Banking and Currency, but said after the impasse at that institution, he retained his positions and membership on most of the committees except for one (Public Account).
Under representation, lawmaking and oversight, the lawmaker said, he made several representations both locally and internationally, which include trips to the United States of America on the invitation of International Road Federation and the Association of Firestone Residents in the Americas (AFIRA)
Jones said he satisfactorily completed a training which built his capacity in performance-based contracts for preserving Road Assets and was certificated at the International Road Federation event while AFIRA agreed to an annex project at the Cotton Tree Public School and the completion of an unfinished building at the Dolo Town Comprehensive Health Center, and US$50,000 was raised while he contributed US$1,000 and pledged 200 bags of cement for the two projects.
The lawmaker also talked about the repealing of the 2012 Act of Harbel College and the enactment of the Margibi University Act, his contributions to the passage of the national budget and other legislative and executive instruments as some of the roles he played during the year under review among many others
As for projects initiated by the lawmaker during the period under review, Rev. Jones outlined among others, the planting of goal poles, the construction of hand pumps, Cotton Tree Public School, MBI Footpath Bridge Construction in Dolo Town and Sam Town, the purchasing of chairs for town halls, the rehabilitation of Unification Town Road, and the construction of Fahrwehn Road Culvert Bridge in Charlesville Township.
Relating to improve health care, Rep. Jones mentioned the appropriation of US$20,000 in the 2025 budget as the result of a high-power team from the Ministry of Health that visited the facility on his request to equip the Cotton Tree Health Center Laboratory and operationalize the health center among others.
Rep. Jones in conclusion, reassured the citizens of his office commitment to discharging its duties robustly in other to get the maximum output in relations to his activities at the Legislature.
He also assured them that the full implementation of his 2023 campaign manifesto and promises to communities and organizations will be highly considered in his 2025 legislative and development agenda.