By Bill W. Cooper
The Chairperson of the Liberia Land Authority (LLA), Adams Manobah, has stressed needs for government to augment the Authority’s budget if the Land Rights Act is to be fully implemented.
He said though President Weah is making some tremendous contributions towards the Authority’s functions; the need for more support from government through budgetary allocation cannot be overemphasized.
He made the plead on Friday at programs marking the official climax of the nationwide awareness on the Land Rights Law (LRL) and the Liberia Land Authority Act (LLAA) that was signed into law recently.
With support from the World Bank and LLAP, the nationwide awareness on the LRL and LLAA Act was climaxed under theme: “Ensuring Land Rights for all Liberians.”
According to the LLA boss, although land ownership in Liberia today is a right that the community can demand; he pointed out that having said right which can be demanded is another issue and that is why the awareness was necessary.
He added that some of the reason behind the slow implementation of the Land Rights Act is a result of other government lines Ministries and Agencies limited understanding about the law before signing any concession agreement on behalf of Liberians.
Giving the overview of the awareness, the LLA Communications and Outreach Officer, Emmanuel Chedeh Davis pointed out that the first phase of the awareness covers the training of key stakeholders that includes journalists, community mobilizers, traditional authorities, CSO’s among others on the dissemination of information on both the LRL and the LLAA.
According to him, during the training program, participants were drawn from across the 15 counties amounting to over 300 community mobilizers, traditional leaders, journalists, CSO’s among others with the objective to increase public awareness and explaining on both the LRL and LLAA.
He added that following the training process, the awareness team visited 35 public and private schools, held 60 radio talk shows across the 15 counties as well as organized 164 town hall meetings and 164 community engagements.
Earlier, the LLA Executive Director, Stanley N. Toe lauded the awareness team for the effort in ensuring a smooth and successful process, something he said will help ease the burden on the LLA in the dissemination of information about the LRL and LLAA across the country.