By Alex Yomah
President George Weah has instructed his cabinet to vigorously engage the IDA and World Bank to ensure that Liberia benefits from the funds available during this transformational period.
He spoke directly to his officials in the areas of health, education, agriculture, digital economy, youths and women empowerment, roads and ports, energy and gender.
The President stated further that the funding available under IDA20 will expire and revert to the donors if not utilized within the stipulated time-frame.
He also said that it is imperative to ask themselves, “What are those things that we must do to ensure that Liberia becomes a better place than when we met it?” and pointed out, “The answers to this question must be the primary focus of your thinking throughout this retreat.”
During the retreat, President George Weah informed his cabinet about the million dollars earmarked by the International Development Association (IDA) and World Bank for African countries.
He said the summit in Senegal was a follow-up to a previous IDA Summit which was held on July last year in Abidjan, La Cote d’Ivoire, where African leaders including himself made a joint plea to the IDA and World Bank for a robust and ambitious replenishment of IDA resources to support our recovery agenda and to drive the sustainable development and economic transformation of our continent.
“Our deliberations in Dakar were successful, as we championed a strong start to IDA’s twentieth financing cycle,” he averred.
“We called the attention of the World Bank and its agencies to the fact that our continent is experiencing reversals of development gains triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and compounded by climate change, food insecurity, conflict in the region, and the war in Ukraine,” Weah explained.
“We therefore welcomed their positive response by their decision to approve an IDA20 financing package of US$93 billion to help all countries supported by IDA recover on a greener, more resilient, and inclusive path,” Weah told officials of government.
Meanwhile, the Liberian leader also updated his cabinet officials about his recent trips to Ghana-Accra and Senegal respectively.
“Last Sunday, I attended the 61st Regular Meeting of our regional body, ECOWAS, which was held in Accra, Ghana,” the President said.
The Chairmanship of ECOWAS was passed on from Mr. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana, who had served two consecutive terms, to Mr. Umaro Sissoco Embalo, President of Guinea Bissau.
Also, the leadership of the ECOWAS Commission was also changed, with the Presidency being passed on from Mr. Jean-Claude Kassi Brou of Cote d’Ivoire, who had served in that capacity since 2018, to Dr. Omar Alieu Touray of The Gambia.
Additionally, significant progress was made in dealing with the military interventions in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea, through the direct and vigorous engagements of ECOWAS with these regimes, in order to hasten their return to civilian rule and constitutional governance.
The President also disclosed that sanctions were lifted against Mali, in response to the declaration by the military of a fixed timetable to turn over power in 24 months, by 2024, which date was acceptable to ECOWAS.
Still on regional events, Burkina Faso released the former President, Mr. Roch Marc Christian Kaboré from all forms of detention.
While in Guinea, in order to make progress, the Authority of Heads of State and Government appointed a new ECOWAS Mediator for that country, in the person of Mr. Thomas Boni Yayi, former President of Benin.
“All of these developments are the result of persistent engagements by ECOWAS in order to ensure stability, democracy, and peace in our sub-region,” Weah said.
He then advised that peace without prosperity is an unfinished agenda, adding, “That is why last Thursday, I attended the African Summit of the International Development Association of the World Bank in Dakar, Senegal, along with 22 other African Heads of State and Government.”
