Africa-Press – Liberia. The House expressed unhappiness upon hearing that the LRA is overperforming in revenue collection, but the Representatives could not receive some budgeted funding.
The House of Representatives, one of the chambers of Liberia’s Legislature, has threatened to shut down if the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) cannot support it.
Following the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) Boss and MFDP Officials’ appearance before the House on Tuesday, June 18, 2024, the House accused the government of prioritizing the Liberian Senate.
Cllr. Koffa stated that the MFDP’s alleged failure to support the House means representatives will fail to meet their operational needs.
Speaker Koffa expressed disappointment in the Ministry of Finance over the House of Representatives’ lack of support.
He claimed that the Senate is prioritized over the House, suggesting that the latter begs for funding for its upcoming retreat.
Since the start of the Unity Party (UP)—led government, Speaker Koffa has said the MFDP has been unable to meet the House of Representatives’ operational needs.
He observed that the House’s operational needs are not being met despite the latest budget numbers from the LRA showing positive performance, contrary to the MFDP’s complaint about a lack of money.
While the Liberian Senate is allegedly well taken care of and given every necessary funding intended for its operations, Koffa alleged that members of the House of Representatives are facing serious financial constraints.
He argued that members of the House of Representatives can’t continue borrowing money from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and banking institutions within the country when there is funding within the national budget for legislative functioning.
Also speaking, LRA Commissioner-General Mr. Dorbor Jallah told the House of Representatives that the LRA is overperforming in revenue collection.
To date, Mr. Jallah reported, that the LRA raised US$816, 419,000.00.
“We are actually doing about $7.8 million dollars more than the budget,’’ said Mr. Jallah.
He noted that the LRA’s domestic revenue comes from two key sources: domestic taxes and customer operations.
With that, Mr. Jallah explained that they could collect 45% of the target they were given for this year.
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