MONROVIA, LIBERIA – The Liberian Government has issued Administrative Control Measures to reduce growth in its wage bill and to ensure efficiency in the National Budget’s allocation.

The Measures referred to as Wage Bill Control Regulation, recently endorsed by the Cabinet, says all employments and promotions within the Central Government have been centralized through the Civil Service Agency (CSA) and the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP).

According to a release, all such employments and promotions are subject to the agreed establishment posts of the spending entities and the availability of budgetary allocation. 

New employment or promotion of existing employees will have to be co-approved by the designated authorities of the CSA and MFDP.

It additional the Administrative Wage Bill Control Regulation says to sustain the removal of Ghost Employees from Government’s Wage Bill, it will reinforce the biometric enrollment of all Government employees.

The new Administrative Expenditure Control as part of measures, say all new employments across Government shall be thoroughly vetted and duly authorized through the CSA and MFDP before placement on the wage bill. 

The release further quotes the Wage Bill Control Regulation as clarifying that such new employments will mainly focus on employments in Social Service Sectors such as Health and Education, in addition to the Security Sector.

The Regulation mandates the Ministry of Finance and the Civil Service Agency to complete the harmonization and standardization processes across all State-Owned Enterprises before the end of June 2020, consistent with the National Standardization Act of 2019.

The release also quotes the Regulation as requiring all State-Owned Enterprises to adhere to the measures it contains intended to support Government’s efforts to efficiently manage Liberia’s scarce resources.