21 May 2008
Debate has intensified over a statement made by Lands, Mines & Energies Minister Eugene Shannon recently in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, alleging that all Public Corporation are owned by the government of Liberia because the government subsidizes them has trigged a debate in many quarters.
The statement made by the Minister has left more questions than answers.
Minister Shannon made the statement while responding to questions from journalists regarding the sale of scrap materials by the government from the vicinity of the Port of Buchanan.
Responding to the questions, Minister Shannon allegedly said, "All public corporations and their assets are owned by the Government of Liberia and that following the sale of the scrap materials the proceeds will be remitted into a special account at the Ministry of Finance".
Because of this, he said, if a corporation needs portion of the funds generated from the sales, that corporation will have to raise a voucher through the Ministry of Finance which has to be approved by the President of Liberia.
Minister Shannon said he lambasted a manager at the Port but failed to name who it was. Minister Shannon in a Press conference claimed that a Manager at the Port of Buchanan whom he failed to name alleged that the current assets at the Buchanan Port belong to the Port and not the government.
This statement, Shannon said prompted his statement that "All Public Corporations are owned by the government of Liberia", meaning government made budgetary allotment for all public corporations.
However, following Minister Shannon's pronouncement, which was aired on Star Radio recently this paper contacted him to authenticate the truth of the matter. This statement has triggered debate among political pundits and legal practitioners in the country.
Some political pundits averred that government has a big stake in all public corporations when it comes to its role as a shareholder and not the mere issuance of policies that have the propensity to jeopardy the interest of public corporations.
For instance, they said if a public corporation faces redundancy case in a court of competent jurisdiction and that corporation looses the legal battle, that corporation will bear the liability and it is not the government's responsibility to settle the claims.
In a related development, some legal practitioners whose views were later solicited regarding the Minister Shannon's statement on Public corporations said, although the government creates Public Corporations, but it has certain limitations in their coordination.
"For example in developed or developing countries most governments play the role of shareholder on public corporations in a bid to receive its dividends yearly", a seasoned lawyer averred.
Meanwhile, in an effort to get the impression of the NPA regarding Minister Shannon's position statement, the Managing Director of the National Port Authority (George Tubman) was quick to point out that Minister Shannon has no right to make policy statement regarding the NPA.
Although he clarify that he was not concerned about the monetary aspect from the sale of scrap materials but was quick to frown on Minister Shannon for evading his premises to make policy statements.
Mr. Tubman concluded by saying that he could in no way go to Shannon area of assignment to make policy statements regarding the Ministry of Lands, Mines & Energy.
Copyright © 2008 The Analyst. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Read comments. Write your own.
Your article re: public corporations is quite simple indeed. Yes, all public corporations except noted otherwise, are indeed "owned" by the government of Liberia.
However, Managing Directore George Tubman is very right in that the Minister of Lands Mines & Energy is not empowered to explain policy of any other government entity save for his Ministry.
As a member of the Freezone Authority at its founding, I remenber our corporation was directed by the President through the Ministry of Finance to desist from saving some of its funds allocted for its function in a "tine deposit" account which was a… [Read Full Text]