Harmonization Policy Advised by Partners Tweah Says It Was Imperative, It Remains Irrevocable

Perhaps one of the most controversial of economic policies prosecuted by the former ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) (2018 – 2023) was the Harmonization Policy, which not only trimmed and evened public officials and staffs’ salaries but also upped wages of critical civil servants such law enforcement officers and nurses and others. But it has had its own backdrop, engendered backlash and political quid pro quo against the CDC even at the 2023 polls when sections of the public workforce contended that the policy disproportionately affected them, giving rival Unity Party, then in opposition, a propaganda chip to denounce and weaponize the policy. But the ideologue of the policy, former Finance Minister Samuel Tweah, who just arrived in the country has put up a strong defense for it, stating that the Harmonization Policy was an utmost necessity not only advised/recommended by development and financial partners, but also meant to right the wrongs within Liberia’s government bureaucracy from time immemorial. The Analyst reports.

The former Minister of Finance and Development Planning Samuel D. Tweah has put up a vociferous defense for the controversial harmonization policy executed by the George Weah-led Government which navigated the ship of state from 2018 to 2023.

Though the Coalition for Democratic Change administration theorized that the policy was meant to harmonize disparities in salaries amongst public servants, a kind of same-wage-for-same-work, there were outcries amongst some public servants and government workers who contended that they were not benefiting from the scheme as promised, some complaining they were hurt by it.

The discontent generated by the harmonization policy became a material political and propaganda issue exploited by Unity Party which was then in opposition. But since its takeover of state power this year, there has been dim or no signs that the Unity Party Government is interested in undoing the policy and the man who crafted it at the onset of the CDC government, Samuel Tweah, says the Boakai administration is unable do so.

Tweah said he does not believe that Boakai-led government or any other government is able to reverse the Harmonization Policy, saying that reversing harmonization of public servants’ salaries is to do something bad to the country.

He said harmonization would be difficult to reverse because a nurse or a driver who was making one thousand dollars, and another nurse or driver of the same scale who was making 150 dollars were all taken to what he called “some rational order” and undoing the fairness could be harm of many.

He explained further that the harmonization brought 7000 people who were making higher salaries down and took 15 000 civil servants up the scale.

“To reverse the policy, give the 7000 people the higher salary they had up, which does not tie to anything,” he said

He said it was not possible for the Harmonization Policy of the government of the Congress for Democratic Change to benefit everybody because it required 400 million United States dollars to raise the salary of everyone in keeping with provisions of the policy.

The former Finance and Development Planning Minister spoke Monday afternoon when he appeared on a local radio where he was hosted by a couple of journalists.

He maintained that sometimes the revenue portion of the budget was 290 million dollars for salary payment to government employees which could not measure up to the 400 million United States dollar needed to carry up the salary of every one.

“Did we have to take everyone’s salary up amidst the limited resources,” he questioned his radio hosts.

Questioned on his thought about the impression that the policy led to the loss of his party to opposition, Tweah said to the contrary that “Without harmonization we could not have won the elections.”

According to him, it could not have been for the fallout from the harmonization policy that the CDC lost the election, and the former administration did very well in lifting the country from where it met the country, obtained a powerful development credential for reelection.

Tweah said ordinary Liberians did not have a fair sense of the policy because there was too much noise in the country to allow the people appreciate its importance.

“Let me say clear cut to Liberians and CDCians; if we have not done harmonization in 2019 the government would have collapsed in 2021,” Tweah said.  The World Bank provided support of 20 million dollars and part of the budget did not come.”

He said the CDC government decreased the salaries of 7000 people down to benefit 15,000 who were on the level of employment but were not paid equal to them. “So, we took every one up that was supposed to be up,” he said.

He intimated that to take everybody up, the government needed the money within the fiscal space, within the wage system and indicated the reason that prompted the policy was because the government didn’t have the revenue.

“The reason we harmonized is that we didn’t have the revenue; we didn’t have the revenue to take everybody up. So, we needed to find savings within the fiscal space, with the wage system.”

The former Finance Minister asserted that accountants with bachelor degrees with five years’ experience should not be making disproportionately different salaries while others with the same level of qualification and experience made far below them, which was happening.

One accountant would be making $2,000 and the other accountant of similar grade will be making $300, he said in further defense of the policy.

That was what brought about the harmonization, he stressed.

Under the CDC regime, he said voluntary teachers were put on the payroll. Teachers, health workers, medical doctors benefited.

“We raised the salaries of medical doctors from $700 to $2000 dollars. We did a lot of transformation within that space,” he explained further.

He said because “we did not have the fiscal space to absorb everybody, we gradually started to reinstitute people over time.

“It was a working project. Public school teachers have a 62 percent pay increase. Their salary is probably the highest because of us, we still owe them 30 percent.”

That’s why the CDC administration did not do 100 percent increase for all teachers.

He asked: “Why is it that the government that was criticizing the policy carry out the 100 percent increase for the teachers?  I am sure very soon, the teachers will be asking this government to take them to 100 percent increase.”

He frowned on the use of new phraseology, “reverse harmonization” in referring to the policy, stating that it is not applicable in the harmonization scheme.

Tweah recalled that before the CDC left office, former President Weah signed a policy that ensured no one earned below US$150, stating further: “We study the wage of midwifes who were underpaid; we developed the memorandum to move them higher.”

The CDC government, Tweah claimed, placed five million dollars in the budget for that purpose of increasing health workers’ pay and therefore wondered why the UP government has not affected that, considering that the health workers are aware of that.

He added that the current government needs to do is to move towards graduated paying.

The former Minister  Tweah also threw jabs at CDC’s predecessor, claiming that the CDC regime inherited a messy situation when development partners were saying that the country with its new government working with new country representatives for international organizations should not sole rely on taxpayers’ money of other countries for its development objectives, demanded the harmonization.

The Weah government had no option but to accept the proposal “because our revenues were declining 2018/2019”.

According to him, it was in light of that that former President Weah announced 25 percent cut of his salary before other functionaries of government followed, allowing the government to save $7 million the government used to do some other programs.

Amongst other things, Minister Tweah admitted that the CDC put on the payroll 3000 to 4000 additional Liberians, when it took power but said that through pay cuts and other fiscal measures, the government was able to disburse salaries on time.