Pres. Boakai Launches Nat’l Consultancy Policy Today -As CSA Reform Measures Resonate With Good Governance

MONROVIA: The President, Joseph Nyuma Boakai will today, April 30, 2024, launch the National Consultancy Guidelines for Accountability which is an outcome of the reform measures being spearheaded by the newly appointed Director General of the Civil Service Agency (CSA), Josiah F. Joekai.

A Program agenda glimpsed at by this paper puts the venue of the launching at the Theater of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ministerial Complex in Congo Town, Monrovia and will starts at 10:00 to 11:30 PM.

The launch is a significant step towards enhancing efficiency, effectiveness and accountability in the provision of consultancy services across government spending entities. Recently, CSA Director General Joekai promised sweeping reforms at the CSA, especially with respect to the consultancy services offered by the government with zero output after draining the national treasury. The latest initiative is seen as a measure to curtail the defects of government spending on services that it cannot get.

Director-General Joekai also went deeper to highlight the astronomical amount spent on consultancy services by the past administration, which he puts at a whopping US$6.1m alone; something he said does not reflect the quality of the job or consultancy provided.

Taking the CSA as a case study, he said a review was conducted and an alarming result garnered showed that out of the folders of 18 consultants selected, employed, and remunerated “none of the 18 consultants received a contract until after 9 months into the so-called annual engagement”.

Director-General Joekai further stated that of the 18 consultants, eight did not have a valid contract in their folders, only 12 consultants participated in a headcount exercise and the remaining 6 did not show up to date and are still unaccounted for despite receiving payments.

“In short, they are ghosts, and no reports for services provided; no performance appraisal reports; no timesheets, and no Terms of Reference (ToRs),” he said.

The CSA boss said these shortcomings will be eradicated if consultancy is guided by the National Consultancy Guidelines that will be launched today by President Boakai.