In what appears to be white ballot which is a reaffirmation of the confidence repose in them by their professional colleagues, Messrs Victor SBK Tanwone Sr and Papin Daniels Jr are returning unopposed to their positions as President and Vice President respectively when the Liberian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (LICPA) holds its election tomorrow, Saturday, October 16, 2021 to pick new officials to steer the affairs of the organization for the next two years. Both men are seeking their second and final terms in office.
According to Mr. Steven D. Seimvula, Chairman of the Elections Commission, in line with provisions of the relevant sections of the LICPA ACT and bylaws, his commission published guidelines for the election for the president, vice president and a council member but at the end of the deadline on October 2, 2021, only the incumbent president and vice president applied and since no other application was received, it means the two officials will be on the ballot during the election. He also said that no one applied for the Council member which means nominations will be accepted on the floor during the election
“Meanwhile, the work of the council of the institute will have to continue in line with the LICPA and bylaws. Therefore for the position of council member for which the commission did not receive any application the commission may open the floor on the day of elections for members to be nominated from the floor for those who would still be interested in becoming council members. This position shall complete the composition of the council and makes its operation functional”, a email message from Mr. Seimvula to members of the organization said.
The council is composed of 7 members, of which 3 are statutory positions and are nominated from the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, the Central Bank of Liberia and the General Audit Commission while the other 3 positions are the President, the Vice President and the immediate President and the elected member completes the list to 7 persons.
Meanwhile on the eve of the election which has now turned out to be a done deal for him, the President, Mr. Victor SBK Tanwone Sr has spoken of his achievements over the years which perhaps informed the decision of his professional colleagues to give him another 2 year mandate to lead the institute.
He said his leadership purchased a building at the cost of USD85, 000.00 to be used as the National secretariat of the institute which he said is the first of its kind since the establishment of the organization 88 years ago and that the dedication of the building is tentatively scheduled for December 2021. He also said there was an increment of the number of students for professional and ATSWA programs to 185 and 360 respectively, again being the first of its kind in the history of the institute.
“My leadership from November 15, 2018 to date generated a total of US$544,041.54 net of CPDs, membership, levies dues and government subvention. This was made possible through our strategy captioned “professionalizing the public sector”. Under this program, my leadership developed a concept paper and marketed it to development partners (World Bank, African Development Bank, UNDP, etc). The concept paper highlights the need for funding to train and certified public sector comptrollers, CFOs, Finance Directors, and accountants. MoUs were signed with the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MOFDP). Additional public sector institution were engaged to sponsor staff into the program under donors funding. These institutions are: GAC, CBL, and the IAA in 2022”, he said.
The tough talking leader who is said to already mapping up strategies to take the institute to what he called the next level, further named his achievements as securing a $270,000.00 World Bank grant and implementation of the Grant for the administration of LICPA’s professional exams started in 2020 and ongoing, the hosting of the Regional Accountancy body, the Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA) Council meeting in January 2021 and the LICPA nomination rectified by ABWA Council to host the 2 ECOWAS/ABWA Joint Congress in 2022.
He continued, “Our leadership reduced the dependence on government’s subvention by increasing internal revenue generation, ICAG Council approved technical assistance request to our professional exams administration, Stakeholders engagement to curb illegal audit activities by illegal audit firms and individuals, LICPA draft Sanction Regulations completed, signed and published and we entered into a Technical and Research grant collaboration agreement with the Institute of Chartered Accountants, India”, he concluded.
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