LIBERIA: Bryant offers civil servants first pay in more than a year

Ansu Konneh/IRIN-WA


MONROVIA, 2 Nov 2003 (IRIN) - Gyude Bryant, the chairman of Liberia's
transitional government, has lowered the retail price of rice and fuel and
has promised civil servants that they will get their first pay for more
than a year within the next few days.

Delivering his first speech to the nation since being sworn in of 14
October, Bryant said on Saturday that he had approved nominations to 18 of
the 21 ministerial posts in Liberia's broad-based transitional government
and these would be sent to the country's transitional parliament for
confirmation.

He also promised to name a panel of five supreme court judges during the
coming week from a shortlist of seven names submitted to him by the
Liberian Bar Association.

Bryant sidestepped a row that has developped over who has the right to
appoint assistant ministers and the deputy managing directors of state
corporations.

But he warned Liberians that his team had inherited an empty treasury and
debts of more than US 3.0 billion.

The former businessman, who is charged with healing the wounds of civil war
and leading Liberia to fresh elections in 2005, announced the setting up of
a government commission to oversee the disarmament of the armed forces
loyal to former president Charles Taylor and two rebel movements. However,
he did not say when the process of demobilisation and disarmament would
begin.

A UN draft plan, circulated to journalists by UN officials at the end of
October, called for disarmament to begin in mid-January, by which time the
UN peacekeeping force in Liberia should have built up to near its full
strength of 15,000 men and should have completed its deployment throughout
the country.

One of Bryant's first acts on coming to power was to liberalise the
importation of rice, Liberia's staple food. Former president Taylor, who
was forced to step down and go into exile in August, had previously granted
a monopoly on rice imports to his cronies, who had charged high prices.

In his speech on Saturday, Bryant ordered a reduction of 10 to 15 percent
in the retail price of rice, depending on quality. The price of a 50 kg
sack of middle-grade rice will fall from US$ 20 to $18, he said.

Following the normalisation of fuel supplies after nearly three months of
peace, Bryant also decreed a sharp fall in fuel prices. Petrol will drop
from US $3.0 per gallon to $2.25.

The chairman of the transitional government announced that civil servants,
who had not been paid for between 14 and 18 months, depending on the
ministry, would receive their salary for October in the coming days. "I
want to assure civil servants that efforts are now being finalised to
commence the payment of October salaries next week," Bryant said.

But he hinted that it may be some time before the arrears they are owed are
made good. Bryant said that after 14 years of civil war, government coffers
were empty and his administration had inherited a domestic and foreign
debt "of over US $3.0 billion."

Bryant announced that a National Commission on Disarmament, Demobilisation,
Rehabilitation and Reintegration had been set up under his chairmanship, in
compliance with the terms of the peace agreement signed in August, and that
this held its first meeting on Friday.

He said the commission comprised representatives of Taylor's former
government and the two rebel movements, Liberians United for Reconciliation
and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), the
United Nations, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the
African Union, the International Contact Group on Liberia and the Liberian
ministries of justice, defence and finance.

However, Bryant did not say when the disarmament of Liberia's former
combatants, estimated by the United Nations to number 38,000, would start.

Bryant, who was appointed to lead Liberia to fresh elections by the
signatories to the August peace agreement, sidestepped a recent row with
LURD over the appointment of senior government officials below ministerial
level.

Two weeks ago, he rejected three LURD nominees for senior positions in the
army, finance ministry and central bank, prompting the rebel movement to
block one of the main roads leading out of Monrovia for three days and call
for Bryant's removal as head of state. Tempers cooled after Bryant held a
closed-doors meeting with members of the transitional legislature, but the
issue remains unresolved.

Bryant said in his speech on Saturday: "In the interest of peace,
reconciliation and harmony, we remain open to dialogue resolving issue of
disagreement with any of the parties as we move forward."

He reminded Liberians that ECOWAS had recommend a 12-month freeze on the
appointment of assistant ministers in order to save money. He also pointed
out that in default of a specific agreement on the allocation of such posts
in the 18 August peace agreement, the constitution gave him as head of
state authority to appoint assistant ministers.

"It is expected that such positions will be filled in accordance with
normal Liberian regulatory procedures," Bryant said.

However, Cyril Allen, a former aide of Taylor who is chairman of Taylor's
National Patriotic Party, said this ran counter to a deal struck between
the rump of Taylor's government, LURD and MODEL in the aftermath of the
Accra peace agreement. Allen told IRIN on Sunday that the three warring
parties had reached agreement on how to split up more than 80 senior
government jobs between them.

"We are insisting that these lists be adhered to," he said.

MODEL spokesman Eugene Wilson grumbled that his movement had not been
consulted by Bryant on any senior government appointments and pointed out
that the chairman of the transitional government had appointed a deputy
managing director for the Liberian Petroleum Refining Corporation, a
position which MODEL claimed the right to fill.

LURD deputy secretary general for civil affairs Sekou Fofana, declined to
comment.

All of Liberia's governments in recent years have been noted for high
levels of corruption, but Bryant warned his ministers and civil servants
that they would no longer be allowed to stuff the public's cash into their
own pockets.

"Let me remind all of us who are holding government jobs that it is not
going to be business as usual," he said. "All of us will be monitored and
assessed by the highest standards of transparency and accountability."

He warned civil servants that there would be "zero tolerance" of corruption.

On Sunday, the Obersver newspaper in Britain reported that the US Congress
had approved a US $2 million reward for the capture of Taylor, who is
wanted by a war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone for his part in that
country's civil war. The reward had been tacked on to a bill granting $87
billion of economic aid to Iraq and Afghanistan, the newspaper said.

Diplomatic sources in Monrovia said they were aware that the measure was
being planned.

Taylor has been granted political asylum by Nigeria. The former president
and his family and close advisers are currently living in a complex of
government VIP residences in the southeastern town of Calabar.

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