By K. Ericson Sayee
The Director General of the Civil Service Agency (CSA), Dr. Josiah F. Joekai, has dived into the significance of the US$1 billion locally raised, revealing that the amount collected has helped in the construction and rehabilitation of roads and other public facilities, thus facilitating the implementation of the decentralization of local government.
Joekai, when appearing on State radio on Monday, October 12, 2026, said the one “billion dollars” is not just “sitting in one room at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning”, but rather it is being equally distributed in key sectors that the government is exerting efforts to improve.
He highlighted the improvement of infrastructure development, particularly pinpointing the massive road construction and rehabilitation across the country.
Joekai asserted that with the help of the domestic resource mobilization, there is a significant decentralization of local government, noting that Liberia’s local government is no longer centralized, as it used to be in the past.
“Have you ever seen our local government been modernized the way it is being done?”, the Director General of the Civil Service Agency (CSA) asked, further disclosing that “our local government structure is being decentralized with the devolution of power to the people, and not centralized and sitting in Monrovia, where every county’s superintendent and administration had to look up to Monrovia before taking step”.
According to him, since the foundation of the country, this is the first time for citizens to see their government practically decentralizing local government structure.
He added that every facet of Liberia is feeling the impact of the US1 billion locally collected revenue, but he averred that the government will continue to ramp up its efforts in addressing these sectors as it is being expected.
As for the revenue collected, Joekai expressed that those politicizing the collection of the historic revenue collection have motives to make citizens to devalue the significance of an improved revenue.
The Director General asserted that as the national revenue continues to improve, the government will also widen its development agenda and the improvement of every government institution.
“It is affecting every sector. So, when they say billion, it is not just sitting in one room. When they say billion, it is the national cake that is being equally distributed and the cake is being improved. In fact, it is getting sweeter than before”, Dr. Joekai said.