Fourth NAP of OGP Launched

-Head of Secretariat Calls for Inclusiveness

The Head of secretariat of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) has stressed the urgent need for collaboration and total involvement of all government ministries, agencies and public corporations as Liberia launched the fourth National Action Plan (NAP) of OGP.

Speaking at the launch of a project titled: Advancing transparency, social, political and financial accountability in the governance process,” G. Ralph Jimmeh Jr., recalled that since the country acceded to the OGP in 2012, it has failed to fully implement its national action plan.

According to Jimmeh, this has been so due to the lack of involvement, coordination, collaboration, and interaction of government’s line ministries, agencies and commissions.

“Since we acceded to this worldwide transparency agreement, we have not been fully successful in the implementation of our national action plans due to different constraints such as resource mobilization and the lack of involvement of some ministries and agencies,” Jimmeh asserted.

In order for the ensuing plan to succeed, The OGP Secretariat noted that there is a need to make it more interactive by bringing together all ministries, agencies and public corporations so that each is concentrated on a specific goal and action.

He pointed out that the OGP initiative is critical to national development and is in line with the government’s agenda.

“This project is intended to foster closer tie in the implementation of the national agenda to move our country forward,” added Jimmeh.

In remarks, the chairman of the Steering Committee of the OGP, Attorney Daniel C. Gayedyu Jr., reaffirmed government’s commitment to transparency, accountability, citizens’ participation and government responsiveness to its citizens.

Atty. Gayedyu, who is also Deputy Minister for Administration at the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism (MICAT), said in accomplishment of the OGP, the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) led government under the stewardship of President George Manneh Weah, is certain that it can fully deliver on the commitment that is ambitious, transformative, but feasible.

“The government through Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism, has provided office space for the secretariat. We are hoping that our development partners assist the operations of the secretariat as we all strive to achieve openness in government,” he stated.

Madam Massa Crayton, Country Director of Open Society Initiative of West Africa (OSIWA), described the newly launched project of OGP as a good initiative to move Liberia forward.

The OSIWA Country Director indicated that the OGP initiative is of great importance because it paves the way for the country to get external funding that will support its developmental agenda.

“And so, as previous speakers have already stated, we want the Ministries and agencies to be inclusive in the crafting o the new action plan. There are great prospects as this is geared towards promoting development,” she added.

The one-year project is partly funded by the Open Society Initiative of West Africa (OSIWA).