OUR ATTENTION IS DRAWN TO THE fact that the Ministry of Local Government in recent time has embarked on relegation or dissolution of legislatively created cities throughout the country.
APPARENTLY, THE MINISTER OF LOCAL Government does not know and understand the complexities border on his terms of reference in contemporary political, social and economic realities. Mr. Minister, your duty as Minister of Local Government is to liaise with local or municipal authorities to ensure that the country is peaceful and tension freed. We do not want to begin with the legal aspect of your decision to dissolve cities because we know the decision you have reached and executed is not yours, instead it is a legislative function, not executive.
WE ARE LOOKING AT THE HUMAN ASPECT of your action, and the ramification to the larger society. Putting four hundred and fifty City Majors out of job has a far-reaching consequence against the Unity party- led government.
WE ARE WONDERING WHAT BECOME of those City Majors after you dissolved their cities? Do you let go of them, even though, you have failed to acknowledge the sacrifices they have made. As a matter of fact, these majors were underpaid. Some of them could hardly get their pay either, yet they thought to hold on out of passion to serving their country.
EVEN THOUGH, THE MINISTRY OF LOCAL Government does not possess independent authority to relegate or dissolve a city created by an Act of the Legislature. Section 2.16 (c) of the Local Government Act of 2018 establishes a process under which the Ministry is to verify whether existing cities satisfy the statutory development and other requirements and report its findings to the Legislature for reaffirmation. The Ministry’s statutory role is therefore one of verification, assessment and reporting, not relegation or dissolution.
ALTHOUGH THE ACT PROVIDES THAT A CITY failing to satisfy the prescribed criteria shall be “relegated to a town status,” that provision must be read together with the requirement that the Minister of Local Government must report to the Legislature for reaffirmation. It does not expressly delegate to the Ministry the power to repeal, revoke or extinguish the legal status of a city established by legislative enactment.
WHERE THE LEGISLATURE HAS CREATED a city by statute, an administrative officer cannot, absent a clear delegation of legislative authority, exercise a power that effectively amends, repeals or overrides the statute creating that city. Think about it and act wisely for a better Liberia.
