By: Julius Konton
In a significant step toward strengthening local governance and bringing public financial management closer to citizens, the Government of Liberia, through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP), has announced the launch of a weeklong county treasury implementation and fiscal decentralization engagement across five counties beginning Monday, May 18.
The initiative, spearheaded by the MFDP’s Fiscal Decentralization Unit, will cover Rivercess, Grand Bassa, Margibi, Bong, and Nimba Counties, bringing together county authorities, treasury officials, spending entities, financial administrators, and development stakeholders to improve financial accountability, budget execution, and service delivery at the subnational level.
According to the Ministry, the engagements scheduled from May 18–22, 2026 represent another milestone in Liberia’s ongoing effort to shift governance and fiscal administration beyond the capital, Monrovia, and empower county-level institutions to manage public resources more efficiently.
Deputy Minister for Budget and Development Planning, Tenneh G. Brunson, is expected to officially launch the exercise in Rivercess County, after which technical consultations will continue in Grand Bassa County, Margibi County, Bong County, and Nimba County.
Strengthening Accountability at the County Level
The Ministry says the engagement will focus on implementation of the 2026 Fiscal Rules, budget disaggregation, county treasury operations, expenditure reporting, and accountability mechanisms aimed at improving transparency in the use of public resources.
At the center of the reform is a policy objective requiring government spending entities operating in the counties to function through county treasury systems in alignment with Liberia’s Revenue Sharing Law and decentralization framework.
Director of the Fiscal Decentralization Unit, Romeo D. N. Gbartea, emphasized that ministries, agencies, and commissions operating outside Monrovia are expected to increasingly process fiscal operations through county treasury structures to strengthen local ownership and financial oversight.
The initiative aligns with the decentralization priorities of Liberian President Joseph Nyuma Boakai Sr., whose administration has repeatedly emphasized governance reforms intended to improve service delivery and accountability across the country.
A Long Road Toward Decentralization
Liberia’s decentralization journey has evolved gradually over the past two decades as policymakers sought to reduce excessive administrative concentration in Monrovia and improve public access to government services.
Following years of civil conflict, decentralization became a national priority to strengthen peacebuilding, local participation, and equitable development.
The country later adopted reforms including the Local Government Act of 2018 and broader decentralization frameworks to transfer governance and administrative functions to local structures.
Liberia currently consists of 15 counties, serving as the country’s principal administrative divisions, with county administrations playing a growing role in planning and implementation of development priorities.
Government and development partners have increasingly framed decentralization as essential to reducing inequalities in access to services, particularly in rural communities where citizens often travel long distances to access government institutions and financial approvals.
Previous decentralization efforts, including county service centers, have sought to bring administrative functions closer to citizens while reducing bureaucratic bottlenecks.
Expanding County Treasury Infrastructure
The MFDP disclosed that assessments have already been completed for the establishment of six additional county treasuries in Sinoe, Grand Kru, Maryland, Grand Gedeh, Lofa, and Bomi Counties, a move officials say will deepen financial transparency and increase efficiency in local governance.
The expansion follows earlier efforts to operationalize county treasury systems in selected counties as government seeks to gradually establish fiscal management mechanisms nationwide.
Previous assessments by the Ministry noted that county treasury structures were designed to institutionalize fiduciary functions outside Monrovia and improve expenditure tracking among ministries, agencies, and commissions operating at county level.
If fully implemented, the reforms would broaden Liberia’s fiscal decentralization footprint across much of the country’s subnational governance architecture.
Supporting the ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development
Officials say the county treasury implementation exercise directly supports Liberia’s ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development (AAID) 2025–2029, the Boakai administration’s national development framework, as well as the County Development Agendas (CDAs).
The AAID identifies governance, accountability, and stronger public institutions among its priorities and aims to improve state responsiveness, transparency, and economic inclusion.
Liberia’s development framework also seeks measurable improvements in economic growth, public service delivery, and poverty reduction, with government estimates targeting increased GDP growth and stronger institutional performance over the coming years.
Approximately 45 percent of Liberia’s population currently lives in multidimensional poverty, underscoring the importance of governance reforms that improve local development outcomes.
For the MFDP, officials say, strengthening county treasury systems is not simply an administrative exercise, it represents a structural shift toward ensuring that public resources are managed closer to the communities they are intended to serve.
