Senator Cyrus purple flag safety & financial implications over the federal government’s secret outsourcing via MoUs to overseas firms
By Lincoln G. Peters
Capitol Hill, July 14, 2025: The Liberian Senate Protection and Safety Committee Chair, Momo Tarnuekollie Cyrus, has warned the federal government of Liberia that nationwide safety will not be on the market.
Capitol Hill, July 14, 2025: Sen. Cyrus’ remark comes within the wake of the federal government’s plan to outsource car registration and driver’s license Issuance to a overseas firm, whereas outlining the safety and financial Implications.
The Senate chairperson on Protection, Safety, Intelligence, and Veteran Affairs, Lofa County Senator issued the strict and unwavering condemnation of the choice by the Authorities of Liberia to outsource the essential nationwide operate of auto registration and driver’s license issuance to Liberia Visitors Administration (LTM), a foreign-controlled entity over the weekend.
This choice, set to take impact on July 13, 2025, and confirmed by the Liberia Nationwide Police in its current public assertion, he stated, constitutes a gross misjudgment with grave nationwide safety, financial, sovereignty, and accountability implications.
” Let it’s made abundantly clear: no sovereign nation entrusts the custody, issuance, and regulation of significant identification and vehicular knowledge to a overseas industrial curiosity. This act dangerously exposes Liberia to the danger of information breaches, undermines nationwide management over transportation programs, and creates a direct pipeline for the exploitation of delicate citizen info. Nationwide safety will not be on the market.” He urged.
In line with him, outsourcing this core safety operate — which entails biometric knowledge, geographic monitoring, id verification, and vehicular motion — to a overseas entity is tantamount to weakening the very foundations of Liberia’s inner safety structure.
Senator Momoh identified that from terrorism prevention and border management to legislation enforcement coordination, each side of contemporary safety depends on home management of licensing and registration knowledge.
” However the menace goes past safety. The financial construction of this concession is equally troubling. Below the phrases of the 2019 settlement, LTM retains 70% of all income generated from license plates, driver’s licenses, roadworthiness certificates, and car registrations, leaving solely 30% for Liberia—a grossly unfair break up by each measure. That is in sharp distinction to extra equitable public-private partnership fashions just like the CTN port settlement, the place authorities income shares exceed 40%” he disclosed.
Senator Momoh additional acknowledged that, worse nonetheless, there is no such thing as a assured minimal fee, no income escalators, and no revenue cap within the deal.
He argued that Liberia stands to achieve nothing proportional to site visitors quantity or financial progress. On the similar time, LTM reaps unchecked earnings, including that in high-registration intervals, the nation’s infrastructure bears the burden, however the earnings stream elsewhere.
” The Senate Committee is additional alarmed that this deal has successfully disabled the Ministry of Transport of its statutory mandate, stripping it of core duties and revenue-generating roles. The Liberia Nationwide Police has additionally seen its authority lowered to mere enforcement, with out entry to the revenues it historically collects,” Senator Momoh famous.
He lamented that much more disturbing is the displacement of over 200 Liberians, largely professionals from the Ministry of Transport and LNP, whose roles have now been handed over to a overseas operator.
Senator Momoh harassed that in a rustic already battling excessive unemployment, this motion is each economically reckless and morally unacceptable.
” The Committee views this transfer as a direct affront to Liberian sovereignty, a violation of the precept of state monopoly over security-related capabilities, and a betrayal of the Liberian individuals’s belief. At a time when residents are demanding extra jobs, transparency, and stronger establishments, this authorities has as a substitute chosen to complement a overseas curiosity on the expense of nationwide dignity and safety.” He added.
The Lofa Senator questioned and urged the Liberian individuals to ask who vetted the corporate? The place is their monitor report? Below what authorized framework was such a delicate mandate awarded? And why is there no clear provision for income transparency, citizen safety, or parliamentary oversight?
“We name for an instantaneous suspension of this association till a full legislative inquiry is carried out and all safety, authorized, and financial implications are addressed. We subsequently urge the President of the Republic, His Excellency Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., to swiftly reverse this choice and display his dedication to defending Liberian sovereignty, guaranteeing transparency, and upholding nationwide safety and financial equity.” He concluded. – Edited by Othello B. Garblah.
