Senate Pro – Karunga Lawrence’s recent speech to the Liberian Senate shows an ambitious and admirable step towards modernisation and institutional discipline within the assembly. From the complete deployment of biometric times and attendance systems to the integration of the Starlink Internet, official email addresses and the completed draft of the Senate strategic plan, Protempor has revealed that the Senate intends to lead the front in Liberia’s digital transformation.
This is not a small feat. In a political environment where inertia often obscures initiatives, Khanga Lawrence’s leadership injected momentum and purpose into the Senate, at least administratively. Biometric systems, when managed honestly, address the long evacuation issue of time fraud that emits public resources and erodes public trust. The Senate leap before the Senate meeting the order of Executive Order No. 147 is a rare display of initiatives in a country where legislative bodies are frequently slow to basic reforms.
However, modernization should not be mistaken for transformation. Structural changes are hollow unless they involve strict surveillance, bold accountability and public transparency.
Protempore’s call for quick action on more than $200 million in agricultural sector loans reportedly went down to unimplemented road functions, with $40 million reportedly aimed at struggling farmers, a decisive test. For years, Liberians have seen the vast amounts allocated to agriculture, and rural development has disappeared into bureaucratic black holes. It was encouraging that Karnga-Lawrence was entrusted with the Agriculture Commission to hold a hearing, but the public has heard such a promise before. The important thing right now is follow-through.
The same applies to her concerns about delayed funding for referral hospitals and health centers. If a citizen of Rivergie or Grand Kuru is dying in preventable circumstances while funds are stuck in the Treasury pipeline, the Senate must act decisively. Lacking healthcare requires life expectancy. Legislative inquiries should not end with toothless reports shelved in the dusty committee room.
Furthermore, her request for a fair distribution of the Road Fund and her investigation into alleged violations of the Road Fund Act reveals perceptions of growing regional dissatisfaction over the marginalisation of infrastructure. For too long, funds have been focused on politically strategic regions. Often they ignore the real needs of poor counties. Protempo Karn Ga Lawrence must turn her words over with her actions. Naming offenders and enforcing legislative consequences would be a true test of whether this Senate is a reform office or a rubber stamp.
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It is also appropriate for her to recognize the Commission on Concessions for her active work on natural resource management. Liberian extraction sector remains a fertile basis for exploitation, not just by foreign multinationals, but also by local actors who undermine the national interests. If this Senate could draft and promote coercive reforms to cleanse the sector, it would have given the nation a great service.
Yet, institutional housekeeping, strategic planning, or biometric check-in does not replace the basic Senate responsibility. Reforms must extend beyond Capitolville’s Wi-Fi range to the fields, clinics, roads and homes of ordinary Liberians.
Senator Khanga Lawrence laid the foundation. Now there’s a more difficult part – determining the outcomes that are important for people.
If the Senate wants to take it seriously as a reform-led organisation, it must rise beyond internal restructuring and ultimately explain what is powerful.
People are watching. So is us too.
