By: Geeplay Ezekiel Geeplay | Contributing Writer
Monrovia, Liberia |Feb. 4, 2026|The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Liberia team on Monday, January 26, 2026, held a high-level meeting with the administration of the Governance Commission (GC) to review the country’s decentralization program, share lessons learned, and address pressing challenges.
The meeting, which also focused on the Revenue Sharing Law, the draft National Development Plan and decentralization plan, highlighted the incorporation of local government leaders’ inputs.
During the meeting, GC Acting Chair Alaric Tokpa emphasized the imperative need to review Liberia’s constitution in an effort to fortifying decentralization efforts. “Resources and budget must be prioritized to measure program impact,” he stressed, underscoring the need for adequate funding.
Despite decline in access to funding opportunities, the Acting Chair noted that there is progress in the development of a robust framework to enhance Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) mechanisms.
Professor Alaric Tokpa wants a collective effort to ensure the implementation of the Revenue Sharing Law and the Local Government Act. He told the UNDP team that the Governance Commission is always ready to carry out its role in conducting assessment as well as monitoring and evaluation.
The UNDP has supported the Governance Commission in implementing the decentralization policy, including training for County Service Centers.
The Governance Commission’s Acting Chair meanwhile requested logistics support, including vehicles, to bolster the commission’s monitoring and evaluation efforts and lauded the UNDP Liberia team for the visit.
Also speaking, GC’s Executive Director Mr. Jallah Kesselly highlighted the critical role of political will, stating, “…things don’t work well without it.” He then advocated for institutional safeguards to ensure program sustainability.
“More funding is required to enable the GC and other partners to carry out awareness for citizens to fully understand how the decentralization program and the revenue sharing laws work,” ED Jallah noted.
For his part, Commissioner Matthew Kollie lamented that past initiatives were often donor-driven, neglecting community priorities.
The GC Oversight Commissioner for the National Integrity System (NIS) Mandate Area strongly emphasized the need for the decentralization program to reflect local leaders.
According to Mr. Matthew Kollie, there was a loss in the implementation of the decentralization program because of systematic gaps. Comm. Kollie wants the UNDP to synchronize the GC work plans to align with their programs.
Meanwhile, the UNDP National Program Coordinator for Liberia Decentralization Support Program Eric Boykai has reaffirmed support for Liberia’s decentralization drive, emphasizing collective inputs to avoid donor influence. He was accompanied to the Governance Commission by Alashi Basel, UNDP Independent Consultant.
The meeting aimed to strengthen GC-UNDP collaboration and marked a renewed commitment to effective governance and citizen-centric development for successful decentralization implementation.
Additionally, the meeting addressed fiscal decentralization and County Service Centers’ performance.
