Resident Advisor for National Accounts

Honorable Boima S. Kamara is the current Minister of Finance and Development Planning of the Republic of Liberia. Appointed on May 13, 2016 by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, he became only the second person to hold the post since the ministry was established through an Act of National Legislation in 2013, replacing Minister Amara M. Konneh.
Prior to becoming Minister, he served as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia for Economic Policy. In that position, he was responsible for macroeconomic governance, specifically, Debt and Economic Management, inclusive of which was the mandate to achieve low inflation and a stable exchange rate in the country. His contributions were pivotal to Liberia’s sustained GDP growth rate achieved over the period 2008-2013.
As Deputy Governor for Economic Policy, he had the privilege and opportunity to work with counterparts and colleagues from the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, the ministry he now heads, and gained valuable experiences on various fiscal issues and challenges affecting Liberia through those interactions.
Honorable Kamara spent more than 14 years of his professional career at the Central Bank, and served with distinctions in a number of mid-level to senior positions as Junior Analyst, Economist, Assistant Director and Director of Research Policy and Planning.
While serving at the Bank, and in his immediate past position, he had numerous engagements with Liberia’s development partners, especially the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the ECOWAS Commission, so Minister Kamara is very familiar with Liberia’s development partners critically involved in the financial sector.
In addition to his professional experience, Minister Kamara brings to the position a solid academic grounding in Economics. In 2001, he obtained a Bachelors of Science Degree in Economics, Summa Cum Laude, from the University of Liberia. And in 2005, he interrupted his service at the Bank and he enrolled at the University of Ghana, Legon, graduating in 2007 with a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) Degree in Economics. His MPhil thesis was titled “Financial Sector Development and Economic Growth: The Case of Liberia 1960 – 1989, a time period in which Liberia’s political economy experienced a high degree of indeterminacy and uncertainty, especially in the decades of the 1970s and 80s, as the country transitioned to democracy.
Minister Kamara is also an academic, and for the last 15 years has lectured or taught courses in the Department of Economics, University of Liberia, his Alma Mater. From 2001 to 2007, he was a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Economics, and from 2007 – 2016, he taught courses in Advanced Econometrics, Monetary Economics, International Economics and Health Economics.
He hailed from Bomi County, Western Liberia, born to Ma Yatta Moore, a market woman and John Kamara David (a driver) now deceased. He began his primary and secondary schooling at the Lorma Community School in Buzzi Quarters, a slum community, and later enrolled at the Seven Day Adventist High School on Camp Johnson Road, Monrovia, subsequently joining the St. Patrick’s High School where graduated from high school as salutatorian in 1994.

Samora P. Z. Wolokolie, MBA, CFE, CA, CPA, CFIP

Over the course of a professional career in business and finance spanning 14+ years, Samora P.Z. Wolokolie has lived and worked in Liberia; serves as Deputy Minister for Fiscal Affairs at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning. His primary responsibility is to manage the financial resources of Liberia; develop and administer the financial rules and regulations of the republic. He oversees and executes all matters relating to government accounting, including pay, pensions, and other allowances as well as develop fiscal policy. Additionally, he is responsible to oversee all matters concerning the framing of proposals regarding tax and non-tax revenue, tax reform as part of fiscal consolidation, coordinate with and generally perform all such services relative to the management of government finances as may be required by law; and implement expenditure proposals of Ministries and Agencies of Government as appropriated in the budget. Immediately prior to his appointment as Deputy Minister for Fiscal Affairs at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning by His Excellency Dr. George Manneh Weah, Hon. Wolokolie served as Managing Partner of a BICON. INC. national firm; his professional experience includes a period of service with Baker Tilly, Liberia (then VOSCON INC) and PKF, Liberia at senior management levels (Before joining BICON, Inc.), Mr. Wolokolie is a recognized, professional accountant, auditor and tax practitioner in Liberia and has served as Engagement Manager in-charge of Audit and Tax with as well as Audit Supervisor at Baker Tilly, Liberia (then VOSCON, INC) and PKF, Liberia respectively in Monrovia. He also served as Director of the Internal Audit Division at the Ministry of Finance under a definite World Bank / GOL contract. Mr. Wolokolie is an adjunct lecturer of Auditing, Taxation and Accounting at the Arthur Barclay Business College of the Stella Maris Polytechnic and the Financial Management Training Program (FMTP), graduate school, of the University of Liberia and financed by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning through a World Bank-funded project. He has spoken at various professional gatherings and forums in several workshops and seminars in and out of Liberia.

Samora is a multi-skilled, business consultant. His successful track record as a high-level consulting and risk management, tax and audit practitioner in competitive national and international markets has required, a willingness to appreciate, learn and successfully employ skills in a number of key multi-disciplinary areas. Samora’s skill sets and prior experience include:

• Business evaluation and Corporate Strategy
• Corporate Governance, Risk Management, and Internal Audit
• Process Mapping and the Design / Implementation of Control Systems
• Financial Management
• Corporate Financial and Regulatory Reporting
• Audit and Assurance (External and Internal)
• Project Management, training, and Human Resource Management

Samora is a Liberian scholar and holds an MBA in Accounting from the Cuttington University in 2007. He is a Chartered Accountant (CA) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (Ghana), a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) of the Liberian Institute of Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiner, USA and Certified Forensic Investigation Professional (CFIP) of the International Institute of Certified Forensic Investigation Professional of Kenya and USA. Additionally, he holds membership with the Liberian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (LICPA), the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ghana (ICAG), Association of Certified Fraud Examiner (ACFE), Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) and International Institute of Certified Forensic Investigation Professionals (IICFIP). His ability to blend his core technical expertise, broad managerial competencies and varied work-experiences with his relationship-building (interpersonal) and leadership skills, has underpinned his professional and career successes over the last one and a half decade.

Samora managed audits of USAID contractors receiving contracts and grants for capacity building projects in Liberia. The objectives of the audits were to determine that: charges to contracts and grants were properly supported and reasonable, internal control structure was adequate, overhead costs were allocated in compliance with contract provisions and applicable laws and regulations. The audits were performed in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards, Government Auditing Standards, and provisions of the Federal Acquisition Regulations.
Mr. Wolokolie has overseen large, multi-site audit and consulting engagements for entities with complex organizational structures and accounting systems. Mr. Wolokolie prepared numerous management letters recommending improvements in the internal controls for a wide variety of accounting systems in both the public and private sectors. Additionally, he managed the implementation of system improvements such as the standardization of accounting procedures among related entities.

As an audit partner, Mr. Wolokolie had substantial experience in all phases of the audit cycle. He participates in the planning of audits and reviews; discusses audit progress (including all significant issues) with the audit manager or in-charge accountant; and provides technical expertise when difficult audit matters arise. He performs primary and overriding reviews of the working papers and client reports.

Dr. Mounir Siaplay is the first Deputy Minister for Economic Management at the newly formed Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Republic of Liberia. As Deputy Minister, he serves as the principal advisor to the Government of Liberia on issues of economic policy and management that drive the Agenda for Transformation and Liberia’s Vision 2030. Prior to his appointment as Deputy Minister, Dr. Siaplay served as the Economic Advisor to the President of the Republic of Liberia, Her Excellency Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

Dr. Siaplay also served as the Country Economist for the International Growth Centre (IGC) Programme in Liberia, jointly directed by the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Oxford. In this capacity, Dr. Siaplay contributed immensely to the creation and delivery of high quality policy and research outputs. These include policy briefs, research papers, synthesis papers and growth events for dissemination to policy makers and the wider audience.

On the academic front, Dr. Siaplay served as a lecturer at the Oklahoma State University and was teaching courses in Microeconomics, Managerial Economics, Money and Banking and Economics of Sport. He was also a research assistant at the North Dakota State University and the Oklahoma State University, working and publishing in peer reviewed journals on a range of topics which include: price volatility and hedging strategies in the wheat market; economics of food safety; the effects of social cash transfers on youth labor force participation and schooling; and the economics of dual citizenship.

Outside of academia, Dr. Siaplay worked as an insurance risk analyst for Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota, freight bill analyst for Val Spar Corporation in Minnesota and as a summer intern banker for Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union in Minnesota.

Dr. Siaplay earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the Oklahoma State University, MSc. in Agribusiness and Applied Economics from the North Dakota State University and a B.A. in Economics and International Relations from the Concordia College. His research interests are: Development Economics and Applied Econometrics.

The Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning declares that resources have been secured through the Ebola Trust Fund to underwrite the cost of one-off payments to private school teachers.
According to a Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) release, all Private Schools are required to have accurate Personnel Payrolls Records for April 2014 and May 2014, and that of April 2015 and May 2015 at their institutions as auditors from the Internal Audit Agency (IAA), will visit schools premises anytime during the payment period.

Policy Analyst for Modeling (1 Position)

To be a dynamic and efficiently managed institution of public finance, economic management and development planning to achieve sustainable economic growth and transformation.

MISSION
The Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) is established to promote inclusive, sustainable growth and development through:
• Efficient resource allocation
• Equitable wealth distribution
• Prudent financial management
• Integrated development planning
• Well coordinated economic management
• Formulation and implementation of sound fiscal and economic policies

http://www.frontpageafricaonline.com/index.php/news/3370-liberia-s-finance-minister-cbl-governor-leave-dc-with-goodies

Liberia considers partnership on SDGs