President George M Weah
Outgoing Liberian President George Manneh Weah has issued “Executive Order No. 124 placing a Moratorium on the exportation of unprocessed natural rubber from Liberia. The Executive Order was issued by the Liberian leader late Tuesday, December 12, 2023.
The Executive Order noted, “Article 5 (c) of the Liberian Constitution provides that the Republic shall take steps, by appropriate legislation and Executive Orders to eliminate the misuse of government resources and all other corrupt practices.”
President Weah in issuing the Executive Order noted, “The Liberian rubber industry has been part of the national economic heritage for over 95 years, providing the highest single source of annual revenue for the Government and providing more employment nationwide than any other single economic sector, but having been greatly affected by abuse, misuse, abandonment and especially theft.”
The Executive noted that the Liberia rubber industry has been and continues to be depleted by its tapping observed to be increasing in addition to having massive economic consequences on employment and Government revenue the theft situation has major security implications throughout the country.
It added that in order to deal with the depreciating situation obtaining in the Liberian rubber industry, the Government believes that further strategy is necessary so that proper policies can be developed and an appropriate institutional and regulatory framework established to curb retrogression, sustain development of the industry and stimulate growth.
“Executive Order No. 16 was issued in 2008 to remedy this situation: but in the meantime, the Government believes that, in the national interest, urgent action still necessary in order to stem the current decline in the industry, and as part of this an immediate pause in the exportation of unprocessed natural rubber is required,” Weah added.
“I, George M. Weah, Sr. with the intention of taking immediate steps to curb the decline in the Liberian rubber industry until appropriate policies and frameworks can be put in place to improve the situation of the rubber industry in the longer term in order to ensure redevelopment, new development., increased production, increased job opportunities and increased revenue to government, hereby ordered as follows,” President Weah noted.
Edited December 14, 2023
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