A prominent member of the governing Unity Party (UP), Richlue Burphy has publicly responded to Public Works Minister Roland Giddings’ recent call for lawmakers to pass the draft Zoning Act into law.
Giddings, who has been under scrutiny for his handling of various public works projects, was also labeled by Mr. Burphy as “corrupt and incompetent” over his continous missteps since his appointment as Minister by President Joseph Boakai.
Recently, Minister Giddings, in a press release issued called on the National Legislature to pass the Draft Zoning Act into law, which he said is essential for sustainable development, as it seeks to regulate land use, prevent illegal construction, and promote orderly urban growth.
Minister Giddings emphasized the urgency of passing the Zoning Act, stating that it is crucial for the country’s development and for attracting foreign investment, urging the lawmakers to prioritize the billmon grounds that it would provide a legal framework to address the rampant land disputes and unregulated construction that have plagued urban areas in Liberia.
But in response, Burphy criticized the Minister’s action,” It is not the function of the Public Works Minister as per our laws and this show another display of ignorance and incompetence of the Minister Giddings.”
According to Burphy, in 2016, the government passed a law creating the Liberia Land Authority as a one-stop-shop for all matters in the country, and said, “In the preamble of that law, paragraph 6 has it enshrined that realizing that it is important to create an autonomous agency with a comprehensive mandate on LAND MATTERS and broad authority to FORMULATE and IMPLEMENT LAWS, policies, regulations and programs relating to land.”
“In the same Land Authority Act, under section 8.1(b) which speaks to the functions and powers of the Land Authority, the law says the authority shall have the power to ‘promote, support, and ensure the development of LAND USE PLANS and ZONING SCHEMES and their implementation through municipalities, towns, and other local government structures.
But more importantly, 52.4 of the Land Authority Act says ‘upon coming into operation of this Act, all the land administration functions currently assigned to Ministries of Internal Affairs, PUBLIC WORKS, or any other government entity shall be taken over by the Authority,” he narrated.
Burphy explained, “What 52.4 is saying is that even if there is a law that even if there is a law passed in 1972 creating the Ministry of Public Works and giving them land administration functions including zoning, this new supersedes that and the function is taken away from Public Works.”
The though talking member of the Rescue National Campaign team wondered, “So, how come Mr Giddings is not reading and he is acting on old laws; as old as 1972? You don’t know think that speaks to his incompetence?”
“And how come the entire Board of Commissioners as the Land Authority is watching and allowing Roland Giddings to push their case to the Legislature? They don’t think they are knowledgeable and competent enough? Or they are just not aware that Giddings has been working with the World Bank and misusing their money too?
Mr. President, I’ll remind you again that the second R in your ARREST agenda is for the rule of law. We can’t have your government officials grossly violating the laws in this country and you doing nothing about it,” he intoned.
Burphy asserted, “Roland Giddings should be out there solving our roads problems but he is not doing it. He is rather giving bad road as an excuse for not going to do the government work. But he is more comfortable flying in planes around the world using government resources.”
“Mr. President, there is a whole Zoning Department at the Liberia Land Authority that Roland Giddings thinks is incompetent and not able to lead this charge that’s why he’s leaving his function and jumping into,” he added.
