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By Christian Appleton Harper, Maryland County:–The World Bank, in collaboration with the Government of Liberia, has signed a US$3 million agreement aimed at reconditioning and strengthening County Service Centers (CSCs) across the country. This disclosure was made by the County Service Coordinator of Maryland County, Addison K. Kanmoh, in an exclusive interview with our reporter over the weekend. Kanmoh said the announcement came during a recent World Bank workshop that convened all 15 County Service Coordinators from across Liberia. The initiative, he noted, forms a critical part of the government’s ongoing decentralization policy, which is designed to improve citizens’ access to essential public services at the county level. “The World Bank is going to use that money to recondition all the County Service Centers by providing logistics, including printers, laptops, desktop computers, and even standardizing all the centers,” Kanmoh explained. According to him, the project will also include domestic and international training programs for County Service Coordinators to ensure the centers operate effectively and meet public expectations for efficiency and transparency. Kanmoh emphasized that the decentralization program is fundamentally designed to ease the economic burden on citizens, significantly reducing the need for people to travel to Monrovia to access basic government services. “People will no longer have to pay their way to Monrovia just to register a business, seek a school or work permit, or obtain other important documents,” he said. “All these services will now be available within their counties.” The Maryland County Service Coordinator further disclosed that several key government institutions are expected to open service windows at the CSCs, including the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), Post and Telecommunications, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, among others. Crucially, Kanmoh highlighted a major operational shift: the Ministry of Internal Affairs has transferred the authority for signing traditional marriage certificates to the County Service Centers. “From now on, County Coordinators will be responsible for signing traditional marriage certificates and other related documents such as bachelorhood and spinsterhood certificates,” he confirmed, adding that the official fee for a traditional marriage certificate has been set at US$75. Kanmoh also highlighted the Revenue Sharing Law, Chapter 7, which allots 40% of revenue to counties for development purposes, with the remaining 60% going to the central government. He stressed that the County Council and local leadership will work collaboratively to design developmental programs that directly benefit county residents. Kanmoh concluded by calling on Marylanders and citizens across Liberia to take full advantage of the services available at their respective County Service Centers. “This initiative is for the benefit of our people,” he stressed. “We must all embrace it and make good use of the opportunities it brings.”
