IPNEWS: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), once a place for repeated protest and strike action is now taking a dramatic turn with simultaneous transformation at all levels.
A tour of the facilities and speaking to workers at the EPA may inspire you even more, particularly reviving a institution with just USD $325 dollars as its bank balance when the new administration under the direction of Dr. Emmanuel Urey Yarkpawolo, as Executive Director took over less than ten months ago.
Despite earlier reports indicating a balance of $17,723.54 USD in December 2023, as the Bank balance, Dr. Yarkpawolo tells the authoritative Independent Probe Newspaper that his administration has uncovered significant discrepancies in the agency’s financial records, raising serious concerns about the previous administration’s handling of funds.
According to Dr. Yarkpawolo, a comparison between the EPA’s current status notes and the Joint Presidential Transition Team (JPTT) Report showed that only 20% of the agency’s 5-Year Strategic Plan had been completed under the previous administration of the CDC.
Furthermore, critical financial documents dating back to January 2018 through December 2023, including bank statements and financial reports, were missing, leaving the new leadership unable to fully assess the agency’s financial history.
These alarming revelations underscore the challenges Dr. Yarkpawolo and his team face in rebuilding the agency. The missing records and unexplained discrepancies point to a need for greater financial oversight and transparency moving forward.
As the new leadership works to restore the agency’s integrity, the public is urged to demand accountability and support efforts aimed at reforming the EPA’s financial practices.
Current Transformation
Under the leaderships of the Governing Board, the Policy Council and the President, EPA during the last ten months has witnessed significant transformation in terms reforms instituted, and the overall progress from those reform efforts, especially the crafting of a 5-year strategic plan that highlights the EPA vision for the next five years under the ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development.
Dr. Yarkpawolo told IPNEWS that regardless of challenges experienced for many government officials to declare their assets, upon being appointed as acting Executive Director, EPA, by the President on Friday, February 16, 2024. On Monday, February 19, 2024, he declared his assets at the LACC before taking over the office.
The Environmental Specialist stated that he received the EPA Status notes from the outgoing administration accounting January 2018 to December 2023, Eight policy and regulatory instruments that were validated.
Dr. Yarkpawolo told the authoritative Independent Probe that the EPA had eight departments, with a main operational Account Balance as of December 2023 was 17,723.54 with no outstanding legal issues
He narrated that upon taking over the EPA, working morale was low due to low salary for employees, limited budgetary support from the Government of Liberia, and poor working environment including dilapidated buildings.
“We compared the Agency Status Notes with the Joint Presidential Transition Team (JPTT) Report. The JPTT report indicated a sharp contrast with the Agency Status Notes Report. It indicated: 1. Only 20% of the 5-Years Strategic Plan covering the period was completed., while the bank statements from January 2018 to December 2023 were not available. That financial report covering January 2018 to December 2023 was not available. Many other important pieces of information requested were not available.”
“The Policy Council Members and our Board of Directors, compared both the Agency Status Notes and the JPTT report to what we found at the EPA to determine a baseline of the institution as we met it. We found the following: 1. The actual bank account we inherited at the end February 2024 was $325.00 USD 2. We met an EPA where employees’ morale was at an all-time low 3. We found a divided workforce, some of whom were wrongfully dismissed 4. We saw a very deplorable bus for the employees and many damaged vehicles 5. We met two dilapidated EPA buildings (main building and annex) 6. We met lack of compliance on the part of some companies 7. As a result of the above, we met an EPA with a bad reputation and extremely low public trust. While we were trying to deal with these issues, we got sued at the Supreme Court. The case took almost two months and after winning, we got restored on April 20, 2024.:
“After a careful vetting process, as required 4 by the Act creating the EPA, we were appointed by the President based on recommendation from the Policy Council on May 16, 2024. Members of the Governing Board and the Policy Council, the co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs once said “Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.” This is what we are doing to do at the EPA. We are building a team of professionals that once our work is completed, will be among the best in Liberia. To understand the situation at the EPA, we created two boxes. We labelled one ‘Grievance box’ and the other ‘Innovation box’. The grievance box provides employees with a platform to voice their concerns in a bid to resolve workplace issues while the innovation box helps harness transformative ideas for improving the EPA. What is your mind?” Dr. Yarkpawolo narrated.
On the further explained that for a greater participation in the workings of the EPA, especially establishing the wrong things at the, his team requested all employees to write and put your grievances in the grievance box which led to a lot of unknown issues.
Dr. Yarkpawolo revealed that through this interaction with the employees, several things were uncovered with swift investigation conducted linking to systematic corruption that were robbing the EPA and the government of Liberia thousands of dollars.
“At the moment, We opened travel opportunities to all staff based on qualifications and nature of work. In fact, the first travel opportunity we had as Executive Director of the EPA was given to the Gender Coordinator, who had not had any travel opportunities for the last 5 years she worked for the EPA. We subjected the procurement process at the EPA to scrutiny based on Liberian laws, policies and regulation, ensuring that all procurement requirements were met.”
“We established four new county offices and deployed environmental Inspectors and awareness officers in Grand Cape Mount, Gbarpolu, Rivercess and Montserrado counties and are currently in the process of opening 4 additional offices in Grand Kru, River Gee, Maryland and Sinoe counties. 2. We conducted 1463 compliance inspections during the period 2024 7 3. We investigated a total of 198 complaints brought to the attention of the EPA.”
“We received 318 ESIA applications, held 36 ESIA sittings, conducted 6 stakeholders’ consultations and issued 214 Environmental Permits 5. We instituted 60 compliance notices amounting to halt orders, restoration orders, fines and shutdowns.. We developed, validated and the Board and Policy Council approved 11 policy and regulatory instruments including water quality regulation, soil quality regulation, solid waste management policy and waste management regulation that are heavily private sector driven, radiation regulation, wetland regulation, lead in paint regulation and air quality regulation, just to name a few.”
“We imposed more than one million dollars fines on companies violating the environmental laws of Liberia. Fines imposed are directly paid to central government revenue. 8. We developed a work plan and a procurement plan 8 9. We purchased two new buses for our employees, one vehicle for our deputy and one vehicle for our compliance department 10. We conducted two policy council meetings and two governing board meetings 11. We hosted a number of trainings including bringing 20 young scientists from West Africa to launch the West African Ocean Acidification Network 12. We opened a climate smart Laboratory at the University of Liberia where scientific data will be analyzed to support informed decision making. 13. We completed an EPA office at the Freeport of Monrovia, scheduled to open in January 2025. 14. As of January 2025, the EPA will be relocating to a modern building in Mamba Point. The building will have facilities that include computerized signing in and singing out for workers as well as CCTV. 15. With funding support from climate financing, we are building coastal defense to prevent West Point from washing away. We are 9 also building coastal defense in Greenville Sinoe County.”
“We are building meteorological center for Liberia. Fellow Liberians, The EPA made significant gains at the international levels. We participated in all of the parties of the conferences that yielded fruitful results. These include: 1. The signing and, in some instances, ratification of 8 international environmental agreements that will boost the country’s efforts in combating numerous health and environmental issues. 2. We signed an MoU with Cambridge University to provide 150 scholarships for online learning in the area of climate education that are worth more than 250,000 British Pounds. 3. In Cali, Colombia, we participated in COP16 negotiations that led to the adoption of a framework for sustainable wildlife management, the inclusion of indigenous voices as integral to biodiversity governance as well as a global mechanism to ensure 10 fair and equitable sharing of benefits from digital sequence information (DSI) on genetic resources.” Dr. Yarkpawolo further stated.
While at the climate change conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, Dr. Yarkpawolo said that the EPA led a team of Liberians that included a Superintendent, other government institutions and civil society organizations that successfully participated in the negotiations that led to a global promise of 300 billion dollars per year promised to developing countries to enable them to mitigate and adapt to climate change impacts from 2025 to 2035.
“ The EPA under the watchful eyes of our Deputy Director, led a team to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where 12 billion was promised to address land degradation and drought across 80 vulnerable countries. Ladies and Gentlemen, Fellow Liberians, The Secretariat of the National Climate Change Steering Committee is housed at the EPA. Under the auspices of the National Climate Change Steering Committee, the Secretariat is responsible for mainstreaming 11 climate change activities into the national development agenda.”
“The Secretariat achieved the following: 1. We signed a Letter of Agreement with the Coalition of Rainforest Nations (CfRN) to provide technical capacity to enable the Government of Liberia to get ready to participate in the global carbon market in the next 12-24 months. 2. We developed the road map for the operation of the National Climate Change Secretariat 3. We developed TOR to recruit consultants that will develop the carbon policy, which is part of the readiness program.” Dr. Yarkpawolo statement concludes.
