Julius K. Sele, Executive Director, LACE.

… As Agency Sights County Offices

The Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment or LACE has announced the commencement of the Legislative Support Projects in the 15 counties comprising of  seventy three electoral  districts across the country. There are over three hundred projects to be implemented.

Currently, the agency is now processing over three hundred community development projects. This follows a nationwide assessment tour of these projects by construction engineers to verify land ownership and/or environmental suitability of the projects.

These projects are being tendered through a rigorous process marked by transparent process aimed at giving all qualified bidders equal opportunity in keeping with Liberian law.

To qualify for bidding, a company must be duly registered under Liberian law and must be accredited by the Ministry of Public Works, Public Procurement & Concession Commission and be a tax payer among other to participate in any of agency project bidding.

The announcement comes following project identification, assessments and tendering all preceded by  budgetary approval from the legislature.

LACE Executive Director, Julius Sele in an interview with the media termed the commencement of the project as a return to the actual Legislative Support Projects in keeping with the law creating the development agency.

Since its enactment, the development agency has been working into rural and urban communities under a program code named termed  Legislative Budget Support providing infrastructural development that are directly decided  by the community dwellers themselves.

They (constituents) decide and forward their desired projects to their legislators and these proposed projects will then be forwarded to LACE for implementation.

Since 2018, however, under the immediate past government, the legislative projects were renamed Presidential Projects thereby limiting the involvement of the legislators and their constituents.

Following the induction of President Joseph Nyumah Boakai, in January this year, he reconstituted the Board of Directors in keeping with the law which  later recommended the current Executive Director Julius K. Sele to return to the development agency.

The Board of Directors’ decision to appointment of Mr. Sele was as the result of his excellent performance at the agency during his initial three year stay at the agency during the administration of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Several impactful projects were undertaken by the agency especially between 2015 and 2018 including schools, market hall, and recreational facilities across the country  under the stewardship of Executive Director Julius Sele.

Meanwhile the LACE Executive Director has announced that government is working with partners to decentralize the agency administrative office by creating offices in all political sup-divisions of Liberia. Mr. Sele believes establishing county offices will give project beneficiaries more access to LACE for inquires without necessarily coming to Monrovia.

The creation of these offices, according to Mr. Sele will not only give easy access to the people but is also a form of job creation as these offices will be runed by Liberians especially those who are citizens of the areas these offices will be located. “They will be trained and hired for the operation of these offices”, the Executive director said.

He said that because of the importance of the decentralization, some county authorities have expressed willingness to provide either land for the county office construction.

The Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment (LACE) is an autonomous Agency of the Government  established in 2004 under the new Executive Law, Title 12 Chapter 50.B of the Liberian Code of Laws, also known as the “Community Empowerment Act” charged  with the responsibility to  improve the welfare of poor communities, most of which were  devastated by the long period of civil unrest.