Transport Ministry Pushes for Meteorological Agency

MONROVIA – National and international stakeholders participated in a two-day seminar last week, geared towards structuring a proposed legislation aimed at establishing a National Meteorological Agency to conduct research in Liberia.

The seminar, which is organized by the Ministry of Transport of Liberia, opened last week at the PA’s Ribhouse in Monrovia.

The Ministry of Transport and other stakeholders including the European Union, GTZ, United Nations Development Fund (UNDP), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Liberia Civil Aviation Authority (LCAA) and key ministries and agencies of government including the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy, are expected to vet a draft legislation prepared by the Ministry of Transport to establish a Meteorological Agency in Liberia. Meteorology is a science that deals with the study of the atmosphere and its phenomena and especially with weather and weather forecasting.

Governments and business people, including travelers, use meteorological reports to make decisions about national planning, both economically and politically, travelling or trading. While at the seminar, the participants are also expected to produce a final draft of the legislation to be submitted to the Infrastructure and Basic Services (IBS) Pillar IV for review and subsequent submission to the Cabinet for action. Speaking during the opening ceremony, Transport Minister Alphonso Gaye said given the importance of consolidated weather and climate in planning national development, his Ministry has resolved to reinvigorate the process of putting into place a legislation to establish a National Meteorological Agency in the country. The agency, Gaye said, would eradicate fragmentation of the meteorological sector of Liberia.

The Minister challenged the stakeholders to critically scrutinize the document and advance recommendations consistent with internationally accepted standards in order to put Liberia on par with other national meteorological agencies in Africa in particular and the world at large. The Liberia Meteorological Service (LMS) was established in 1972 as a department within the Ministry of Public Works. The department was later transferred to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in April of the same year and later transferred to the Ministry of Transport as a department within the Ministry when the Ministry was created by an Act of the Legislature in October, 1987. Minister Gaye told participants that granting autonomous status to the department would empower it to fully function and implement its mandate in line with international best practice, especially within the appropriate framework of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

“To do this, it would require that a national meteorological agency be established,” Minister Gaye added. He recalled that serious attempts were made in the past to establish such a vital entity, but said the move was aborted as a result of the civil crisis.

Deputy Lands, Mines and Energy Minister, John Nylander, attended the opening ceremony of the seminar and thanked the Ministry of Transport authority for taking the initiative to make the Department of Meteorology autonomous. He said establishing a meteorological agency in Liberia has been a long time coming.

“Meteorology is very essential to the development of our country,” said the Deputy Minister. He added, however, that the draft document fell short of properly addressing the Hydrological aspect. According to the Deputy Lands, Mines and Energy Minister, there is no way that one can address the issue of meteorology without addressing hydrology.

“There is more to be done about this act because hydrology is down-played within it,” Nylander observed. He also observed, among other things, that the agency should be a ‘service-oriented’ organization, noting that it does not needs a board. He pointed out that by jointly addressing meteorology and hydrology through a strong legislation, Liberia stands to move ahead in the areas of meteorology and hydrology on the continent. One of the major challenges that may hinder the enactment of the bill if it were submitted to the Legislature, Nylander observed, is that planners and politicians will not understand the importance of the Meteorological and Hydrological agencies until there was a disaster.

In her intervention, USAID-Liberia democracy and governance officer, Dinah Zeltser, underscored the need for science to underpin development in Liberia. Zeltser said USAID puts science at the center of its focus for growth and pledged her organization’s commitment to supporting the establishment of a meteorological agency in Liberia.

“Weather forecasting is very essential for safety as well as planning,” Claudia Hermes of GTZ noted, adding that GZT was ready to support the Ministry of Transport in its drive to draft a proper legislation to establish the agency.

Assistant Transport Minister, Augustus W. Williams, in welcome remarks, underscored the importance of a meteorological agency to Liberia. He used the occasion to appeal to members of the Legislature to enact the bill into law when upon submission.

(Victoria G. Wesseh contributed to this story)