The Resident Representative of UNDP in Liberia, Mr. Stephen Rodrigues has urged the Liberian Government to treat development as a matter of urgency.

Speaking during an engagement with a cross-section of the Liberian media on May 26, 2021, Mr. Rodriques  acknowledged that although Monrovia also has some gaps in terms of development but urgency should be placed particularly in the rural areas.

He observed that the farther you go away from Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, the less you feel the impact of government’s authority in the rural areas.

“There is a gap that has been around for a long time that requires urgent need to address,” Mr. Rodriques said.

He emphasized that UNDP will "recalibrate” its development projects in Liberia over the next five years to create “more of a tangible impact in rural Liberia,” expecting the media to play a critical role in promoting peace and sustainable development".

Mr. Rodriques, who recently ended visits to eight of Liberia’s 15 counties said, “there is concentration of resources in Monrovia and deficit in rural Liberia.”

The UNDP official said the deficits are not only in infrastructural development but also in the areas of health, education and the rule of law.

“There is an urgency about this,” he said and that the acceleration of development should be seen as an emergency, as the UNDP is committed to partnering with the government and international partners to reduce poverty, create jobs and improve livelihood in Liberia.

The UNDP, he said, sees peace as the prerequisite for sustainable development and good governance. But he stated that a strong, robust and vibrant media is a “sine qua non for a strong and vibrant democracy…and a strong media is crucial  for a responsible citizens’ participation,” he added.

“Because there was stability in Liberia for the past 20 years, does not mean there’ll be stability for the next 20 years.

The head of the UNDP raised an observation that many have cited in recent times—that political stories were dominating the pages of newspapers and the airwaves of local radio stations. He said that 90% of stories reported here are on politics.

Mr. Rodriques spoke of the need for the Liberian media to hold regular discussions on developmental stories.

The UNDP sees the media as a key partner in fulfilling one of this UN agency’s key objectives—bringing the government closer to its citizens.

“For us, bringing the government closer to the people is seen in decentralization and accountability for the resources.”

This is why the UNDP Resident Representative said that the UN is that the revenue sharing formula in the running of the County Service Centers is modified and the Local Government Act is actualized to fully implement the decentralization process.

Like the Vice President of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), Daniel Nyankonah who attended Wednesday’s media engagement, Mr. Rodriques highlighted some of the challenges facing the local media—poor advertising market, self-censorship and serious lack of logistics and financial resources.

He promised that the UNDP would support the development of the media as well as help to ensure that it is free from intimidation and harassment.

However, the UNDP Resident Representative encouraged the Liberian media “to stand strong, stay committed to their code of ethics and fundamental values. Don’t bend them for financial gains. Stay clear of sensationalism,” describing members of the media as “hero and heroine”.

He further stressed the importance of the media in any given democratic dispensation saying, “the media is important in promoting good governance, accountability, transparency, pressing more the state and the private sector to be transparent and more open but also creating a more informed citizenry.”