By Amos Harris
MONROVIA, LIBERIA — Staff members of the Liberia News Agency (LINA) have officially petitioned the National Legislature, demanding an immediate investigation into the agency’s near-collapse despite substantial funding in recent national budgets. According to the petition submitted this week, the agency received more than US$700,000 during the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years, yet employees claim this sizeable support has failed to yield any institutional improvement.
A primary grievance highlighted in the document is that LINA has operated without a functional website for nearly two years. The workers described this as a national embarrassment, asserting that it leaves Liberia as the only country in Africa with a non-operational state news agency website. Consequently, the employees are calling for a full audit by the General Auditing Commission (GAC) to determine how funds managed through the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs, and Tourism (MICAT) were actually spent.
The petition outlines several urgent requests, including the full disclosure of how FY2024–2025 allotments were used, the immediate restoration of the agency’s website, and the provision of essential equipment, mobility, and training. Furthermore, staff are seeking protection from what they describe as punitive or politically motivated administrative decisions. The petition paints a grim picture of daily operations, revealing that staff must work with broken equipment and no official transportation, which severely hampers their ability to distribute government information across the country.
The workers also took the opportunity to push back against recent statements attributed to Information Minister Jerolinmek M. Piah. They claim these statements were intended to frame LINA staff as loyalists of the previous administration rather than the career civil servants they are. They have urged legislators to address these misleading characterizations, which they believe undermine their professional integrity.
Beyond institutional logistics, the petition emphasizes severe welfare issues such as salary disparities and extremely low pay. Some reporters reportedly earn as little as US$100 per month, an amount the workers say is completely incompatible with the current cost of living. This dissatisfaction extends to broader failures within MICAT, including the persistent inactivity of the government-owned New Liberia newspaper and a lack of basic tools that forces reporters to use their personal mobile phones for news gathering.
According to the employees, funds specifically intended for internet services and newsroom support have shown no visible impact, leaving public information officers demoralized and unable to fulfill their statutory roles. The distressed workers concluded their appeal by calling directly on President Joseph Nyuma Boakai to intervene. They warned that discontent is not limited to LINA but is growing among public information workers across various departments, many of whom may resort to protest if these issues remain unaddressed.
With nearly US$1 million in total recent allocations and an agency still running on virtually nothing, the workers argue that LINA’s current state poses a direct threat to Liberia’s ability to maintain a credible and functional national news service.
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