NATIONAL NEWS
MONROVIA – Lofa County Senator Momo Tarnuekollie Cyrus has sounded a stark warning over the Government of Liberia’s decision to shift vehicle registration and driver licensing from the Ministry of Transport to Liberia Traffic Management, describing the move as a dangerous breach of governance, fiscal accountability, and national security.
In a forceful press statement issued in Monrovia on February 16, the Senate Defense and Security Committee chair argued that outsourcing control of sensitive identity-linked transport systems to an external entity exposes Liberia to strategic vulnerabilities at a time of rising transnational crime and cyber-enabled threats across the region.
Cyrus stressed that vehicle registration and driver licensing are not ordinary commercial services but sovereign security functions tied to intelligence gathering, population movement monitoring, and law-enforcement coordination.
By: Trokon S. Wrepue – trokon1992seokin@gmail.com
Allowing such systems—containing biometric, personal, and vehicular data—to fall outside direct state control, he warned, weakens the integrity of Liberia’s internal security architecture and risks long-term institutional damage.
The senator’s concerns come amid emerging intelligence assessments pointing to cyber-driven financial crimes, illicit telecommunications activity, and encrypted data networks linked to criminal syndicates operating across West Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America.
He cautioned that these evolving threats significantly heighten the danger of transferring authority over national data systems to foreign-controlled operators.
Beyond security risks, Cyrus said the decision undermines statutory governance by bypassing the legally mandated role of the Ministry of Transport without legislative reform or transparent justification.
Such a precedent, he argued, signals institutional fragility and erodes public confidence in the rule of law.
He also raised alarm over the reported financial structure of the concession, claiming the foreign operator retains a disproportionate share of revenues from registration and licensing services while offering limited fiscal safeguards for the Liberian state.
According to the senator, the arrangement threatens domestic revenue mobilization at a time of mounting fiscal pressure and constrains investment in transport safety, institutional capacity, and national security infrastructure.
Cyrus further pointed to human-capacity losses, citing reports that more than 200 Liberian professionals have been displaced by the transfer—an outcome he described as a hollowing out of local expertise in a sector critical to sovereignty and public safety.
Rejecting arguments that reviewing or suspending the contract could deter investors, the committee chair maintained that credible investment depends on lawful contracts, strong institutions, and protected sovereign functions—not their privatization.
“National security and sovereignty cannot be compromised to preserve arrangements that expose the state to long-term strategic risk,” the statement emphasized.
The Senate committee is now calling for the immediate suspension of the outsourcing arrangement and a comprehensive legislative and security review to examine its legal basis, fiscal terms, data-protection implications, and broader impact on employment, institutional integrity, and public trust.
Cyrus also urged President Joseph Nyuma Boakai to reconsider the decision in the interest of national security, sound governance, and economic fairness—warning that failure to do so could deepen vulnerabilities within Liberia’s already strained security and institutional landscape.
