The Liberian government is said to be facing a challenge by the number of sub-national administrative and traditional structures in the country.

According to statistics, there are 141 Cities, 244 Townships, 129 Districts, 240 Chiefdoms, 580 Clans and 1198 General Towns.

With the number of cities in Liberia, many lack the necessary basic social services such as electricity, water supply as well as the economic activities. Just to name a few.

“There are so many cities in our country that have no services offered by a city in the true sense, this is terrible”. An elderly man told me.

Currently, the government, through the Ministry of Internal Affairs is working modalities to remedy the situation which has been termed as a very serious problem.

From June 25-26, 2014, the Ministry hosted the first of three regional consultation and sensitization forums in Tubmanburg, Bomi County.

The Tubmanburg Forum brought together legislators, political parties, civil society organizations and heads of sub-national administrative structures from Montserrado, Bomi, Grand Cape Mount, Gbarpolu and Margibi Counties.

Heads of sub-national administrative structures include City mayors, District commissioners, Paramount, Clan and General Town Chiefs among others.

The Forum attended by 75 participants was under the theme: Stakeholders’ engagement to rationalize local government structures for sustainability and viability.

During the two-day forum, participantsreceived briefings from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Legislature, Governance Commission, Civil Society Organizations, Political Parties, and the United Nations System on international best practices, on rationalization of local government structures.

Speaking at the closing program, Deputy Internal Affairs Minister for Urban Affairs Amos Tweh said the forum was in line with government’s plan to Re-arrange and re-organize Liberia’s local government administrative structures.

The second phase of the regional consultative forum will host participants from Bong, Lofa, Nimba, Grand Bassa and Rivercess counties.