On Monday, May 20, 2013, the Ministry experienced a transition of gavel of authority from Hon. Blamoh Nelson to Hon. Morris M. Dukuly, Sr, as Minister.

The formal turn-over ceremony followed nomination by Her Excellency, PresidentEllen Johnson-Sirleaf and subsequent confirmation by the Liberian Senate, of Hon. Dukuly to head the Ministry as its Minister.

At the well-attended program Monday afternoon, the new Internal Affairs Minister, Hon. Morris M. Dukuly,Sr. promised renewed commitment, saying, “A new day begins today at the Ministry of Internal Affairs”.

Minister Dukuly promised to demand and insist on accountability, transparency and integrity in administration of County and Social Development Funds.  “We will work with our citizens to ensure that projects they choose have wider public use and good”. “Local government leaders, regardless of status, who are implicated in alleged misuse or misapplication of any money from these funds, will be investigated and if proof is found guilty, recommended for dismissal and prosecution”. He stressed.

Commenting on other core mandates, the new Internal Affairs Minister promised to work with the Governance Commission on implementation of the Decentralization and other programs.

He assured to aggressively pursue implementation of the National Identification Registry (NIR), which he described as a critical and essential national security and development tool, not only for the country, but for the entire Mano Rive sub-region.

Hon. Dukuly said he would hold consultations with Peace Ambassador, George M. Weah, bilateral and multilateral partners, civil society organizations and other stakeholders,to jump-start the National Reconciliation and Peace-building Roadmap.

The former Minister of State promised to establish a vibrant and robust Peace-building Secretariat to support the programs of Peace-Ambassador Weah.

Minister Dukuly, who is also a journalist and Lecturer on Mass Communication, said he will expand and strengthen the Press and public Division of the Ministry, with creation of aVernacular Section that will focus on educating citizens about the critical programs of the Ministry.

According to Min. Dukuly, the Division will now be re-named, Education and Information Services Bureau.

Speaking earlier, in his turn-over statement, former Minister Blamoh Nelson recounted his achievements, describing his fifteen-month stay at the Ministry as successful.

According to Hon. Nelson, his Administration succeeded in four primary objectives, namely: Development and execution of a Plan for implementation of the National Policy on Governance, Decentralization and Local Government and Formulation of a strategy for Peace-Building, National Healing and Reconciliation.

He named the other two objectives as implementation of the National Identification Registry (NIR) and Streamlining of Local Government Administrative Structure as key among other objectives.

The out-going Minister disclosed that a plan for the decentralization called the “Liberia Decentralization Support Program (LDSP)” has been completed, with a donor commitment of US$23 million for its execution during the course of the next three years.

He said a Roadmap for Peace-Building, National Healing and Reconciliation has been developed and now forms part of the Agenda for Transformation, Vision-2030.

“Under my leadership as Chairman of the Board of Registrar of the National IdentificationRegistry (NIR), a newly created autonomous agency of government, a Management Team has been appointed to work out the technical details for establishment of a National Biometric Identification System for Liberia”. Hon. Nelson declared.

He also said a clarified organizational chart of the Local Government Structure of Liberia-Towards Vision 2030, has been produced and that consultation on a new Local Government Act has been drafted, awaiting submission to the President and subsequent presentation to the Legislature for enactment into Law.