Liberian postal services resumed
The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications has announced the resumption of mail delivery into the country. The resumption follows negotiation with international airlines, mainly the Ghana Airways.
Making the disclosure at a press briefing recently, Mr. Paul P. Jarvan, Director of Public Affairs at the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, announced the arrival of a new batch of mails from Ghana, but did not clarify whether mails are the leaving the country.
Mr. Jarvan noted that the Ministry is working out the necessary modalities to dispatch a technical delegation to Ghana to further concretize arrangements with postal authorities in that country to facilitate the deliveries of mails which had been stranded in that country.
However, during the journalists’ tour at the post office Monday, workers were seen sorting out the newly arrived bags of mails from Ghana.
Bystanders who stood to watch the arrival of mails were seen with smiles on their faces, apparently overwhelmed by the resumption of international mail delivery to the country.
For more than a month now, mails have not been coming and leaving the country, owing to a ban placed on the deliveries of international mails to and from Liberia by international airlines, mainly the Dutch Airlines, KLM and Ghana Airways, in demand of arrears owed them by the Liberian government.
But Posts and Telecommunications Minister Y. Mewaseh Pay-Bayee recently announced that the government was making frantic efforts aimed at settling its arrears to international postal organizations and international airlines. He put Liberia’s debt to the international postal organizations and airlines at about US$2.6 million dollars.
At the same time, the ministry has refuted allegations that there is an apparent “administrative breakdown” at the Ministry.
Commenting on the alleged paralysis of activities at the Ministry, Mr. Jarvan intimated that there is no sign of ” rift” at the ministry and that there is a spirit of cooperation amongst employees, including senior officials at the Postal Affairs Ministry.
He also dismissed allegations that Minister Pay-Bayee has commissioned some individuals to collect subscription fees from users of communication equipment in the country aimed at circumventing government revenue collection for personal aggrandizement. “The minister’s dedication to duty and commitment to his country, coupled with his area of concentration, does not allow him to do such,” he stressed.
