The Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) yesterday, July 2, 2008, granted what it terms as provisional license to a new banking institution called the AccessBank Liberia Limited.

Also known as the Microfinance Bank, AccessBank will operate like a commercial bank but mainly focus its activities on giving out small loans and providing financial services to low-income people.

The bank will also provide short-and medium-scale loans to Liberian businesses, a statement issued yesterday quoted bank authorities as saying.

According to the CBL statement, the shareholders of the proposed AccessBank Liberia, the Microfinance Bank, include institutional investors such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank, the African Development Bank (ADB) and the European Investment Bank.

The majority shareholder is AccessBank AG, which a joint stock is holding company located in Germany, the statement added.

Based on negotiations, the Central Bank held with the shareholders, it was agreed that AcessBank Liberia, the Microfinance Bank, will open with an initial paid-in-capital of US$6 million, consistent with the policy of the CBL to set the minimum, capital of banks operating in Liberia at US$6 million by the end of December 2008.

 “It was agreed that the majority of the members of the Board of the proposed bank will be resident in Liberia, and there will be Liberian participation in equity stake in the bank in the future,” the CBL said..

In signing the Provisional License, the statement quoted officials as saying that the Executive Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia, Dr. Mill J. Jones, welcomed the cooperative spirit of the shareholders. He said the AccessBank has brought the idea of establishing a bank focusing on small loans to the take off stage.

He said that the CBL had worked tirelessly on the project believing firmly that expanding poor people’s access to banking services was critical to fighting poverty. and to growing the private sector from the bottom up. He emphasized that a viable and thriving microfinance industry will promote economic growth and creates employment.

For her part, Ms. Mary Clare Odong, Advisor and Project Manager for the proposed bank said “AccessBank Liberia, The Microfinance Bank, is an international development-oriented financial institution which aims to have an impact in Liberia.

We look forward to starting operations in Liberia and providing access to responsible banking services to the microfinance sector in Liberia. After so many years of civil war an economic breakdown, Liberia’s micro and small enterprise sector has now started to recover.

AccessBank, The Microfinance Bank, will cater for the needs of the small people, and provide them with much-needed financial services to grow their businesses. We are grateful to the Government and Central Bank of Liberia for their support, and will aim at starting operations before the end of the year.

At the same time, the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) said it has also granted provision license to Guaranty Trust Bank Liberia Limited to operate a commercial bank in Liberia. The proposed bank has agreed to start with an initial capital of US$10 Million.

CBL said the granting of a license to Guaranty Trust is consistent with the CBL’s Policy of expanding the banking sector and promoting composition in the sector, which should benefit the public and the economy.

TWP: Teahjay’s Comments Divisive, Inciting

The True Whig party says it is alarmed by comments attributed to Mr. Milton Teahjay during programs marking the 3rd anniversary of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC).

In a statement issued yesterday relative to the Teahjay saga, the party, which is the oldest institution in the country’s political history said that though it is not an apologist for the Unity Party, the TWP has a patriotic responsibility to respond to such comments because they are inciting, divisive and reminiscent of the anachronisms of the 1970s.

During the 1970s, the party recalls, Teahjay and his cohorts engineered a campaign of lies against the True Whig Party-led government that precipitated the infamous 1979 rice riots.

The party said the rice riots subsequently led to the brutal killing of President Williams R. Tolbert, Jr. and 13 other officials of government in the bloody 1980 military coup.

In its statement, the True Whig Party reminded Mr. Teahjay that “gone are the days of sterile political rhetoric and pranks, when Liberians would be misled into destroying their own country and killing their president.”

Liberians are resolved to forget their bitter past and get on with rebuilding their lives and only interested in developments and or constructive criticisms that would energize the ongoing transformation in the country. 

The TWP says that the transformation has been buoyed by the recent success of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Forum in Germany. According to the party, Liberians will not permit the likes of Milton Teahjay to cause this sitting president to be killed as was done to Tolbert.

Not withstanding these achievements, the TWP would like to point out that although the UP led government is far from perfection and President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is encountering enormous difficulties delivering on campaign promises, she undeniable remains yet the best available choice for voters at the 2005 runoff.

Moreover, contrary to Teahjay’s claim, the 2005 poll run off was a contest of substance and issues that bordered on professional competence, experience, credibility and a clear knowledge and understanding of the geo political and economic / financial situation, important leadership credentials majority Liberians believed the Standard Bearer of the Congress for Democratic Change lacks, so where is the beef?

Furthermore, the TWP notes that in as much as Teahjay and CDC have stamped a vote of no confidence in the current composition of the National Election Commission whom Teahjay refers to as stooges, confidants and thieves of the President, equally so, they should not lose sight of the fact that it was the same commission that suppressed the concern of some political parties when it failed to investigate their complaint that the Standard Bearer of the CDC had obtained French citizenship while soccer professional in France.

The TWP described the behaviors and attitude of Teahjay as confused and disappointed, buried in hate and envy.

The Party vividly recalls of Teahjay on a Talk Show heaping shower of praises on the Sirleaf led government, but quickly adding that “much needed to be done in the public relations aspect”, a kind of diplomatic way of offering himself for the job. “My goodness! Will someone offer Teahjay a job, remember the Taylor-Teahjay scenario”, the release said.