Amara Mohamed Konneh

Amara M. Konneh
Minister of Finance
Incumbent
Assumed office 2012- Present
President	Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Preceded by	Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan
Personal details
Born	7 December 1972 Gbarpolu County, Liberia
Alma mater	Drexel University Penn State University Harvard University
Occupation	Economist

Amara M. Konneh is the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Liberia (sworn into office in February 2012). He is a core member of President Johnson Sirleaf's Economic Management Team and is credited with helping to stabilize the Liberian economy from the effects of a protracted civil war. Concurrently, he also serves as Liberia's Acting Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs. Mr. Konneh is also National Coordinator of the Liberia Development Alliance that coordinates Liberia’s development agenda (Agenda for Transformation - 2012 - 2017). He also successfully coordinated the implementation of the Lift Liberia Poverty Reduction Strategy from 2008 to 2011. He is also responsible for the drafting of Liberia's long term development perspective and first national vision, known as Liberia RISING 2030. He is a graduate from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University where he received a Masters Degree in Public Administration with a concentration in political and economic development.

Mr. Konneh is also the Chairman of the Mano River Union (MRU) Ministerial Council, the Vice Chairperson of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Africa Group 1 Constituency and the coordinator of all the Economic Community of West African States' (ECOWAS) activities in Liberia.

He was named Finance Minister of the Year 2014 by The Banker magazine for his efforts to reform and grow the Liberian economy.

Early Life and Career

On December 7, 1972, Amara Konneh was born in Balla Bassa, Gbamah District, Gbarpolu County, Liberia to the late Majumah Konneh and the late Mamadee Konneh. He spent his formative years in Balla Bassa then moved to Monrovia in 1982 in order to commence is formal education. He graduated for Monrovia College (high school) in 1990.

Shortly after graduating high school, Amara Konneh became a refugee in Guinea, and established a free school for Liberian refugees. His leadership of the school led to an offer by the International Rescue Committee to serve as the Education Coordinator for Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugee schools throughout the Guinea Forest Region. He served in this capacity from 1991 - 1993 and supervised the development of 18 community schools, including the first high school in the Beyla Prefecture, and facilitated curriculum development, teacher training, and resource mobilization.

Upon emigration to the United States in 1993, he enrolled at Drexel University and earned a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Information systems, following which he earned a graduate degree in Management from Penn State University. After more than a decade of working with development foundations and as a policy, financial systems analyst and project manager at the Vanguard Group of Investment Companies in Pennsylvania, Konneh returned to Liberia to serve his country.

Deputy Chief Staff

Upon the election of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2005, Mr. Konneh was named Deputy Chief of Staff to for Policy and Communications within the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs. In this role, he spearheaded several initiatives including:

• Reforming the management practices at the Ministry of State through a performance improvement program;
• Coordinating the development of policies and communications strategy;
• Organizing Liberia’s first conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D); and
• Improving the Executive Mansion’s relationship with the Liberian Media by giving them increased access to the Presidency and creating better working conditions.

After a year and a half of serving in this capacity, Mr. Konneh took a sabbatical in order to enroll at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in political and economic development.

Upon completion of his studies at Harvard, Minister Konneh returned to Liberia and was appointed by President Sirleaf as the 16th Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs of the Republic of Liberia.

Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs

In August 2008, Mr. Konneh was sworn in as Liberia's Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs. He also served concurrently as the National Coordinator of the Liberia Reconstruction and Development Committee and the National Authorizing Officer of the European Development Fund for Liberia. Under his leadership, the implementation of the three year Lift Liberia Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS I) was accelerated resulting to a successful conclusion. Mr. Konneh is a core member of President Johnson Sirleaf's Economic Management Team and is credited with helping to stabilize the Liberian economy from the effects of a protracted civil war. His accomplishments included rebuilding the Ministry of Planning's internal capacity; unscrupulously implementing Liberia's three -Year development strategy (2008-2011) Poverty Reduction Strategy that sought to enhance security revitalize the economy after years of conflict, rehabilitate infrastructure and resume the provision of basic services such as education, healthcare, water and sanitation services to the population; and improving governance and the rule of law. He is the architect of Liberia's new long term development plan the Liberia RISING 2030 Vision, and a five-year Medium Term Development Strategy - the Agenda for Transformation ( PRS II 2012-2017). He is also credited for strengthening aid coordination mechanisms that has seen increased aid on budget; developing a ten year National Human Capacity Development Strategy to reverse Liberia’s brain drain; harmonizing the activities of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with the national development agenda; and promoting the use of Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) that led to the landing of a $25 million Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) fiber optic high speed Internet cable in Liberia.

As Liberia's Alternate Governor to the World Bank and African Development Bank, Mr. Konneh played a key role in the waiver of Liberia's US $4.6 billion debt. He also played a key role in the cancellation of Liberia’s US $170 million debt obligation to the Paris Club, a small group of creditor nations. One Konneh's major accomplishments as Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs was the development of Liberia’s three-year Millennium Challenge Account Threshold proposal and negotiated with the United States Millennium Challenge Corporation for the approval of a US$15 million grant to reform land rights and access, increase girls’ primary education completion rate, and develop a trade policy regime consistent with regional standards. He is also credited for leading the efforts to restore to the Government of Liberia full authorizing authority over budget support garnered from the European Union (EU) that was previously administered by the EU office in Abidjan as a result of the Liberian conflict.

Minister of Finance

Upon the re-election of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Mr. Konneh was nominated to the post of Minister of Finance and was confirmed by the Liberian Senate in February 2012. Since becoming finance minister, Liberia’s post-war economic growth was sustained in 2012 and 2013, with estimated real GDP growth of 8.9% and 8.7, respectively, led by mining, buoyant construction, and strong performance in services. Growth is projected to be impressive in 2014, due in no small measure to macroeconomic stability and supported by further mining and agriculture related Foreign Direct Investments (FDI). Consumer price inflation moderated to 6.9% in 2012. This strong performance also reflects higher-than-anticipated acceleration in non-mining activities boosted by robust private and public investments in line with the government’s five year development strategy, the Agenda for Transformation (AfT) for which he is credited formulating. As Finance Minister, he has advocated the following priorities for the government:

• Investing in infrastructure - especially electricity;
• Investing in human capital formation;
• Accelerating economic growth via a clear strategy to leverage Liberia's agricultural potential;
• Investing in developing the private sector, especially Liberian-owned businesses;
• Address the issues and concerns of Liberia's youth; and
• Investing to create economic and political opportunities for all Liberians.

To support the growth envisioned in the government’s medium-term growth strategy, the Agenda for Transformation, Minister Konneh quickly introduced a Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), a multi-year rolling budget framework that began in fiscal year 2012/2013 that saw an increase in public investments from a mere 7 percent of the budget to about 25 percent to finance critical infrastructure projects Through an aggressive mobilization of external financing, he has led the government’s efforts that have r raised $2 billion US Dollars to support the Agenda for Transformation, energy, roads, ports and agriculture. The most significant project is the restoration of electricity to the country, construction of major highways to connect Liberia’s economic corridors and rehabilitation of the sea and airports. Most of the funding secured so far constitutes grants with about 20% in concessional loans to various lenders including the World Bank, the African Development Bank and other bilateral financing. Through his leadership, he has ensured full compliance with the Public Financial Management Act, by implementing its core regulations. Through his administration, Liberia produced for the first time a mid-term budget performance report and a year-end report that is being audited by the General Auditing Commission, a crucial compliance requirements of the Public Financial Management Act. Konneh has also worked to improve Liberia’s tax administration and has automated the chaotic voucher processing system at the Ministry of Finance that has improved the payment process and significant reduced duplication. During his tenure, the Ministry of Finance has made great strides towards decentralization of payroll. He introduced for the first time in Liberia, the “Open Budget Initiative”-a platform through which citizens can access the budget and government spending, making Liberia the first country where ordinary citizens can now track spending to various sectors including health, education, infrastructure, etc. via mobile phones, on the Internet, through community radio stations and on an electronic billboard. . He has made headlines for rooting out corruption within the Ministry of Finance and for championing the Open Budget Initiative.