Developing and Implementing a Tax Arrears Management System in Liberia

Guest blog by Lasana A Kromah Sr

I took on a new task at one of Liberia’s professional public institutions “The Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA)” in 2015 as an Assistant Commissioner for the property tax division, where I was responsible to ensure the sustainable management of revenue growth and strategy development with respect to compliance and increasing the tax base. 

In 2017, I was charged with a new responsibility of implementing a policy challenge in the tax arrears management space. I began looking for answers on how to go about it. From 2017 to 2022 I was implementing the policy challenge “Develop and Implement a Tax Debt Management system” from a different perspective without the desirable results.

The course “Implementing Public Policy” was exactly what I needed to guide me through what I consider learning to the beginning of my new exposure. The IPP course took me beyond my expectations in implementing the tax arrears management policy and system in Liberia.

The key learning activity for me was to understand how important and exceptional the role leadership plays, especially in implementing policy challenges in the public sector. The 4Ps model helped to broaden my scope and made me visualize how the policy challenge I am encountering at the Liberia Revenue Authority can be managed from the leadership perspective in implementation and Authorization and Leadership in implementation.  

The personal leadership challenge most people face during implementation, is dealt with in the People and Process strategy of the 4ps and the Perception and Projection strategy of Leadership. I thought the course was scanning directly into my policy challenge I am faced with at the Liberia Revenue Authority, where the bureaucratic nature of the public policy settings within my institution blocked me as an action agent from implementing the tax arrears management process effectively, due to the structure around command, control and procedures. This course had a human and emotional impact on me and other leaders and a human and emotional impact on us as we were engaging in other leadership programs.

I realized that the importance of authorization during implementation of a policy challenge is key. The authorizers must approve the way and manner in which a policy is developed and directed.

The fishbone process was an eye opener for me. It gives me a better perspective to understand how connected all functions of an institution are, as it relates to the overall objectives and vision of a particular institution. It shows a clear structural picture of different functions within my institution and how connected they are to the overall intuitional mandate.

One thing that my IPP practitioners should take into serious consideration is the PDIA Check-in tool. This tool provides guidance for professionals not only in the IPP program but for any project implementation process.  

My message to the incoming IPP cohort for the next course – take the peering learning group sessions seriously. This aspect of the program is very important to how you would understand the concept and intent of the program. During these sessions you will come to appreciate several things, like your fishbone diagram development, or about your colleagues’ policies challenge implementations. The room for acquiring new knowledge during these sessions cannot be over emphasized. I was blessed to be in a group that had some of the best minds in the world, learned so much from a wide range of diversity in cultures, professionalism, and policy challenges in different parts of the world.  My group was my motivation through the course, they were my strength to continue the program during times when I felt I was too busy with work. The WhatsApp group chatroom was fun and useful in sharing information and submitting assignments while on the flights traveling for work at times.

Fellow PDIA practitioners, open your minds! Open your minds to the different stages of policy challenges implementation, the fishbone diagram at first may not be your guide to the end of the implementation of your policy. Notwithstanding, you may think that the policy challenge implementation is the policy at the time but don’t be too fast, slow down, your authorizers may think otherwise. Consult! Consult, and Consult! The answer is right there.

This is a blog series written by the alumni of the Implementing Public Policy Executive Education Program at the Harvard Kennedy School. Participants successfully completed this 6-month online learning course in December 2022. These are their learning journey stories.