Department of Technical Services

The Technical Services Department is the technical arm of the ministry headed by the Deputy Minister for Technical Services, Mr. Robert W. Kpadeh.

This department is divided into several main programs that are named below:

i. Liberia News Agency (LINA)

ii. Central Printing Incorporated (CPI)

iii. Technical Services/Utilization

iv. Motion pictures Review Division

v. National Communication Bureau

i. Liberia News Agency (LINA)

The Liberia News Agency remains very engaged in the dissemination of government information, policy programs and development agenda.

In June, the Agency received a donation from the Chinese Embassy towards the resumption of the publication of the LINA Bulletin, the first time since the outbreak of the civil war in 1990.

The Chinese donated:

3 Desk Top Computers

1 printer

1 camera

Also in June, LINA received US$800 from the MICAT Administration to resume the bulletin publication.

On Friday, June 10th LINA resumed the publication of a weekly bulletin on an experimental basis, projecting about 100 copies per edition. We have published a total of 12 editions in the past two-and-a-half months.

The bulletin which contains stories from the various political subdivisions is being distributed to the offices of senior government officials, including the Offices of the President and the Vice President of Liberia, the offices of the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro-temp, the Chief Justice and government ministries and agencies.

The bulletin is also being distributed to most foreign embassies near Monrovia, including the U.S., Chinese, Nigerian, Egyptian, Ghanaian and German embassies, among others, as well as international non-governmental organizations such as UNMIL, UNDP, World Bank and other institutions.

Since the publication resumed, LINA has received commendations from the Office of the President, Chinese, German and Egyptian embassies.

To further buttress the bulletin production and make sure that it remains in circulation, the MICAT Administration in July provided one Canon Photocopier Machine to LINA. The photocopier has been very effective in producing mass copies of the bulletin.

However, despite these early successes, LINA is still faced with numerous constraints that continue to hinder the smooth production of the bulletin.

The agency has serious manpower limitation so much so that it has been unable to cover the entire country. LINA Bureau Chiefs are deployed in only six of the 15 counties of Liberia.

There is an urgent need to employ correspondents for the remaining counties. Staff at central office needs to be increased. We need additional editors and reporters to operate an effective news agency.