Monrovia- In an effort to address its financial marginalization, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication is reportedly in the midst of adding new postal items to its extensive list of offerings. The services to be implemented, according to Mike Gontehtuo, Deputy Minister for Operations at the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication, include postal financial services, e-commerce for the purpose of money transfers, mobile money transfers, salary and pension payments, or utility payments.
At a press conference honoring the 43rd anniversary of the Pan African Postal Union Day held in Monrovia on Wednesday, January 18, 2023, Minister Gontehluo disclosed the information. He claims that the ministry also plans to employ e-commerce for product purchases and deliveries as they are among the services that the Universal Postal Union recommends as part of all strategies to increase administrative revenue. He explained that in order to facilitate simpler and quicker transactions, the ministry has digitalized its counter service.
“The post is also extending its electronic services to rural post offices beginning with post offices in Buchanan, Bo Waterside, Robertspot, Tubmanburg, Gbarnga, Ganta, and Zwedru. The post is also linked to the Universal Postal Union international tracking system where all outbound mails are processed and easily tracked. The ministry has currently renovated its lockbox service to meet the needs of businesses and institutions to obtain mailing addresses.”
According to Gontehluo: “it is expected that outbound mails from these locations will be directly captured on the International Postal Service post platform for easy tracking and accountability.”
He claims that as a condition of starting a business in Liberia, organizations and businesses are now required to secure their mailing addresses. He clarified that the ministry is jointly implementing regulations that require all businesses and institutions to register for a post office box number that would serve as their postal address. This is done in cooperation with the Liberia Revenue Authority and the Liberia Business Registry.
Sifundo Chief Moyo, the secretary general of the Pan African Postal Union, said in a speech marking the anniversary that the postal industry should reallocate its resources and re-calibrate its strategy in order to re-establish and reposition itself as a logistics behemoth by leveraging its historical capital due to the decline of letter post volumes, the explosion of e-commerce small parcel volumes, and the steady increase in parcel post volume.
The African Union’s PAPU is in charge of directing and managing postal operations worldwide. Each year, African postal executives set aside the PAPU Day to honor the 18th of January, 1980, when the continent’s flagship organization was founded. The Post: ‘An Established Prompter of Cross-Border e-Commerce in Africa’ is the theme for this year.
Reported by: Augustine Octavius
Contact: +231777463963
Email: augustineoctavius@gmail.com
