The Minister I am working for this summer, Hon Natty Davis, is very supportive of us learning about Liberia broadly, not just the work we will do for him during our internship. In last week’s staff meeting he expressed his willingness to arrange meetings for Jacob and me (Jacob is a classmate from Harvard who’s also interning here) with various ministers to learn more about what they are working on.
An hour after arriving yesterday morning, Minister Davis’s assistant Ussman (I can’t resist the urge to call him “Oos”) came into our office.
“In accordance with Minister Davis’ request for your meetings with other ministries, you will meet with the Minister of State for Finance, Economic, and Legal Affairs.”
“Great,” we responded. “When?”
“Now.”
Glancing at each other and laughing inside, Jacob and I walked down the hall to meeting with Honorable Morris Saytumah. Sitting down at the conference table in his office, we talked briefly about our backgrounds and our projects for the summer. Then we started discussing what the minister is working on. Inevitably the conversation drifted towards things that were relevant for our projects.
Literally sitting in front of me on the table was a copy of Liberia’s Telecommunications Act of 2007, which established the legal and regulatory framework for the telecom sector. Needless to say this is exactly the document I need to read. Since it was thick and I knew I had no hopes of printing a copy myself, I asked Minister Saytumah if I could borrow his copy.
“On one condition,” he said. “You have to come back to me after you read it with your comments.”
“I’ll probably have more questions than comments.” I said.
“Deal,” Minister Saytumah replied.
So, not only do I have a paper copy (I am a printer so I'm really excited about this!) of the regulation I need to understand, but I have a meeting with the President’s adviser on Legal Affairs to discuss my questions. If that’s not a lucky way to start the week, I don’t know what is.
An hour after arriving yesterday morning, Minister Davis’s assistant Ussman (I can’t resist the urge to call him “Oos”) came into our office.
“In accordance with Minister Davis’ request for your meetings with other ministries, you will meet with the Minister of State for Finance, Economic, and Legal Affairs.”
“Great,” we responded. “When?”
“Now.”
Glancing at each other and laughing inside, Jacob and I walked down the hall to meeting with Honorable Morris Saytumah. Sitting down at the conference table in his office, we talked briefly about our backgrounds and our projects for the summer. Then we started discussing what the minister is working on. Inevitably the conversation drifted towards things that were relevant for our projects.
Literally sitting in front of me on the table was a copy of Liberia’s Telecommunications Act of 2007, which established the legal and regulatory framework for the telecom sector. Needless to say this is exactly the document I need to read. Since it was thick and I knew I had no hopes of printing a copy myself, I asked Minister Saytumah if I could borrow his copy.
“On one condition,” he said. “You have to come back to me after you read it with your comments.”
“I’ll probably have more questions than comments.” I said.
“Deal,” Minister Saytumah replied.
So, not only do I have a paper copy (I am a printer so I'm really excited about this!) of the regulation I need to understand, but I have a meeting with the President’s adviser on Legal Affairs to discuss my questions. If that’s not a lucky way to start the week, I don’t know what is.
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