President Boakai Issues Landmark Executive Order No: 163 to Launch National Digitalization Drive, Establishes New Office of Technology and Innovation
MONROVIA, Liberia: The Executive Order, signed on April 22, 2026, mandates a Whole-of-Government overhaul of public service delivery through secure, interoperable, and standards-based digital systems. It creates OTDI within the Office of the President to serve as the central coordinating authority for digital governance, enterprise architecture, and cybersecurity across all ministries, agencies, and commissions.
The initiative is designed to reduce waste and fragmentation in government operations, improve efficiency, and deliver faster, more transparent services to the Liberian people. The Order identifies modern digital systems as essential to the prudent management of public resources and to strengthening public trust in government.
The Executive Order establishes the National Digitalization and Modernization Initiative to accelerate the digitization of public services, enable secure data exchange among government systems, and promote the consolidation and reuse of shared digital platforms where efficient and lawful. It also creates the Office of Technology, Digitalization and Innovation as the central executive office responsible for setting government-wide technical standards, maintaining a comprehensive inventory of national digital systems, and issuing Technical Clearance for major ICT investments to ensure alignment with enterprise architecture and interoperability requirements.
To protect national systems and citizen data, the Order strengthens cybersecurity by mandating baseline protections for all government digital systems, in coordination with the Ministries of Posts and Telecommunications and Justice. It further safeguards privacy by requiring that all interoperability and data-sharing initiatives comply with constitutional privacy guarantees and applicable sectoral laws.
Accountability is ensured through a Digital Government Steering Committee, chaired by the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, which will provide high-level oversight for implementation.
The Order explicitly states that it does not amend, suspend, or supersede any Act of the Legislature and respects the statutory independence of institutions such as the Central Bank of Liberia and the Liberia Revenue Authority. All ICT procurement remains subject to the Public Procurement and Concessions Act.
Executive Order No. 163 takes effect immediately and will remain in force for one year, during which the government will pursue legislation to institutionalize digital governance reforms. Within 180 days, OTDI must submit a prioritized implementation roadmap, along with the first releases of the Government Enterprise Architecture Framework and the Government Interoperability Framework.
The signing marks a cornerstone of the Boakai Administration’s governance reform agenda, laying the legal and institutional foundation for e-government, digital identity systems, and 21st-century service delivery in Liberia.
