By: Martin K. N. Kollie writes…
- I) Introduction:
Liberia is spending more than US$11 million on just 5 public officials/offices. Isn’t this business as usual? The data for this analysis was sourced from the 2024 Draft and Approved National Budgets of Liberia (Ref. Page 3 to Page 21). We have critically analyzed the data and attached a table along with a chart to simplify everything for our people.
President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, this was never what we promised our people. We provided 7 Pre-Approved Budget analyses for FY2024. We stopped to Edition #7. We are now continuing because they just made public the Approved 2024 Budget. This is edition #8. How did they increase again after we celebrated them for decreasing? Mockery.
“…The budget has not been passed because we want to add more money to sectors relating to public interest.” They told us this for refusing to pass this year’s budget for almost 2 months.
Follow these details:
1) The Revised 2024 Draft National Budget was submitted on Thursday, March 14, 2024, in compliance with Section 17.1 of The 2009 PFM Law. US$692.2 million was budgeted and submitted as total fiscal envelope.
2) The Legislature passed this fiscal instrument (budget) on April 29, 2024, at 14:50 GMT with an increase of US$738.86 million from the previous US$692.2 million.
3) The President signed this year’s budget into law on May 8, 2024, at 17:00 GMT.
Before they could ratify and sign, we applauded them for slicing/cutting their allotments. Sadly, they’ve increased it again. That is why they never wanted to make this budget public. We pressured them to do so as required by Part 3 Section 19 of The Amended Public Financial Management Law of 2019 (Immediate Public Access To The Budget).
We intend to answer a simple question in Edition #8 of this series: Did they increase their appropriations/budgets before approving and signing? The response is a resounding but sad YES, they did. So, let’s deal with what we term as “The Big Five”: The offices of President Boakai, Vice President Koung, Speaker Koffa, Senate Pro-Tempore Karnga-Lawrence, Deputy and Deputy Speaker Fallah.
- II) Summary of Key Findings:
1) The budget of President Joe Boakai has increased from US$2.46 million to US$2.99 million. This increment accounts for US$535,000 constituting 17.85%.
2) The budget of Vice President Jeremiah Koung has also increased from US$2.38 million to US$3.38 million. This increment accounts for US$1 million constituting 29.53%.
3) The budget of Speaker J Fonati Koffa has increased from US$1.67 million to US$1.91 million. This increment accounts for US$239,536 constituting 12.50%.
4) The budget of Senate Pro-Tempore Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence has increased from US$1.31 million to US$1.51 million. This increment accounts for US$200,000 constituting 13.16%.
5) The budget of Deputy Speaker Thomas P. Fallah has increased from US$515.8k to US$1.32 million. This increment accounts for US$810,000 constituting 61%.
6) The total draft budget for “The Big Five” was US$8.35 million. They’ve increased it in the approved budget to US$11.14 million constituting a 24.98% increment.
7) The overall budget of the Legislature has increased from US$38.3 million to US$53.3 million.
Note: It is fair to note that even though these amounts are too huge amid high unemployment, low growth, and staggering poverty in Liberia, the proposed expenditures of this government are less than what was spent by the CDC-led government. For instance, the Legislature under Pres. GMW spent US$69.96 million for FY2023 as opposed to the US$53.3 million that is expected to be spent for FY2024.
However, this cannot be a justification for a whopping US$53.3 million for 103 lawmakers in the World’s 8th poorest country according to the Global Finance 2024 Report. A dime was not added to civil servants’ salaries. We thought this government came to rescue the people? Probably, we are mistaken.
We promised structural change. CHANGE means CHANGE. Rescue means Rescue. The people are suffering. It’s time to invest more in them to change their lives after 177 years of misery. Why don’t we substantially cut down these huge budgets for “big shots” and divert the cuts and ‘sudden increases’ to health, education, security, agriculture, youth empowerment, private sector investment intended to stimulate growth and jobs, energy, water and sanitation, etc?
- II) Recommendation:
We are calling on President Boakai to change this without delay. The people voted you to change it. Why should public officials/lawmakers even receive 45k for car each when civil servants don’t have buses? Why should they receive 10k for constituency visit, 5k for furniture, 275k for a lavish retreat, etc.? The 2024 Approved Budget is not reflective of a “Rescue Mission”. Even with the allotments in the draft budget, there’s still a need for a 25% cut as of next fiscal year. Let’s invest the money in our people. Pres. Boakai needs to take some radical steps geared toward fiscal reforms.
About The Author: Martin K. N. Kollie is an exiled Liberian activist.
