Monrovia – House Speaker Fonati Koffa has announced plans to seek authority from the House of Representatives’ leadership to appoint a joint committee with the Senate to thoroughly investigate numerous allegations of budget alterations.
Gerald C. Koinyeneh, [email protected]
In a statement on his Facebook page, Speaker Koffa stated, “Following numerous allegations on budget alterations, I will be asking the Leadership of the House of Representatives for the authority to appoint a Joint Committee with the Senate for a thorough investigation. We must not only be transparent, but we must also be perceived to be transparent.”
Speaker Koffa’s announcement follows a FrontPage Africa investigation that revealed the 55th Legislature’s refusal to address complaints by the chairpersons of the Public Accounts Committees of the House and Senate regarding possible alterations to the approved fiscal year 2024 budget.
The budget, approved by the Legislature in May 2024, totaled US$738,859,827, reflecting a 6.7% increase from the version submitted by the Executive through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning. However, since its passage and printing into handbill, there have been persistent complaints of alterations.
Rep. Clarence Gahr (District #5, Margibi County), chairperson of the House Public Accounts Committee, was the first to raise the issue, alleging that the Executive ignored amendments made by the Legislature during the final review stages of the budget. He warned that without stringent measures, this could lead to further violations and tampering with laws passed by the Legislature.
In response, the House directed its leadership to invite the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning to address the claims of alterations in the 2024 National Budget Law.
FrontPage Africa has obtained a communication from Senator Amara Konneh, chair of the Senate Public Accounts Committee, and his committee members. Unlike Rep. Gahr’s concerns, which focused primarily on changes in terminology, Senator Konneh and his team highlighted significant discrepancies in appropriations between the Legislature’s approved National Budget and the Detailed National Budget as printed.
The Senate Public Accounts Committee noted that the figures presented in the printed Budget Act on May 8, 2024, differ markedly from those enacted by the National Legislature on April 30, 2024. Additionally, the figures printed in the detailed budget book vary significantly from the enacted appropriations and the Budget Act.
The committee expressed concern over the reductions in appropriations: 6.9% for public administration, 0.5% for health, and 2.1% for transparency and accountability sectors. They warned that these cuts could hinder the government’s ability to pay wages to civil servants and volunteer health workers nationwide.
“These alterations raise concerns that the Executive Branch may have disregarded the Constitutional authority of the National Legislature over appropriating funds,” the Committee stated.
The Senate Committee also pointed out that the printed Budget Act of 2024 contains figures different from those passed by the Plenary of the Liberian Senate on June 30, 2024, as initially received from the House of Representatives. They added that the Secretary of the Senate had initialed a table representing the headline numbers for the eleven sectors of the Budget, yet the printed versions of the Budget Act and Budget Book show different figures. This discrepancy suggests a fundamental issue of constitutional violation or potential criminal forgery, warranting an immediate investigation.
