Liberia’s House Speaker Seeks Joint Committee To Probe Allege Budget Alterations

Liberia’s House Speaker Fonati Koffa has announced plans to seek authority from the leadership of the House of Representatives to establish a joint committee with the Senate to investigate mounting allegations of alterations to the recently approved national budget.

In a statement on his official Facebook page, Koffa emphasised the need for transparency in the wake of these serious allegations stating, “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.”

This move comes on the heels of an investigative report by FrontPage Africa, which exposed the 55th legislature’s failure to address concerns raised by key lawmakers about potential alterations to the 2024 budget.

The budget, which was approved by the legislature in May 2024, totalling US$738,859,827—reflecting a 6.7 per cent increase from the version initially submitted by the executive through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.

However, since the budget’s passage and its subsequent printing into law, persistent complaints have emerged regarding alleged changes made to the approved document.

Representative Clarence Gahr (District #5, Margibi County), who chairs the House Public Accounts Committee, was the first to raise the alarm. He accused the executive of ignoring amendments made by the legislature during the final review stages of the budget.

Gahr warned that, without strict oversight, such actions could lead to further violations of laws passed by the legislature.

In response to these concerns, the House directed its leadership to summon officials from the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning to address the allegations of unauthorised changes to the 2024 National Budget Law.

Further intensifying the controversy, an obtained communication from Senator Amara Konneh, chair of the Senate Public Accounts Committee, detailed significant discrepancies between the budget approved by the legislature and the version that was ultimately printed.

Senator Konneh’s committee highlighted substantial reductions in appropriations for key sectors, including public administration (6.9 per cent), health (0.5 per cent), and transparency and accountability (2.1 per cent).

The senate committee expressed grave concern that these cuts could severely impact the government’s ability to pay wages to civil servants and volunteer health workers nationwide.

The committee also noted that the figures in the printed Budget Act of 2024 differ markedly from those passed by the Senate on April 30, 2024, suggesting possible constitutional violations or even criminal forgery.

Recall it was earlier reported that the General Auditing Commission released a compliance audit report showing massive financial irregularities at the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) covering January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2023.

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