In Summary: In this is fact check report, we verified three claims made by Amara Konneh, Senator of Gbarpolu County. He claims that central government spending in 2022 was heavily directed towards the Legislature, that the Legislature outspent the health and education sectors between 2019 and 2023, and the Legislature spending overran initial budget allocations between 2019 and 2023. We consulted all relevant documents to fact-check these claims and found that the Lawmaker did not get his facts correct.
In a Facebook post made on May 5, about the achievements of the Liberian Senate during the special session of the 55th Legislature, Gbarpolu County Senator Amara Konneh made several claims about the government’s spending between 2018-2023. The same post was later published on Senator Konneh’s office website on May 8.
In his write-up, he attached slides of images showing spending at the Legislature from 2018-2023.
We reached out to the Senator through email to provide clarity about the claims that he made and also asked for the sources he relied on to make the claims. We are yet to receive a reply from Senator Konneh up until the time of publication of this report.
However, we fact-checked three of the claims he made in his Facebook post. We will update this report should we get his response.
Claim #1: Wrote Senator Koneh: “Government Spending in Liberia is heavily skewed toward the legislature”.
Verdict: Incorrect
Rating Justification
The slide he shared supporting this claim shows the government’s spending by sectors for fiscal year 2022. It shows that public administration received US$151.4 million, security and rule of law received US$123.6 million, the Legislature received US$91.8 million, and education received US$89.9 million. The four sectors are the highest recipients of funding in the budget for 2022.
To fact-check this claim and the amounts in Senator Konneh’s chart, we first reviewed the Government of Liberia’s Financial Statements of the Consolidated fund Account for the fiscal year 2023. This is document that shows the government spending in the previous fiscal year.
The detailed comparative analysis of actual payments made to spending entities as of December 31, 2023, on page 44 shows that the Public Administration sector spent US$329,148.17 and not US$151.4 million as shown in Senator Konneh’s first slide.
Senator Konneh claimed in the slides he shared that the Security and Rule of Law Sector spent US$123.6 million but the GoL financial statement shows that US$121,192.87 million was spent by the sector.
Under the public administration sector, the government’s consolidated financial statement shows that the Ministry of Finance spent US$141,521.86 million under the public administration sector, which is the highest spending entity.
Also, under the public administration sector, the document shows that the Legislature in 2022 received a budgetary allotment of US$60 million. However, the actual amount spent was US$87,526.89, not US$91.8 million as shown in the slide shared by the Gbarpolu County Senator.
Therefore, the amounts shown in Senator Konneh’s first slide to back his claim that the government’s spending in 2022 was heavily skewed toward the Legislature is incorrect.
The Government’s 2023 Consolidated Financial Statements show that spending by the Legislature in 2022 was US$87,526.89, not US$91.8 million as claimed by Senator Konneh.
Claim #2: Senator Konneh also claimed: “The Legislature outspent the health and education sectors in the last 6 years (2018-2023).”
Verdict: Incorrect
Rating Justification
To fact-check this claim we reviewed actual amounts spent as shown in the Consolidated Financial Statements by the legislature and compared it with spending by the health and education sectors respectively for 2018 – 2023.
In 2018/2019 the Legislature spent US$51,973,000 while the health sector spent a little over US$89.7 million and the education sector spent about US$69.6 million.
The consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2019/2020, show that the Legislature spent about US$44.9 million while the health sector spent US$61.8 million and the education sector spent US$68.9 million.
For fiscal year 2020/2021, the legislature spent US$55.1 million, the health sector expanded US$75.9 million, and the education sector spent about US$76.2 million.
In the consolidated financial statement for the Special Budget year 2021, which ran from July 1 to December 31, the Legislature spent US$39.8 million, the health sector spent US$33.1 million and the education sector spent US$40.9 million.
For the budget year 2022, the Legislature spent US$87.5 million, the health sector spent US$69.4 million and the education sector spent US$88,019.81.
The consolidated financial statement for 2023 shows that the Legislature spent US$65,991 the health sector spent US$64.1 million and the education sector spent about US$94.5 million.
Therefore, our review of the consolidated financial statements from 2018 to 2023 shows that Senator Konneh did not get his facts correct about the Legislature outspending the health and education sectors during that period.
GoL consolidated financial statements from 2018-2023 show that expenditures by the health and education sectors respectively were more than the Legislature from fiscal year 2018/2019 to fiscal year 2020/2021.
However, the financial statements from the special budget year 2021 to 2023 show that spending by the Legislature was more than the health sector but less than the education sector.
Claim #3: Said Senator Konneh: “Spending by the Legislature grew rapidly and increasingly overran initial budget allocations between 2018 and 2023.”
Verdict: Partial Correct
Rating Justification
To fact-check this claim, we also reviewed the Legislature spending shown in the consolidated financial statements against budgetary allocations from 2018 to 2023.
In the 2018/2019 fiscal budget, US$49, 229, 539 was approved for the Legislature. That amount went up to about US$54.4 million after the recast of the budget. However, GoL consolidate financial statements show that the Legislature spent about US$52 million – a little over US$2 million less than what was stated in the recast budget.
Fiscal Year 2019/2020 budgetary allocation to the legislature was US$33,403, 304. However, the consolidated financial statement shows that the revised allocation to the Legislature was about US$45.6 million, while the actual amount spent was about US$45.
Although US$44,603,304 was allocated to the Legislature in the fiscal year 2020/2021 budget, after recast the revised amount as shown in GoL consolidated financial statements increased to about US$55.6 million. But the actual amount spent was about US$55.1 million.
In the special budget for the last six months of 2021, the legislature allotment was US$26,794,952. However, the consolidated financial statement shows that the amount increased to about US$30 million and the actual amount spent was about US$40 million – an increment of about US$1 million more than what was recast.
For the 2022 budget, US$64,383, 920 was allotted to the Legislature but the consolidated financial statements show that the revised amount went up to about US$90.8 million after recast.
However, the actual amount spent was US$87.5 million – this is about US$3 million less than what was stated in the revised budget.
In the 2023 National Budget, US$ 60 million was allotted to the legislature. However, the consolidated financial statement for the same year shows that the revised amount increased to US$68.1 million, but the actual amount spent was US$65.9 million – this is a little over US$2 million less than what was revised after the recast.
Based on these facts, we therefore conclude that Senator Konneh is partially correct about spending by the Legislature overrunning initial budget allocations between 2018 and 2023.
Allocations to the Legislature in the approved budgets from 2018-2023 increased in the revised budgets as shown in the consolidated financial statements. Except for the Special Budget in 2021, the actual amount spent by the Legislature was less than what was allocated in the revised budgets during the periods under review.
Conclusion
Based on these facts, we conclude that Gbarpolu County senator Amara Konneh is incorrect about the amount in his first slide which he claims supports his statement about the government spending more on the Legislature than the health and education sectors.
According to the 2023 GoL Consolidated Financial Statements, the government spending by the Legislature was US$87,526.89, not US$91.8 million as shown in the slide shared by the Gbarpolu County lawmaker.
Also, Senator Konneh did not get his facts correct about the Legislature outspending the health and education sectors from 2018-2023. Our review of the consolidated financial statements from 2018-2023 shows that respective expenditures by the health and education sectors were more than the Legislature from fiscal year 2018/2019 to fiscal year 2020/2021.
However, spending by the Legislature was more than the health sector but less than the education sector from the Special Budget in 2021 to 2023.
The Gbarpolu lawmaker is partially correct about the Legislature overrunning initial budget allocations between 2018-2023. A look at the consolidated financial statements shows that approved budgetary allocations to the Legislature increased in the revised budgets spending by the Legislature was less than what was allocated in the revised budget except for the 2021 Special Budget.
This report is produced with funding from the USAID Media Activity. The funder has No say in the editorial decisions leading to the production of this content
