In Summary:
- The Acting Minister of Transport claimed that the ministry is the highest-performing government entity in terms of revenue collection
- We have fact-checked this claim by consulting relevant documents including the budget performance reports
- We found that Mr. Archibald Abban’s statement was incorrect.
On February 19, Archibald Abban, Deputy Minister for Administration who is acting as minister of Transport, claimed that the ministry raised US$11.2 million in revenue — more than a target of US$9.2 million, making it the highest performing revenue contributor for the government over the years.
The acting minister made the claim during a public hearing into allegations of alterations in the concession agreement between the Republic of Liberia and Liberia Traffic Management Incorporated (LTMI).
Claim
Abban said: “The Ministry of Transport over the years has been the highest performing government institution in terms of revenue collections.”
Rating Justification
To fact-check this claim, we decided to compare the MOT’s revenue collection to the performance of other government entities, like the Liberia Maritime Authority and the National Road Fund under the domestic revenue component of the national budgets from 2022 to 2024.
A review of the budgets reveals that in 2022 under tax revenue, motor vehicle taxes sourced through the Ministry of Transport accounted for US$7.9 million while maritime revenue collection through the Liberia Maritime Authority accounted for US$10.057 million under non-tax road fund contributions was US$ 23.697 million.
In 2023, vehicle tax revenue outturn was US$6.5 million while maritime revenue was US$9.7 million, and road fund was US$18.852 million.
In 2024, vehicle taxes collected was US$10.4 million while maritime revenue was US$14 million and road fund revenue was US$32.634 million.
Conclusion
Based on this fact, we conclude that the claim by the Acting Minister of Transport Archibald Abban that the ministry is the highest-performing government institution in revenue collection is incorrect.
Actual revenue collection data from the national budgets from 2022 to 2024 shows that maritime revenue collections have been higher than the ministry’s motor vehicle taxes.
