Summary: Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence, Pro-tempore of the Liberian Senate, has claimed that the Liberian Senate does not have a DSA budget line. We have fact-checked this claim by reviewing the 2023 budget and found her statement to be correct.
During the June 20 sitting of the Senate, the Protemp of the Liberian Senate, Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence claimed that the Senate does not have a Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) budget line, as being speculated in the public.
Senator Karnga-Lawrence, in a video posted by Spoon TV titled: “Official response from Sen. Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence on the Grand Bassa retreat” was reacting to the many allegations surrounding the Senate’s retreat in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County.
The Claim
Her exact words were: “The Liberian Senate does not have a DSA budget line, therefore the story about Senators getting DSA is false and misleading”.
Rating Justification
To verify this claim, our fact-checking desk did a review of the Fiscal Year 2024 National Budget published by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
Upon reviewing Page 6&7, which details the budget for the Liberian Senate, we found no allotment for DSA or a budget line.
See below budget lines for the Liberian Senate:
Conclusion
Based on our review of the 2024 National Budget, we conclude that Senator Karnga-Lawrence’s statement is correct. The Liberia Senate does not have a designated DSA budget line.
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