Summary: Martin Kollie’s claim that none of the newly inducted lawmakers who took office on January 15 have declared assets is true.
On Wednesday, January 17, Martin Kollie claimed that all lawmakers who took oath and were inducted into office on January 15 have not declared their assets yet.
Report By: D. Olivia Banwon | LVL Fact Checker
Kollie, in his claim, quoted Section 10.1 of Liberia’s 2014 Code of Conduct which calls for every public official to declare assets and liabilities prior to taking office.
The Claim
Kollie posted to Facebook: “ALL Lawmakers took oath and were inducted into office on January 15, 2024. None has declared assets yet. Section 10.1 says, “Every public official shall declare assets and liabilities prior to taking office.” We promised our PEOPLE to do this.”
Rating Justification
To fact-check this claim, we firstly reviewed the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission’s Facebook page and found a link dated January 10. The link takes you to a list of the first batch of government officials who have declared their assets. We reviewed the list and found no names of the recently inducted lawmakers in the asset declaration listing.
To further authenticate the claim, we contacted the Commissioner of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission, Cllr. Alexandra Zoe via WhatsApp. She referred our fact-checker to the January 18, 2024, asset declaration publication on the Commission’s website.
Cllr. Zoe: “Good morning, Olivia, I please refer you to the January 18th, 2024, asset declaration publication on our website at: lacc.gov.lr”.
Our fact-checker clicked the link but did not find names of the lawmakers who took office recently but saw a release on the website of the Commission posted January 18 urging members of the 55th Legislature to immediately declare their assets in accordance with the law.
Release stated: “The LACC wishes to inform all newly inducted members of the 55th Legislature that section 10.2 of the code of conduct as amended, section 5.2 (6) and section 4.1(g) of the New LACC Act of 2022, designates the Liberia Anti-corruption Commission (LACC) as the repository forthe asset declaration and verification regime of the Government of Liberia.”
“… the LACC calls on all newly inducted members of the 55th Legislature, to immediately proceed to the commission and declare his or her assets in keeping with law.”
Conclusion
Therefore, based on the research conducted by our fact-checking desk, we conclude that the claim made by Martin Kollie that no member of the 55th Legislature had declared asset is correct. The Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission has called on newly inducted lawmakers to declare their assets. This supports Kollie’s claim.