In Summary:
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Former President George Weah’s Chief of Staff, Lenn Eugene Nagbe, claims that the Boakai administration has spent more than US$1.2 billion within two years without delivering tangible development.
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He also claimed that Liberia first became a member of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Council Category ‘A’ in 2023 under the Weah administration.
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Our verification found that the claim regarding the amount spent by the Boakai administration within two years is correct. However, the claim concerning Liberia’s IMO Council Category ‘A’ status was found to be misleading.
Lenn Eugene Nagbe has made several claims about the current state of the Liberian government. He made these claims on OK FM on December 4, during his appearance as a special guest on the OK Morning Rush with Clarence Jackson.
Key among these claims, he stated that the current administration has spent over US$1.2 billion within two years, and that it was under the Weah administration in 2023 that Liberia was elected for the first time as a Category ‘A’ Council member of the International Maritime Organization.
Mr. Nagbe previously served as Commissioner of the Liberia Maritime Authority and as Minister of Information during the Weah administration. He also served as the Campaign Manager of the Coalition for Democratic Change in the 2023 elections that brought President Joseph Boakai to power.
Claim #1
The first claim he made is: “Since the Unity Party came to power, they’ve already spent more than $1.2 billion, according to their own reports – the budget outturn. So the question is, what did they spend it on?”
Rating Justification
Our Fact-checking Desk has verified this claim by reviewing the two budgets’ outturns (FY2024 and FY2025) and the FY2024 consolidated financial statement of the government of Liberia, all published by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
The documents show that the Boakai-led administration spent US$735.63 million in FY2024.
In FY2025, as of the end of October, the government had expended US$692.091 million.
This is shown on the FY2025 budget outturn in the FY2026 draft budget.
This means that since the Boakai administration took office in 2024, it has spent approximately US$1.43 billion, confirming Mr. Nagbe’s claim.
Conclusion
Based on a review of the evidence, we conclude that the claim made by Lenn Eugene Nagbe that the Boakai administration has spent over $1.2 billion in two years is correct.
According to the government’s documents, it has spent US$1.2 billion since it took office in 2024.
Claim #2
In another statement, Mr Nagbe claimed that, “For the first time, Liberia became a member of the IMO Council Category A in 2023.”
Rating Justification
To verify this claim, we searched the Liberia Maritime Authority’s website and found a December 1, 2023, press release, which revealed that Liberia had been elected to Category ‘A’ of the Council of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) at the 33rd Assembly session of the organization in London.
The Council is the executive organ of IMO and is responsible, under the Assembly, for supervising the work of the Organization
Category ‘A’ members are the most influential grouping within the IMO, reserved for ten countries recognized as having the greatest interest in international shipping.
The release also notes that Liberia last served in Category ‘A’ in 1995 and lost that position due to the protracted civil wars. The country attempted twice (2007 and 2009) to get back in Category ‘A’ to no avail.
Conclusion
Based on this evidence, we conclude that the claim made by Lenn Eugene Nagbe that Liberia first became an IMO Council Category ‘A’ member in 2023 during the administration of former President Weah is misleading.
While it is true that Liberia was elected to the assembly in December 2023, it was not the first time the country was elected to that position. Available evidence shows that the country last served in Category ‘A’ in 1995.
