Nimba County Senator and running mate to Unity Party Standard Bearer Joseph Boakai, Senator Jeremiah Knoung claimed that the budget of the former Vice President was at maximum US$2 million, However, a review of the past budgets shows that the former Vice President’s office received budget of over US$2.4 million in fiscal year 2016/2017.
Local Voices Liberia iVerify team research the claim made by the vice standard bearer of opposition Unity Party, Senator Jeremiah Koung that Amb. Joseph Boakai budget as Vice President was at a maximum of US$2 million and found the statement to be incorrect.
Mr. Koung, who is a senator of Nimba County, made the statement (at minute 2:29 of the video — see link below in reference) in on July 11, 2023 during a political rally in Gbarnga, Bomg County.
We reach this conclusion by reviewing the approved national budgets from 2012 to 2023 — reviewing allotments made to the former and current vice presidents.
In Fiscal Year 2012/2013, the office of the Vice President received an allotment of over US$1.8 million in the national budget. The Vice President office also received over US$2.1 million in fiscal year 2013/2014 national budget.
In 2014/2015 fiscal year budget, the office of the Vice President got a little over US$2.1 million allocation, and in the 2015/2016 budget, the office was also allotted US$2.2 million.
The following year (2016/2017), the office of the Vice President received an allotment of over US$2.4 million in the national budget. That amount however dropped in the fiscal year 2017/2018 national budget to over US$1.8 million.
It is important to note that former Vice President Boakai and current Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor shared this allotment (2-17/2018), given the budget format used at that time.
We also reviewed the budgetary allotments for the current Vice President. A perusal of the budgets since 2018 shows that in fiscal year 2018/2019, the office of the Vice President received an allotment of over US$2.2 million and in fiscal year 2019/2020 a little over US$2 million was allotted in the national budget.
In 2020/2021 national budget, the office of the Vice President received an allotment of over US$2.2 million.
And because of the transition of the budgeting format to a calendar year in 2022, there was Special Budget in the last six months of 2021 with the office of the Vice President receiving an allotment of over US$1.4 million. In the 2022 national budget, the office of the Vice President received over US$ 4.2 million while in the current budget (2023), the office of the Vice President received allotment of over US$4 million.
However, the recast of this year’s budget submitted to the national legislature shows that that the amount has been reduced to over US$3.7 million for the office of the Vice President.
Based on these facts explained above as captured in the national budgets, the claim by Senator Jeremiah Koung that former Vice President Joseph Boakai annual allotment in the budget was at a maximum of US$2 million is incorrect. Records from past budgets show that Mr. Boakai’s office received allotments of over US$2.4 million in fiscal year 2016/2017. The Nimba County Senator is mostly correct when he claimed that the current Vice President “gets about US$4 million in the national budget”.
A review of the current national budget shows that Vice President Howard-Taylor has an allotment of US$3.7 million in the recast budget.
We have contacted Senator Koung to provide more clarity on this claim as whether he meant allotment or disbursement. Once we have clarity from him, we update this report.
Local Voices Liberia, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, has implemented the iVerify Liberia system with the objective of strengthening capacities to address threats to information integrity, especially in view of the upcoming 2023 elections, to ensure all Liberian citizens have access to credible, reliable and verified information, everywhere and at all times.
This initiative is funded by Irish Aid, Embassy of Sweden in Monrovia, European Union Delegation in Liberia and the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund. The donors have no say in the production of this fact check report.
