In Summary:
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The political leader of the Citizen Movement for Change, Musa Bility, has claimed he is the only politician who has publicly declared his assets and published them in a newspaper.
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However, upon fact-checking his claims by reviewing credible media reports, we found that his assertion of being the only politician to publicly declare his assets is misleading.
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Additionally, there is no evidence to support his claim that he published this information in a newspaper.
On January 31, the political leader of the Citizens Movement for Change (CMC), Musa Hassan Bility, claimed in an interview on Smile FM in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County, that he is the only politician in Liberia who has publicly declared his assets and published them in a newspaper.
He made the claim while responding to a question about the source of his wealth, adding that his declared assets clearly show where his money comes from.
The claim
Rep. Bility said: “I am the only politician in Liberia that have declared their assets publicly… the President, Vice President, none of them have publicly declared their assets. They have gone to LACC to give their assets, but they never put it in the newspaper. I put my assets in the newspaper.”
Rating Justification
To assess whether Hon. Bility is the only politician in Liberia to publicly declare his assets, we launched an online search and found a February 2024 post by the Nimba District #7 lawmaker on social media that shows a snapshot of his asset declaration after he submitted it to the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC).
We then looked for other politicians who have publicly disclosed their asset declarations.
In our search, we found a June 22, 2024, post from the office of Vice President Jeremiah Koung that contains scanned copies of his asset declaration submitted to the LACC, published on his official Facebook page, like Hon. Bility. This means Koung has also made his declaration publicly accessible.
A February 28, 2024, press release from the Executive Mansion states that President Joseph Boakai submitted his assets to the LACC. However, unlike Bility and Koung, the actual scanned declaration was not attached or posted for the public to review.
Conclusion
Based on the evidence currently available, we conclude that the claim by Rep. Musa Bility that he is the only politician in Liberia who has publicly declared his assets is misleading. Like him, Vice President Jeremiah Koung has also publicly declared his assets by posting his declaration on his official Facebook page, where it is accessible to the public.
President Boakai has declared his assets to the LACC, but his declaration has not been published online in the same way as Bility’s and Koung’s.
Claim #2: Did Bility Publish His Declared Assets In Newspaper?
Rep. Bility further claimed that he published his declared assets in a newspaper, suggesting an additional level of transparency beyond online publication.
During our search, we found a March 1, 2024, publication by “The Analyst Newspaper” titled Rep. Bility Sets the Pace for Assets Declaration -Detailed Assets Documentations and Published on Social and in Print Media. This publication was done a day after Hon. Bility published a scanned document containing his declared assets on his Facebook page.
But it is important to note that this Newspaper publication did not include the full scanned copies of Hon. Bility’s declared assets, as it was done with his Facebook post.
Besides, a similar report was also done for Pres. Boakai an V.P Koung, after they submitted their asset to the LACC, here, here, and here. These publications did not include any copies of their respective assets declared.
Because we did not find a copy of the publication in the newspaper, we reached out to Hon. Bility to provide the name of the newspaper(s) and, where possible, links or copies of the publication he refers to, but he did not respond to our inquiry.
We then contacted Smith Toby, Media and Communication Director of the CMC. After contacting Rep. Bility, Mr. Toby told LVL that its political leader was referring to the publication done by “The Analyst Newspaper” in 2024, which we mentioned above.
Conclusion
Based on these findings, we conclude that the claim made by Hon. Bility that he published his assets in the newspaper after declaring with the LACC is unproven.
Even though several news outlets reported that the local lawmaker declared his assets, it did not include detailed reports like the snapshot he shared on his official page after submitting his assets to the LACC.
