Summary:
- Former Sinoe County Senator, Milton Teahjay claimed during a live interview on OK FM that gasoline price was never reduced during the administration led by the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC)
- While it is true that the price of gasoline increased significantly, the evidence shows that there were notable reductions in the price at different points during the six years of the CDC administration
- Based on the evidence the claim made by Mr. Teahjay is misleading
On December 16, Sinoe County’s former Senator J. Milton Teahjay claimed that during the administration of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), no reduction in the price of gasoline was made in Liberia.
He made this claim during an OK FM interview with journalist Clarence Jackson, lead host of the “OK Morning Rush,” while comparing the first-year performance of the Unity Party Government to the CDC Government.
Teahjay, a former member of the CDC Party, publicly endorsed President Joseph Boakai during Liberia’s 2023 run-off election, pledging to deliver support from his southeastern county.
The Claim
Former Senator Teahjay claimed: “In the whole six years of the CDC administration, no reduction was made in the price of gasoline”
Rating Justification
To verify this claim, we reviewed price circulars from the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC) and the Ministry of Commerce & Industry between 2018 and 2023.
In March 2018, shortly after the CDC Government inauguration, the retail pump price for a gallon of gasoline was $3.37. This is evidenced by a press release issued in that year by the government over allegations of fuel shortages in the Liberian market.
By May 2018, the price had increased to $3.61. The government said the reason for the change in the price on the market was a result of an upward shift in the perimeters that are frequently used to determine the prices of the products in the country.
Two months later in that same year (2018), the price rose to US$3.69. However, an intervention by former President George Weah led to a reduction of $0.14, bringing the price down to $3.55. By the end of that year, the price was at US3.70.
Early in January 2019, the Government announced a decrease in the retail pump price from US$3.70 to US$3.30.
The decision to decrease the price, according to the government, was a result of a shift in the parameters that are frequently used to determine the prices of petroleum products.
The price was further reduced to US$3.21 at the end of 2019 and the early part of 2020 through a press release issued that year refuting claims of the shortages of petroleum products on the market.
By March 2022, amid global fuel price hikes, the price surged to US$5.66.
In the following month in April that year, the price was reduced to US$5.00.
In February 2023, the price dropped further to US$4.88. The price decreased again to $4.70 and remained unchanged through the end of the year.
Conclusion
Based on these findings, we conclude that former Senator Milton Teahjay’s claim that no reduction in gasoline prices occurred during the CDC administration is misleading.
A review of LPRC price circulars proves that there were notable reductions made during the Weah administration, although the price increased from $3.37 to $5.66 during his six-year rule.
