On September 18, 2023 Movement for Progressive Change Presidential Candidate Simeon Freeman appeared in a special radio interview to discuss his agenda of progress for Liberia. Mr. Freeman is one of 20 candidates seeking to unseat incumbent president George Weah is the polls schedule for October 10, 2023.
In the over two-hours interview, Mr. Freeman pointed out the challenges, which he says, are impeding the growth of the different sectors of Liberia and highlighted what he would do differently as president of Liberia. While speaking, Mr. Freeman made several claims. In this fact check report, we verified these claims.
He claimed that a 2018 report shows that 922,000 people entered primary school in Liberia but only 3% graduated. Also, on budgetary allotments, the MPC leader claimed that the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency received an allotment of US$ 500,000 in the national budget while the Executive Protection Service (EPS) was allotted US$10 million when the entire Judiciary was given US$17 million.
Claim #1: “922, 000 people entered Primary schools, do you know how many get out? Only 3% and this is a 2018 report.”
Verdict: Incorrect
He also claimed that in 2018, primary incompletion rate was 37% while secondary incompletion rate was 42%. And of the 922, 000 students that were enrolled that year, only 3% came out of high school.
To fact check this claim, we found the 2018 report of Liberia’s education update which Mr. Freeman relied on to make the claims.
The report was published by the Education Policy and Data Center which is a research unit within the Global Learning Group of FHI 360.
The data from the report about primary and secondary school completion and incompletion rate relies on the 2013 Demography and Health Survey.
It states that in 2018, Liberia had “a total of 922,000 pupils enrolled in both primary and secondary education”. Out of that number, 694,000 or 75% were enrolled in primary education as of 2018.
The report also states that in 2018 the net enrollment rate for primary education in Liberia was 37% and the primary completion rate was 59%, which was considered improvement Liberia was making “towards achieving universal primary education which is a UN Millennium goal”.
The chart shows the highest level of education reached by youth ages 15-24 years in 2018 although they may still be in school and working towards their educational goal.
In this group, the chart shows that incomplete primary education was at 37%, and incomplete secondary education was at 42%. The chart also shows that 2% of youth aged 25-24 years completed primary education and 4% had completed secondary education in 2018 while 3% continued after secondary education.
We also found the Ministry of Education Annual School Census 2019-2020 which is the most recent publicly available data of schools in Liberia.
The report shows that there are 1, 452, 453 students enrolled in Liberian school for academic 2019-2020 school year.
607, 558 or 41.8% are enrolled in primary education, 542, 696 or 37.3% are enrolled in Early Childhood Education, 168, 379 or 11.5% are enrolled in Junior Secondary Education, 106, 194 or 7.3% are enrolled in Snior Secondary Education, 14, 315 or 1% are enrolled in Technical and Vocational Education Training while 13, 311 or 0.9% are enrolled in Accelerated Learning Program.
Conclusion
Given the facts established from our research, we conclude that Simeon Freeman claim that 922,000 people entered primary school but only 3% of get out is incorrect.
The Education Policy and Data Center 2018 report on Liberia shows that 922,000 students enrolled in both primary and secondary education in 2018, 694,000 were enrolled in primary education and the primary education completion rate in 2018 was 58% and not 3% as claimed by the MPC political leader.
Claim #2: Executive Protection Service that provides protection only for the President received US$10 million while the Judiciary received US$17 million in the budget.
Verdict: Incorrect
Also, Mr. Freeman claimed that the Liberia Mr. Freeman claimed that the Executive Protection Service that provides protection only for the President received US$10 million while the Judiciary received US$ 17 million in the budget.
The Executive Protection Service according to the National Security Reform and Intelligence Act of 2011 function is to protect and secure the President, his or her immediate family, other officials and visiting dignitaries (VIPS) to be designated by the president.
To fact check this claim about allocations made to the EPS and the Judiciary, we reviewed the 2023 Recast National Budget. The review shows that the EPS received an allotment of US$9,895, 259.
We further research of the 2023 Recast National Budget and found that the Judiciary received an allotment of US$19,453,234.
Conclusion
Therefore, the claim by Mr. Freeman that the EPS provides security only for the president and received US$10 million while the Judiciary received US$17 million is incorrect.
Claim#3: The Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency received US$500, 000 while the Vice President operational fund is US$1.2 million.
Verdict #1: Incorrect
Verdict #2: Correct
Meanwhile, Mr. Freeman also spoke about his strategy to tackle the use of narcotics substance in the country. While speaking on this issue, he claimed that the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency received US$500, 000 while the Vice President operational fund is US$ 1.2 million.
He said: “How can you say you fighting drug and you give the DEA [LDEA] less than US$500,000 and the Vice President operational fund is US$ 1.2 million?”
To verify this claim, we also reviewed allotments made to the LDEA verses allotment made to the Office of the Vice President in the 2023 Recast National Budget.
In the 2023 National Budget, the LDEA received an allotment of US$1,904,651 while the Office of the Vice President received US$1,741,219 for use of goods and services in the recast 2023 National budget.
Conclusion
We, therefore, conclude that Mr. Freeman claim that the LDEA received less than US$500,000 in the 2023 budget is incorrect.
On Mr. Freeman claim that the Vice President Office received 1.2 million operational funds, the 2023 Recast National Budget shows no allotment for operational fund of the Office of the Vice President, however, there is an allotment of US$1,741, 219 for the use of goods and services.
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.
