On September 5, Deputy Finance Minister for Fiscal Affairs, Samora P. Z. Wolokolie appeared at the Center for the Exchange of Intellectual Opinion or CEIO on Carey Stree in Monrovia to highlight the success of the current administration.
In the nearly three-hour thirty-minute (3:34) engagement with members of CEIO, which was also streamed live on different online platforms including the official Facebook page of the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs & Tourism (MICAT), Deputy Minister Wolokolie said that “the claim made by former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf that there was US$150 million in the reserve [of the Central Bank of Liberia] was inaccurate; there was only $135 million in the reserve when we (the current administration) took over”.
This claim is similar to a statement by Liberia’s Finance Minister Samuel D. Tweah, Jr, who in a radio appearance back in June 2023 on ELBC, claimed that the current administration did not meet $150 million in the country’s reserve as claimed by former President Sirleaf.
In the interview, Minister Tweah said: “inherited $110 million in the country’s reserve”.
Claim #1: There was only US$135 million in the reserve when we (the current administration) took over”.
Verdict: Incorrect
To fact check this claim, we obtained the 2017 Annual Report by the Central Bank of Liberia from the official website of the CBL.
On page 29 of this report, we found out that the country’s net foreign reserves at the end of November 2017 stood at US$150.7 million and US$154.8 million at the end of December in the same year.
This net foreign reserve was then increased by 4.5 percent to US$162.1 million by December 2018 during the current administration.
Therefore, we conclude that the claim by Deputy Minister Wolokolie that the current administration did not meet $150 million in the country’s reserve (as stated by former President Sirleaf) is incorrect. The CBL December 2017 report shows that US$154.8 million was in the the reserve of the CBL.
Claim #2: The Government of President Weah has attracted several investments in the country including three Cement Manufacturing Companies.
Verdict: Correct
Meanwhile, on August 28, 2023 Edition of the OK Conversation with Julius Jeh, Deputy Minister Wolokolie also claimed on the radio show that the government of President Weah has attracted several investments in the country including three Cement Manufacturing Companies.
Said the Deputy Finance Minister: “Before 2018, there was only one cement factory in this country and that cement factory was Cemenco. Under the CDC, we have attracted three additional Cement Factories in the Country: Star Cement, Futa Cement and Capital Link Cement”.
To fact check this claim, we found a 2019 publication by the FrontPage Africa newspaper, reporting that “the Liberian Government under the leadership of President George Weah granted the right to enter and do business in the cement industry to Star Cement Company. The report stated that the investment worth US$41 million.
Another cement company, Fouta Cement Corporation was granted permission by the government in 2019 to produce and sell cement in Liberia.
The two companies (Star Cement and Fouta Cement Corporation) are located on Bushrod Island in Monrovia.
The third cement company, Capital Link Cement was also granted permission by the government in 2019 to produce and sell cement in Liberia. This cement factory is located near the port of Buchanan in Grand Bassa County. LVL Fact Checking Desk mobile fact checking toured the cement plant near the port of Buchanan to verify the existence of the factory and found that the facility is operational.
The three Cement manufacturing companies are currently producing cement in the country.
Therefore, we conclude that Deputy Minister Wolokolie got his fact correct about the three new Cement manufacturing companies (Star Cement, Fouta Cement and Capital Link Cement) that became investing in Liberia during the current administration.
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.
