Summary: A popular supporter of Joseph Boakai’s administration has claimed that former President George Weah did not declare his assets during his term in office. We have fact-checked this and found his statement to be incorrect.
On June 18, a member of the ruling Unity Party, George Lobbo claimed on OK FM that former President Weah did not declare his assets. Mr. Lobbo made the claim while responding to a question by the host, Clarence Jackson, about publicly calling on the current President to publish his assets.
The Claim
His exact words were: “We learn from the former LACC boss that up to the time he was at LACC, the former President did not declare his assets”. The claim was made here at 2::08:02 in the interview.
It is important to note that the former Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission boss, Cllr. Edwin Kla Martin took over the Commission in July 2021 and was removed in February 2023 following the enactment of a new LACC law.
Rating Justification
To verify this claim, we reviewed the 2018/2019 Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission report. The annual report highlighted government ministries, agencies, and commissions, including the Presidency in the Executive Branch that submitted asset declarations to the Anti-corruption Graft body during the reporting period.
Page 21 of the report reads: “The Unit received from the various Ministry, agencies, and commissions (MACs) including the Presidency a total of four hundred seventeen (417) Asset Declarations to date, representing 75% of five hundred ninety (590) total declarations listed for Asset Declaration compliance within the Executive Branch”.
To further verify this claim, we also review several credible news reports. We found news reports indicating that former President Weah declared his assets. These reports can be found here, here, here and here.
FrontPage Africa, in a July 27, 2018 story with the headline “Pres. Weah Declares Assets after Six Months Delay” states that “The General Auditing Commission (GAC) says it has received the declaration of personal interests, income, assets, and liabilities forms from President George M. Weah on Wednesday, July 25, 2018, at 6:05 PM”.
On July 28, 2018, News Public Trust also published a press release online from the General Auditing Commission (GAC) in which the GAC confirmed that Mr. Weah declared his assets and liabilities at the LACC and was forwarded to the GACC.
An excerpt of the release reads: “The General Auditing Commission (GAC) has received the declaration of personal interests, income, assets and liabilities forms from President George M. Weah, on Wednesday, July 25, 2018, at 6:05 PM.”
Conclusion
Based on the evidence we have reviewed; we conclude that Mr. Lobbo is incorrect in saying that former President George Weah did not declare his assets.
The LACC 2018/2019 report shows that Mr. Weah did declare his assets. Also, several news reports by credible news media reported that the former President declared his assets.
This report is produced with funding from the USAID Media Activity. The funder has No say in the editorial decisions leading to the production of this content
