Summary:
- Aloysius Howe, former Finance Minister Samuel Tweah’s Special Assistant, claimed that the Monrovia Vocational Training Center (MVTC) had US$111,476 in the 2022 fiscal budget and US$140,579 in 2023.
- He also claimed that in the 2024 budget, the government has allotted US$4,000.
- We have fact-checked this statement and found it to be mostly correct.
On October 8, Aloysius Howe, special assistant to former Finance Minister Samuel D. Tweah, Jr. and a supporter of the opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) posted on his official Facebook page comparing budgetary allocations to the Monrovia Vocational Training Center (MVTC) under the administrations of George Weah and Joseph Boakai.
Howard claimed in the post that allocations to MVTC increased in the last two budget years (2022-2023) of former President Geroge Weah but declined significantly in the first year of President Joseph Boakai.
Mr. Howe made the claim while questioning the Boakai’s administration commitment to supporting technical and vocational education and youth empowerment.
The Claim
“The MVTC had USD 111,476 in the 2022 fiscal budget, in 2023, they had USD 140,579. This year, under the rescue government, their fiscal budget is USD 4000. And this government is committed to youth education and empowerment. This is ridiculous!”
Rating Justification
To verify this claim, we reviewed the allocations made to MVTC in the approved National Budgets from 2022 to 2024 published by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
In the 2022 Approved National Budget, on page 152, there is a budget line item name Monrovia Vocational Training Center with budget code 0301 with an allocation of US$ 152,879.
Our review of the 2023 Approved National Budget shows that allocation to MVTC dropped in that year to US$ 140,879 from the US$ 152,879 allocated in 2022.
While in the 2024 Approved National Budget MVTC has an allocation of US$ 4,000.
This is a significant decline of about 148,879 from the amount allocated in the 2023 Approved National Budget.
Conclusion
Based on the research conducted, we conclude that Howe’s claim that MVTC had US$111,476 in the 2022 fiscal budget, US$140,579 in 2023, and US$4,000 in the 2024 budget is mostly correct.
While Aloysius Howe’s statements about the 2023 and 2024 budgets were mostly correct, his claim regarding the 2022 budget was incorrect. In 2022, US$152,879 was allotted to the MVTC, and not US$140,579 as was claimed by him.
