No Evidence IRISE Project Was Initiated During Unity Party’s ‘First Administration’

In Summary:

• A StaLwart of the Unity Party, Mo Ali, has claimed that the IRISE project was initiated towards the end of the second term of the first Unity Party administration

• We have fact checked this claim by reviewing relevant documents regarding the project overview, financing, and implementation details retrieved from the World Bank project database

• We found no evidence to back Mr. Ali’s claim about the project

On July 21, the Managing Director of the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC) who is also a stalwart of the Unity Party, Mo Ali, claimed in a Facebook post that the “Improving Results in Secondary Education (IRISE) Project for Liberia” was initiated toward the end of the second term of the Unity Party administration. The UP second term was from January 2011 to 2017.

Ali made the Facebook post following the dedication of two modern schools in Bong and Nimba Counties by the government and international partners. The project was made possible with funding from the World Bank through the Improving Results in Secondary Education (IRISE) project.

In his post, Mr. Ali argued that the IRISE Project was not a CDC-initiated project. He criticized the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) , stating that they should “stop claiming glory for projects you could not complete within six (6) years even though the money was available.”

He maintained that the project began under the Unity Party administration and not during the CDC government.

The claim

Excerpt from Mo’s post reads: “The project was initiated towards the end of the second term of the first UP government.”

Rating Justification

To verify whether the IRISE project was “initiated towards the end of the second term of the first UP government”, we first contacted Mr. Ali to provide any source that backs his claim. He has not replied to our inquiry; if he does, we will update this report.

According to project management, the term “initiate” means to “formally start a program or project by defining its purpose, scope, objectives, stakeholders, and securing authorization to proceed”.

We then conducted a thorough search and reviewed the IRISE Project overview, financing, and implementation details retrieved from the World Bank project database: [P164932 – IRISE Project page], which contains the project details.

The project details show that the IRISE Project was first disclosed by the World Bank on April 29, 2019 during the second year of the CDC administration.

Further detailed shows that the project was approved by the World Bank Board of Executive Directors on July 2, 2019 and came into effect on October 15, 2019.

Subsequently, on July 19, 2019, the then Minister of Finance and Development Planning Samuel D. Tweah Jr., signed a US$47 million grant financing agreement with the World Bank as contained in a press release published by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning following the signing ceremony.

This agreement was signed in the presence of Pierre Laporte, the World Bank’s Country Director for Liberia.

The IRISE Project officially came into effect on October 15, 2019, as contained in the project details above.

These facts are also supported by a World Bank Group press release dated July 2, 2019, confirming the approval of the US$47 million IDA grant for the project.

We could not find any evidence suggesting that former president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s administration had any discussions, plans, or public mention of the IRISE Project during her presidency.

All substantive documentation about the IRISE Project, including its official disclosure (April 29, 2019), World Bank approval (July 2, 2019), grant signing (July 19, 2019), and project’s start (October 15, 2019), occurred during CDC administration.

Conclusion

Based on these findings, we conclude that there is no publicly available evidence to support the claim made by Mr. Mo Ali that the IRISE project “was initiated towards the end of the second term of the first UP government”.