Summary: Senator Abraham Darius Dillon recently appeared in a radio interview and claimed that the Fiscal Year 2024 budgetary allocation for fuel for the vehicles of Senate Pro-Temp Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence is US$17,000. He also claimed that the UL did not get over US$20 in a single budget year during the administration of George Weah. We have verified these two claims and found one to be incorrect and the other partially correct.
Montserrado County Senator Darius Dillon appeared in a live radio interview on July 4 and made several claims. Key among his statements were an assertion that Pro-Temp Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence has “US$17,000 in the 2024 National Budget for fuel” and lubricants for her three vehicles, and that for the past six years during the administration of former President George Weah, the budget for the University of Liberia “never crossed US$20 million”.
His exact words were: “For six years under the past regime, the University of Liberia Budget never crossed US$20 million.”
“The Pro-Temp has 17k for fuel for 3 cars.”
Claim #1: University of Liberia Budget
Rating Justification
To fact-check this claim, we reviewed the various budgets for the University of Liberia during the administration of former President George Weah. The various allocations for the university during that time are shown in the table below:
| FY18/19 | FY19/20 | FY20/21 | SP 2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 |
| 16.7 million | 17.3 million | 16.7 million | 7.4 million | 17.6 million | 18.8 million |
It is important to note that the actual budget or spending of the University of Liberia in the last two years of former President Weah’s administration exceeded US$20 million, according to the Government of Liberia’s annual financial statements of 2022 and 2023.
In 2022, the university received an allotment of US$17.6 million in the approved budget but spent US$25.1 million, according to the 2022 financial statement of the government.
The university also received an allotment of US$18.8 million in 2023, but that year’s actual budget or spending was US$29.7 million, according to the government’s Annual Financial Statement.
Claim #2: Pro-Temp Fuel Allocation
Rating Justification
To verify this claim, we also reviewed the approved national budget for FY2024. In the budget, the Office of the Pro-Temp received an allotment of US$1.5 million for FY2024.
On page 6 of the document, the allocation for fuel and lubricant for the office of the Senate Pro-Temp is US$59,984 and not US$17,000 as claimed by the senator.
Conclusion
Based on a careful review of these financial instruments, we conclude that Senator Abraham Darius Dillon was incorrect about the budgetary allocation for fuel for the vehicles of the Senate Pro-Temp of the Liberian Senate.
Meanwhile, he is partially correct about the budget of the University of Liberia not being more than US$20 million in the approved budgets during the administration of former President Weah.
A careful review of the National Budget for FY2024 shows an allotment of US$59,984 for fuel and lubricants for vehicles in the budget for the office of the Pro-Temp and not US$17,000 as claimed by the senator.
Also, the approved allotments for the University of Liberia during Weah’s regime in a single budget year did not cross US$20 million as claimed by the senator. However, the university received more than US$20 million separately in the last two years of the administration of former President Weah as shown in the consolidated financial system.
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