Summary:
- Senator Pro-Temp Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence has claimed that South Africa is ranked third in Africa for its transparency in budgeting.
- The Grand Bassa County Senator made the post after meeting South Africa’s ambassador to Liberia to discussion support for Liberia
- We have fact checked this claim and found it to be incorrect.
The President Pro Tempore of the Liberian Senate, Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence claimed in a Facebook post that South Africa is ranked third in Africa for transparency in budgeting.
The Grand Bassa County Senator made this claim following her meeting with Professor Iqbal Jhazbhay, the South African ambassador to Liberia. During their meeting, she said they discussed potential South Africa’s support for Liberia’s reform agenda.
There are critical views about Liberia’s budget transparency with the United States’ State Department expressing a number of concerns in its 2024 assessment of the country’s fiscal transparency.
The Claim
After meeting with the South African Ambassador, she posted to Facebook: “The Ambassador expressed his strong interest in supporting initiatives aimed at building robust institutions, fostering transparent budgeting processes, and enhancing internal auditing systems… Given South Africa’s reputation for best practices in auditing and its ranking as third in Africa for transparency in budgeting, this partnership holds great promise.”
Rating Justification
To verify this claim, we reviewed the Open Budget Survey (OBS) complied by the International Budget Partnership. This survey ranks countries based on performance in the three pillars of accountability in national budget processes.
International Budgeting Partnership collaborates globally with civil society, community organizations, government advocates, and budget analysts to generate data, advocate for reform, and equip individuals with the skills and knowledge needed to have a say in budget decisions that affect their lives.
In its 2023 ranking released in 2024, South Africa is ranked fourth globally in “budget transparency” with a score of 83. South Africa is followed by Moldova, Mexico, and Brazil. Zimbabwe is ranked 30th with a transparency score of 63 out of 100.
Liberia is ranked 52nd on the budget transparency index with a score of 52 followed by Papua New Guinea, India, and Serbia with a score of 52, 51, and 51 respectively.
It is important to note that this is the world’s only independent, comparative, and fact-based research instrument that uses internationally accepted criteria to assess public access to central government budget information; formal opportunities for the public to participate in the national budget process; and the role of budget oversight institutions, such as legislatures and national audit offices, in the budget process in 125 countries
Several institutions have referenced the report here, here and here highlighting the transparency of countries’ budgets across the World.
Conclusion
Based on these findings, we, therefore, conclude that the claim made by Grand Bassa County Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence that South Africa is ranked third in Africa for transparency in budgeting is incorrect.
While South Africa is considered transparent in its budgeting, it is not ranked third. The OBS by the International Budget Partnership ranked South Africa 4th for transparency in budgeting in the work making her first in Africa and not third as claimed by Sen. Karnga-Lawrence.
