Stanton Witherspoon Is Correct: NPA Has Not Contributed to 2025 National Budget
D. Olivia Banwon
In Summary:
Spoon Talk’s host and former CEO of Spoon FM, Stanton Witherspoon, made two claims about the National Port Authority’s contributions to the 2024 and 2025 National Budgets.
Witherspoon claims the NPA contributed US$2 million in dividends to the national budget in 2024, and the entity has made no contributions to the 2025 budget.
Our fact check findings reveal that NPA contributed more than US$2 million in 2024, but the entity has not yet contributed to the 2025 national budget.
On December 8, Stanton Witherspoon, the host of Spoon Talk, claimed that the National Port Authority (NPA) contributed US$2 million in dividends to the national budget in 2024, and that the entity has made no contributions to the budget since then.
His comments came as he criticized NPA Managing Director Sekou Dukuly for what he described as the NPA’s failure to support the national budget despite being the gateway to the country’s economy.
The Claim:
Said Mr. Stanton Witherspoon: “Have you asked yourself, since we made this announcement, why Sekou is not contributing to the government coffers? When last did he contribute? Since 2024, two million dollars in dividends. 2025, nothing, we’re going to 2026, promises are made, but the people saying the man says he will not contribute.”
To verify Witherspoon’s claim, we reviewed the 2024 financial statement published by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
According to the record, the NPA was initially tasked with generating US$6 million, but only managed to contribute US$3 million in dividends.
Dividends from NPA in 2024/Consolidated Financial Statement
For the 2025 budget year, the government of Liberia projected a revenue of US$5.85 million from contributions by the NPA. However, the estimated outturn for this budget line for 2025 shows that NPA has not contributed any amount to the government coffers in 2025.
As seen in the screenshot above, the NPA transferred US$3 million as revenue to the GoL in FY2024. In FY2025, a projection of US$5.85 million was made for the NPA to contribute to the government as revenue, but the FY2025 Estimated Outturn shows no transfer from the NPA to the government as revenue.
Conclusion
Based on this available information, Witherspoon’s claim that the NPA contributed US$2 million in dividends to the national budget in 2024 is incorrect. Official records show a higher contribution of US$3 million.
For 2025, the NPA has not yet contributed to the budget based on our review of the financial statement covering January to October 2025. MFDP has not yet released the comprehensive financial statement for 2025. Therefore, Mr. Witherspoon is correct on this claim.
