I share two graphs: the graph to the left shows how our government spent the people’s money in 2022. The graph to the right shows how the Legislature’s budget grew under the Weah Administration. The way we spend the people’s money as shown by the graph to the left and the appetite of those the Constitution has empowered to divide the people’s money, their elected Representatives, and Senators are the reasons why Liberia is stuck in poverty. This has to change!
By Hon. Amara Konneh, Senator Gbarpolu County, Chair on Senate Public Accounts & Audit Committee
I estimate the median age of today’s leaders in Liberia’s three branches of government to be about 50 years. Most of us in our 50s are undergoing a transition, having to change our lifestyles, watch what we eat and drink, and undergo extensive and intrusive regular medical exams to prevent terminal diseases to extend our time on this Earth. In so doing, we face our own mortality. I hope that we also reflect on the time we as individuals, our nation, and people have lost in war, in poverty, and under dictatorship, and that we try to make up for that lost time. Most of all, I pray that we consider that, on our deathbeds, we will be surrounded by people, not our titles and not the largesse that comes with our current positions. Winning elections and getting appointed to lucrative government jobs are important milestones in our lives. But what matters most and leaves the most positive legacy is how we use these blessings to improve the human condition and how well we treat people along the way.
President Joseph Boakai has submitted to the Legislature the 2024 National Budget of US$692.4 million, the most important public policy instrument to help improve the living conditions of our fellow Liberians. He has recalled legislators from recess to debate this budget, beginning on Monday, which happens to be April Fools’ Day. I pray that, rather than make a mockery of the process and fools of the Liberian people, we instead treat it with the seriousness and speed it demands.
The Senate’s Public Accounts, Expenditures, and Audits Committee is committed to doing our part in that process. We will work to ensure that, across government, there is no room for corruption. We will obstruct those who attempt to hide public funds in agencies where their cronies and agents can redirect them toward self-seeking activities and away from human development. Deputy Ministers, Deputy Commissioners, Deputy Managing Directors for Administration, and Comptrollers, please take notice!
The Senate’s Public Accounts, Expenditures, and Audits Committee is committed to doing our part in that process. We will work to ensure that, across government, there is no room for corruption. We will obstruct those who attempt to hide public funds in agencies where their cronies and agents can redirect them toward self-seeking activities and away from human development. Deputy Ministers, Deputy Commissioners, Deputy Managing Directors for Administration, and Comptrollers, please take notice!
To this end, we have written separate letters to the Minister of Finance and Development Planning and the Commissioner General of the Liberia Revenue Authority requesting a full list of the GOL’s consolidated and expenditure accounts and their balances, those for ALL spending entities and subsidy-receiving institutions in the budget, and ALL consolidated revenues and transitory accounts. We are building an expenditure-tracking tool and an army of professional auditors, public financial management (PFM) experts, and project managers to religiously track budget execution, and minimize abuse and waste. The goal is not to wait for the damage to happen before commissioning audits. We will reactivate the National Integrity Forum, protect whistle-blowers, and build strong partnerships with civil society and the media. And I ask God to guide me and my colleagues in this process.
Happy Easter Sunday to all my Christian friends in Liberia and around the world. And I wish my fellow Muslims strength in the last 10 days of Ramadan.
Discussion about this post