Published: November 25, 2025
In Summary:
- Gbapolu County Senator Amara Konneh recently claimed that the ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development identifies a US$1.68 billion investment need across priority sectors for FY2026, while the draft budget allocates only US$594 million.
- We have verified the claim by reviewing the AAID framework, and it shows that the administration estimates US$8.38 billion for programs under its key pillars, with US$1.68 billion required specifically for FY2026.
- Additionally, we reviewed the draft FY2026 budget, which also confirmed that US$594 million is proposed for these priority sectors, making Senator Konneh’s claim correct.
Senator Amara Konneh, on November 18, 2025, claimed in a Facebook post that the ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development (AAID) framework outlines a US$1.68 billion investment need across priority sectors for FY2026.
He further stated that the draft FY2026 national budget allocates only US$594 million, from both domestic and external resources, toward those sectors, resulting in a funding gap of US$1.08 billion. He described these allocations as a misalignment of the AAID.
Senator Konneh made this claim following his review of the draft budget currently before the Legislature.
The ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development, or AAID, is the development framework of the Joseph Boakai administration. ARREST is an acronym representing the government’s six major priority pillars for developing the country and its people: Agriculture & Forestry, Roads & Infrastructure, Rule of Law & Governance, Education & Human Capital Development, Sanitation, Health & Social Development, and Tourism & Environmental Sustainability.
The Claim
An excerpt of Senator Konneh’s post reads: “The ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development (AAID) framework outlines a $1.68 billion investment need across priority sectors in FY2026. However, the draft FY2026 budget allocates only $594 million from domestic and external resources toward those sectors, leaving a funding gap of $1.08 billion.”
Rating Justification
To verify this claim, we reviewed both the AAID framework document and the draft FY2026 national budget.
Our review of the AAID framework shows that the Boakai administration identifies several priority sectors under the ARREST agenda: Economic Transformation, Infrastructure Development, Rule of Law, Governance and Anti-Corruption, Environmental Sustainability, and Human Capital Development.
On Page 183, the framework estimates the total cost of programs under these pillars at US$8.38 billion over the duration of the agenda.
Of this amount, the administration projects a US$1.68 billion investment requirement in FY2026 for these priority pillars/sectors.
Below is a screenshot of all the annual cost estimates for the duration of the AAID.
We also reviewed the draft FY2026 national budget and found that the total proposed allocation for programs within these priority sectors amounts to approximately US$594 million.
Below is a table showing the various allocations and funding gaps to the priority sectors by the administration in the AAID for FY2026.
| Sector/Pillar | AAID Projected Need (US$M) | Draft FY2026 Budget (US$M) | Funding Gap (US$M) |
| Infrastructure Development | $520 | $133.21 | $386.8 |
| Human Capital Development | $480 | $225.69 | $254.3 |
| Economic Transformation | $260 | $29.90 | $230.1 |
| Rule of Law & Security | $210 | $151.83 | $58.2 |
| Governance & Anti-Corruption | $120 | $34.42 | $85.6 |
| Environmental Sustainability | $90 | $18.19 | $71.8 |
| Total | $1.68 billion | $593.24 | $1,086 |
Conclusion
Based on these findings, we conclude that Senator Amara Konneh’s claim is correct: the AAID framework sets a US$1.68 billion investment need for FY2026, while the draft budget allocates approximately US$594 million toward those sectors.
This leaves a funding gap of US$1.08 billion, as claimed by the Senator.
Editor’s Note:
This fact check was produced by Local Voices Liberia with support from the European Union through the Liberia Media Empowerment Program (LMEP). The funder had no say in the editorial decision leading to the production of this fact-check report. Read the original fact-check report here.
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