Published: June 26, 2024
Summary: National Port Authority Managing Director Sakou Dukely claimed at a MICAT Press Briefing on June 25 that the NPA, under former President George Weah contributed 4 million United States Dollars to the Government of Liberia General Revenue Account. We have verified his claim to be misleading.
The Managing Director of the National Port Authority Sakou Dukuly has claimed that the NPA contributed only US$4 million during the administration of former President George Weah.
Mr. Dukuly made the claim during the Ministry of Information special Press Briefing while presenting a cheque of US$2 Million as a contribution to the National Budget.
The Claim
His exact words were: “Today, June 25, 2024, in just about five months, the National Port Authority will contribute two million United States dollars to the Government of Liberia General Revenue Account… To put that in context, in six years of former President George Manneh Weah, they made a total contribution of four million (US$4 million).”
Rating Justification
To verify his claim, we reviewed the annual financial statements of the Government of Liberia from 2018 to 2023 as published on the website of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning. On page 13 of the annual financial statement for Fiscal Year 2018/2019, the document reveals that the National Port Authority contributed US$5 million to the national budget.
For FY2019/2020, the document [Annual Financial Statement] also shows that the dividends from shares in NPA were US$2.5 million was deposited in the consolidated account of the Liberian government.
According to the financial statement for that fiscal year 2020/2021, the NPA contributed US$1 million to the national budget by paying that amount to the government’s account.
Lastly, the 2023 financial statement shows that the NPA contributed US$200,000 to the National budget.
To establish the total contribution of the NPA to the National Budget between 2018 and 2023, we found the sum of all contributions made by the NPA from 2018/2019 to 2023 to the national budget. The sum of all contributions is US$ 9.5 million.
Conclusion
Based on a careful review of the financial statements published by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, we conclude that the claim made by the Managing Director of the National Port Authority that during the past administration, the NPA only contributed US$4 million to the National Budget is misleading.
During the administration of former President George Weah from 2018 to 2023, the NPA contributed US$9.5 million to the National Budget.
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
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