Published: June 27, 2026
SUAKOKO, Bong County – Nimba County Senator Samuel G. Kogar has accused Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung of misleading the public and violating Liberia’s budget law by announcing a presidential pledge to light unpowered sections of Cuttington University without naming a legal source of funding.
Kogar’s charge followed remarks Koung made at Cuttington’s 64th Commencement Convocation on Saturday, June 27, where the vice president said President Joseph Nyuma Boakai had instructed him to tell the university the government would install a solar power system to illuminate parts of the campus that lack electricity.
Kogar said the announcement left the false impression that the commitment was a personal gesture from Boakai rather than a government expenditure carried by taxpayers.
“For the Vice President to have come with a message from the president, telling him that he should go ahead and announce the provision of solar plates or electricity for the segments of the Cuttington University that have darkness, I think it was misleading,” Kogar said.
He said the administration failed to disclose where the money for the project would come from, and that such commitments must be transparent and comply with Liberia’s Public Financial Management and budget processes.
If Boakai intended to finance the project from his personal income, Kogar said, the announcement should have said so. Otherwise, the pledge amounts to a government obligation funded by taxpayers and should not be cast as a personal donation.
“What I thought he would have said was that ‘the president on his volution, informed me to let you know that from his salary, he will give these solar lights,’ but the commitment he made is on behalf of the Liberian people because the very Cuttington University students are all taxpayers,” Kogar stressed.
The senator said Liberia’s national budget is enacted into law each year and that any government spending must be authorized through the approved budget or cleared by the Legislature before it takes effect.
Cuttington already draws annual government appropriations, he noted, arguing that additional assistance should move through established legal procedures rather than be announced outside the budget framework.
“That was even outside of the budget law; the budget is a law, and every budget is passed annually. We had passed the budget, we captured Cuttington, so any assistance they need, there must be a legislative consideration,” Kogar said.
He said officials should not take personal credit for projects financed with public money, calling such initiatives obligations owed to taxpayers rather than political favors. Keeping the line between public funds and personal contributions clear, he added, is what preserves transparency and public confidence in government spending.
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