MONROVIA – The 2024 National Budget has mysteriously disappeared from the Ministry of Finance & Development Planning’s website. After being unavailable for several weeks, the Budget reappeared on the site last week but was restricted with an unprecedented access code. It has since been removed again.
By Lennart Dodoo, [email protected]
The Ministry has yet to respond to The Liberian Investigator’s inquiry on why the Budget was removed from the website.
The 2024 National Budget has been somewhat controversial. The Budget got its final approval with the signature of President Joseph Boakai in mid-May. However, the Ministry of Finance failed to make a copy of the Budget available to the public, raising public outcry.
In early June, Margibi County District 5 Representative, Clarence Gahr, wrote to the plenary of the House requesting a recall of the Budget on the grounds that it had been altered by the Executive.
Bong County District 2 Representative, James Kolleh, reminded his colleagues that during the 2024 National Budget deliberations, he proposed that all mentions of the Legislative Budget Office be replaced with the Public Accounts Committee.
The Margibi County lawmaker alleged that at the final stage of signing the 2024 National Budget, the law was submitted without plenary amendments, making the budget potentially voidable. He warned that not addressing this issue could set a precedent for future tampering with laws, damaging the House of Representatives’ integrity.
After discussion, the House agreed to forward the communication to its leadership, who will request the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning to provide the final Budget copy.
The budget, totaling $738,859,827.00, was officially released on Monday, July 1, 2024, as required by the amended 2019 Public Financial Management (PFM) Law.
President Joseph Boakai approved and signed the budget on May 8, 2024, and it was subsequently printed into handbill on May 16, but was never made public until July 1. This contravenes the government’s accountability and transparency principles and laws. The Public Financial Management Law requires that the Budget be made public upon being signed into handbills.
The final budget saw an increase in the adjusted revenue envelope from the initially proposed $692,408,827 to $738,859,827, marking a rise of $46,451,000 and reflecting a notable increase in expected revenues.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance & Development Planning, Boima Kamara, has reportedly resigned following pressure from the President for him to vacate the post. The Liberian Investigator gathered that Kamara has been unable to effectively carry out his duties as Finance Minister due to health conditions.
Minister Kamara has been out of office since he was commissioned and has been seeking medical attention in Ghana. However, his absence appears to have caused some setbacks for the government, including the handling of the National Budget.
However, Kamara pleaded with the President to allow him to stay on the job to lead Liberia into the ongoing IMF’s extended credit facility negotiations. Despite his plea, the President, according to our source, was determined to have Kamara resign.
According to our source, Minister Kamara cut his medical trip in Ghana short to return to the country after he was hinted that the President was on the verge of naming a new Finance Minister. Other sources hinted that Boima had also been opposed to the proposed loan deal for 285 pieces of heavy-duty trucks and earth-moving equipment that have begun arriving in the country.
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