Press Statement on the FY2022 Draft National Budget

November 24, 2021

Integrity Watch Liberia (IW-L), Foundation for Community Initiative (FCI), and the CSO Budget Platform wish to thank the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning for the submission of the Draft FY2022 National Budget to the legislature. The Budget Platform is happy to note that Liberia’s National Budget has steadily grown over the past 16-years since the post-war budget of US$80.50 million in 2006. The FY2010/11 saw the budget reach pre-war levels of US$500 million, and now in FY2022, the government has submitted the budget of US$785.5 million as Executive Budget Proposal (EBP) to the Legislature, signaling a budget growth of 25% when compared to FY2020/21 and 16% contribution of domestic revenue to GDP, despite the economic shocks the country has endured over the past six years. Integrity Watch Liberia (IWL) and the CSO Budget Platform shed light on analysis of the Executive Budget Proposals with focus on select budgetary proposals both in recurrent expenditure and capital investments. The ultimate objective is intended to highlight potential risks associated with forecasted revenue, expenditures, and a range of recommended actions to reinforce previous recommendations which were proffered by Civil Society representatives and citizens for consideration in FY2020/21 budget by the Legislature.

The National Budget is a fiscal policy instrument through which the Government fulfills its promises to the Citizens. It has the characteristics of being a political, economic, social, and technical instrument. The budget is at the core of the Government’s fiscal policy actions and is central to driving sustainable development, consolidating peace, and anchoring social cohesion. The achievement of these goals requires extensive consultations and consolidating the inputs of all stakeholders, including engendering the participation of the public in selecting the best choices and decision-making.

We applaud the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning for implementing few of the recommendations made by CSOs in their Shadow Budget Option Paper (SBOP) evident by the Executive Budget Proposals for FY2022, we are equally concerned with a few issues within the current draft budget, and therefore wish to draw the attention of the National Legislature to do a thorough scrutiny of the Draft National Budget currently before it.

Key concerns: 

1. A US$10 million dollars proposed to implement promises made by the President during his nationwide tour of counties. While this proposed investment expenditure is welcoming, it is however not disaggregated by sector, project, unit cost per project as well as there is no indication of the specific locations where the project will be implemented. This presentation leaves the public to suspect, speculate and wonder what role did the Office of the President or the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs played during the budget preparation process as there was sufficient time to have provided these vital information well in advance. There is also a concern of lack of transparency as disaggregation of this investment expenditure would eventually affect education, health, agriculture, infrastructure and social protection issues. 

2. A US$46 million dollars proposed for the construction of new roads, continuation of ongoing road works, maintenance of existing roads and bridges as well as the repayment and resettlement of property owners affected by the road works. There is no information provided, which are considered “core elements” in any of the budget documentation as to the number of kilometers of roads, the locations of the roads to be affected, expected beneficiaries, and economic returns. This leaves the public to suspect, speculate and wonder where was the Ministry of Public Works or what role did they play during the budget preparation process for which such vital and basic core elements requiring of a project could be missing from the budget documentation?

3. There is also US$10 million for vaccine administration in the draft budget. We applaud this move given the global health pandemic which we need to prioritize. However, the Ministry of Health (MoH) should have provided summary information as to targeted number of vaccines to be procured, type of vaccines, plans for achieving the global target of herd immunity, etc. What this means in essence is that the government is giving “blank cheque” to the Ministry of Health. How can the government offer US$63 million dollars without any of such core information which grossly undermines transparency and accountability of our national budget. 

4. On Education, there is a total of US$4 million of additional funds to provide basic services but not properly aligned and left with the interpretation by the Ministry of Education. Additionally, there is US$2 million for primary education, US$1 million for classroom furniture, US$1 million for closing the teachers gap, approximately 0.5 million for robust school supervision and monitoring by all 124 school districts, with all these budget lines there are no core information which clearly speaks to the lack of transparency in the budget. 

Considering these concerns, IWL and the CSO-BP wish to make the following recommendations to the legislature for consideration for FY2022 budget: 

1. IWL and the CSO-BP recommend that the National Legislature ensure the Executive produces a detailed list of disaggregated county tour projects by sector and individual cost estimates before passage of the budget and that such list should form integral part of legislative instrument to the enacted budget.

2. That the Ministry of Health furnishes the Legislature with a detailed plan of its vaccine administration – i.e. type of vaccines, quantity of vaccines, etc.

3. Similarly, IWL and the CSO-BP recommend that the Legislature request the Ministry of Education to provide comprehensive disaggregated data of core information of its budget to improve transparency and value for money. 

4. IWL and the CSO-BP recommend sustained investments in education and health and security spending for effective and efficient delivery of basic services to the citizens. Additionally, the adoption and implementation of robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms of public spending by the Executive and the institution of strong legislative oversight on the Executive to ensure value for money, and the promotion of transparency and accountability. 

5. IWL and the CSO-BP recommend deliberate and concerted actions by the government to crack down on the production, sales, and distribution of drugs, narcotics, and harmful substances which are impacting the youths. Drastic changes need to be made in legislations, public policy and budgetary allocation to adequately address these public menaces.

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, we wish to remind the government that these are all benchmarks of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), that the government needs to improve. 

We thank you ladies and gentlemen of the press!