Claim: Today we donated two million dollars to the Government of Liberia’s revenue account, while in the six years of President Weah, they made a total contribution of four million dollars.
Verdict: Misleading, ex-president George Weah did not contribute $4 million in 6 years.
Full Text: The Managing Director of the National Port Authority (NPA), Sekou Dukuly, at the Ministry of Information Special Press Briefing ( 18 minutes, 19 seconds) claimed that the NPA under former President George Weah contributed only US$4 million to the government’s revenue in six years.
Dukuly claim was made when he presented a US$2 million check to the Government of Liberia on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.
The claim is: “Today we donated US$2 million to the Government of Liberia revenue account. In the 6 years of President Weah, they made a total contribution of $4 million; that is, in five months, we were able to beat that record.”
Dukuly was appointed by President Joseph Boaka to the NPA in February 2024, succeeding Diana Nebo.
Verification: To verify the claim, we contacted the NPA managing director on Wednesday, June 26 via WhatsApp. He read the message sent but did not respond.
Again, on Thursday, June 27, a follow-up was done, but he has yet to respond.
Additionally, TSM looked at the Ministry of Finance website and found the annual financial statement between 2018-2023.
At least three financial statements are reported, but we took the most recent published in the year.
The Fiscal Year 2018/2019 (Page 13) annual financial statement reveals that the National Port Authority contributed US$5 million to the national budget.
In the 2019/2020 (Page 11) fiscal year, NPA contributed US$2.5 million to the GOL consolidated account. For 2020/2021,(page13), the NPA again contributed US$1 million to the national budget.
We also looked at the 2021/22 and 2022/23 fiscal years, during which the NPA contributed US$ 800,000 and US$200,000 to government revenue.
To further check, we contacted Celia Cuffy Brown, former NPA managing director,r who said in 2018/19, US$ 5 million was contributed to the national budget.
“In 2018/19, NPA contributed US$5 million and these money were generated. By June 30th, 2018, the APMT and NPA Marine contracts were renewed from 0.07%, which is $4,000.00 annually, to 50/50%, which is multimillion dollars per month,” she said.
The Liberia Revenue Authority, the custodian of Liberia’s revenue, was contacted to further verify this claim.
The LRA head of communication, D. Kaihenneh Sengbeh, shared the NPA’s contribution to the budget from 2017-2023 in response to our communication.
Conclusion: It is a fact that the NPA has contributed US$9.5 million to the national budget from 2018-2023. Therefore, the claim by the NPA managing director that former president George Weah only contributed US$ 4 million in six years to the budget is misleading.
