Claim: “17 Senators chose not to declare their assets while thirteen did, Interestingly, Senate Protemp Sen. Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence leads the group of noncompliant Senators.”
Source: Julius Jeh
Full Text: Julius Jeh, a Liberian journalist and lead host of the OK Conversation, posted on his Facebook page on Friday, September 6, 2024, that seventeen senators, including Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence, the senate pro-tempore, are yet to declare their assets in keeping with the law.
The claim stated that “seventeen Senators chose not to declare their assets while thirteen did, according to the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission LACC. Interestingly, Senate Protemp Sen. Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence leads the group of noncompliant Senators.” The post received 14 shares, 112 comments, and 120 reactions as of the time of this check.
Verification: To verify this claim, The Stage Media (TSM) found a four-minute, twenty-one-second live video on Spoon TV dated January 25, 2024, where Karnga-Lawrence was seen declaring her assets and called on all senators to follow her example in keeping with the law.
In that video, she presented her assets to the Secretary of the Senate, Nanborlor Singbe for onward presentation to LACC.
Also, on the same day, the senator in a Facebook post said, “In compliance with the National Code of Conduct, I as Pro-Temp of the Honorable Liberian Senate, on Thursday, January 25, 2024, submitted documents containing information about my asset declaration. I have notarized this document and have also asked the Secretary of the Liberian Senate Mr. Nanbolor Singbeh, to publish my asset declaration as required by law. I did so in fulfillment of our campaign promise of ensuring transparency and accountability and as head of the senate I am leading by example and expect other senators to do same.”
To further authenticate the claim, we spoke to Vivian Akoto, Executive Assistant and Program Manager in the office of the Executive Chairperson of LACC, who told TSM that the Code of Conduct was amended in July 2022, prohibiting the Senate from declaring to the Senate secretary as in the previous LACC law.
The previous CoC 10.2 Repository and contents of the Declaration: The declaration of personal interest, income, assets, liabilities, and the performance bond the Legislative Branch to declare with the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the House of
Representatives.
But the amended CoC states, “The declaration of personal interest, income, assets, liabilities, and performance bond as may be required shall be lodged with the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission.
“The LACC shall investigate and verify all such declarations and bonds. Declarations made to the LACC shall be accessible to both the public employer and the general public only upon the order of court. All declarations made to the LACC shall be promptly updated by public officials and employees of government upon subsequent changes in his or her interest and/or assets. Each declaration along with the updates thereto shall conform to the guidelines issued by LACC and must include disclosure of income, assets, liabilities, net worth, financial and family interests held by the official or employee.”
Akoto said all assets, including members of the judiciary, legislature, and executive branches of government, are mandated under the amended law to be declared to the LACC instead of their respective arms of government.
She said even though Karnga-Lawrence posted in January that she had declared her asset, the LACC does not have a copy of said document.
Akoto said Karnga-Lawrence’s declaration was sent by someone to the commission but due to errors, the commission didn’t accept the declaration.
“The asset declaration officer told me that the Senate pro-temp did her asset declaration along with other senators and sent it by someone. When the person brought it, I think her asset was overly stated or understated because when you declare your asset, we can verify it as well, so the form was sent back to her for correction,” Akoto said.
She explained that the person who took the pro-tempore corrected declaration for the second time was not identified since the process requests full identification before acceptance by the commission asset verification officer.
“I was told by the asset declaration officer that her office corrected it and returned it to us,” Akoto said. “However, according to our asset declaration restriction, if you are not the person who is supposed to declare your asset, the person bringing the asset form must present an identification card to show who we received it from.”
She explained that the commission does not have a record of the pro-temp declaration because the person could not be identified.
“Since the person left, they did not return with the form; as such, Karnga-Lawrence can not show an official LACC receipt that she has declared her assets,” Akoto said.
The Stage Media also contacted Senator Karnga-Lawrence via WhatsApp, who said she declared her asset to the Senate Secretary, who she said is in charge of asset declaration at the level of the Senate.
Karnga-Lawrence said, “He’s the custodian of all of the documents. I am sure the secretary of the Senate will handle this; that document is out of my hands. Try to get him for his side of the story.”
She, however, instructed the secretary of the senator, Singbe, to provide information surrounding her asset declaration to TSM.
Singbe confirmed that he took the file to LACC but was told that there was no photograph of the senator attached to the form for the first time.
He said, “We brought it back and added the photo and sent it to the commission; they received it and later on, they said there was a miscalculation so we corrected the calculation.”
Singbe stated that the declaration is about to be submitted for the third time to the commission.
“We are doing the submission now for the third time based on their instructions because they just sent it to us but before the day ends, I will send you the document. You know, she was one of the first four senators that declared their asset,” he added.
TSM contacted Singbe to send the receipt and declaration copies as promised, but he has yet to respond.
When he does, this fact-check will be updated.
Conclusion: After our research, the journalist is correct. Despite the fact that Karnga-Lawrence initiated the process of declaring her assets to the LACC through the Senate Secretary’s office, the declaration was not completed in accordance with the amended law. Therefore, the senator has yet to officially declare her assets.
