We found three claims circulating about the University of Liberia from three persons, namely, Montserrado County Senator Abraham Darius Dillon, Dell Francis Wreh, and Martin Kollie.
Wreh and Kollie made a Facebook post after Dillon, in a radio appearance on Thursday, July 4, 2024, claimed that the University of Liberia budget did not pass US$ 20 million for the past 6 years under former president George Weah’s administration.
The claim can be viewed in one hour, fifty-six minutes, and eight seconds.
“The University of Liberia budget came from 18 million; it never passed 20 million before under George Weah’s six-year regime; this year’s budget we took it to 33 million,” Dillion claimed.
Dillon was elected in 2019 in a bi-election as senator of Montserrado County; he was also re-elected in 2020 during the mid-senatorial election.
To counter Dillon’s post, Kollie wrote; “LIE #2: “For 6 years under the past regime, the University budget never crossed US$20m.” Senator Abe Darius Dillon. Fact: Budget Actual for U.L. in 2022 is US$25.18m and Budget Outturn in FY2023 is US$30.17m. Focus on leading and stop LYING.”
The post by Kollie attracted 163 comments, 25 shares, and 315 reactions at the time of this check.
Kollie, a social activist, was named chairman for research by the current President, Joseph Boakai, during the 2023 campaign that led to the Unity Party taking over the leadership of the country.
Wreh, a former senior policy advisor on fiscal & economic affairs at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, shared Kollie’s post.
He then made a post on Wednesday, July 3, 2024. “University of Liberia Actual Expenditure Budget at end 2017 was about US$14.5m but increased at end 2023 to US$30.2m under President George M. Weah.”
Verification: We contacted Dillon and Kollie on Thursday via WhatsApp and Messenger, respectively, and Kollie has yet to respond.
Dillon, in response, said, “As per what is in the video, that’s exactly what the claim is.”
However, our fact-checker discovered that Kollie’s claim about the university receiving US$25.18 million in 2022 is misleading; we found no record of said amount. In 2022, the university received US$17,600,000 according to the 2024 FY draft budget.
For Wreh, the image he posted was not the actual budget for 2016/17, as he claimed. The university budget expenditure at the end of 2017 was not 14.5 million but was US$ 15,597,868 million.
We also reviewed the University of Liberia’s budget for six years, from 2018-2023.
Economist Samuel Jackson said the actual budget is what is proposed, while the outturn tells you how much is spent during the fiscal year. “One is a proposed budget, while the other can only be done at the end of the budget period.”
Conclusion: The claim by Dillon is correct, while the claims by Martin and Wreh are misleading. The two misled the public on the following:
1. Dillon is correct in saying that Weah’s administration budget to the University of Liberia budget did not pass US$ 20 million for the past 6 years; the university’s budget in 2023 was US$18,305,000 but its 2023 outurns show US$ 30,176,218 million.
2. Kollie is incorrect that the University of Liberia received US$25.18 million in 2022 and also misled the public on Dillon’s post.
3. However, Wreh took a 2017/18 budget instead of the actual budget, which misled the public.
Correction: In our previous article, we said Dillon was in error, indicating that we were incorrect on his claim.
