In his State of the Nation Address in 2023, President George Weah stated that his administration had boosted fiscal assistance for the General Auditing Commission and the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC).
He claims the LACC would receive the most significant financing share in its history in the projected 2023 budget.
“My Government has increased budgetary support to both the General Auditing Commission and the LACC. In the proposed budget, the LACC will receive the highest share of funding it has ever had in its history.”
The Act of August 2008″ establishing the LACC gives the Commission a broad mandate and functions to implement appropriate measures and undertake programs geared toward investigating, prosecuting and preventing acts of corruption in both the public and private sectors of Liberian society, including educating the public about the ills of crime and the benefits of its eradication.
While the GAC is the Supreme Audit Institution of Liberia, an independent employer, and an independent public commission responsible for the audits of all public entities and funds owned or controlled by the Government to enable reporting as required by the GAC 2014 Act.
The GAC has an extensive audit scope; section 2.1.3 (a) & (b) of the GAC Act of 2014 mandates the Auditor General to audit the consolidated accounts, but they may choose other audits. Public entities also include organizations such as the Central Bank of Liberia, banks with state equity, programs, activity, or function that are subject to audit by the General Auditing Commission.
We compiled the budget data from 2011-2023.
Conclusion: President Weah’s allegation is false; the LACC budget in 2012/13 was 9, 244,949; in 2014/15, it was 2701,640; in 2015/16, it was 2678,750; in 2016/17, it was 2386,116, and in 2023 it is 2,348,652.
This suggests that the LACC has been allotted a significant budget four times before 2023. It is safe to state that PWeah’snt Weah’s allegation is false.
