Claim: In 10 months under the CDC, NPA contributed 3.5 million to the revenue.
Verdict: Unproven, there is no record that the NPA contributed US$ 3.5 million to the national budget.
Full Text: Del-Francis Wreh, former Senior Policy Advisor on Fiscal & Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, disclosed that the NPA under the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) administration contributed US$3.5M to the General Revenue within the first 10 months of 2018.
“Until UP’s NPA can beat this record, let them focus on more collection and remittance to also meet the US$7M assessed for them in the FY2024 budget.”
The CDC ascended to power in 2018, but after the expiration of their six-year tenure, they were defeated in the 2023 general elections by the Unity Party, headed by Joseph Boakai.
As of the time of the check, the post by Wreh had attracted 88 comments and 41 reactions.
Wreh made the claim shortly after the current National Port Authority boss, Sekou Dukuly, contributed two million United States dollars to the government’s revenue.
Dukuly claimed during the presentation that the Weah-led administration contributed a total of four million United States dollars in six years.
However, The Stage Media found Dukuly’s claim to be incorrect.
Verification: TSM contacted Wreh through his Facebook post, placing a comment, but Wreh did not respond to our inquiry.
We could not send him a direct message because his messenger is restricted.
Our researcher contacted the Liberia Revenue Authority to confirm whether the NPA contributed US$3.5 million to national revenue over 10 months.
In response to our inquiry, D. Kaihenneh Sengbehs, LRA’s head of communication, said state-owned enterprises like the NPA do not contribute monthly but annually, adding, “They can decide to pay at once or in piecemeal.”
“These payments are annual and not monthly. They can choose to pay either in January, June, or December, based on the availability of funding from their end.”
A review of Page 13 of the Fiscal Year 2018–2019 annual financial statement shows that the National Port Authority made a US$5 million contribution to the national budget.
The budget for the fiscal period FY 2018/19 was from July 1, 2018, and ended June 30, 2019, until the new fiscal calendar was changed in 2020.
Conclusion: Even though the FY 2018/19 budget shows the NPA’s contribution of US$ 5 million, we could not verify if US$ 3.5 million was contributed in ten months. However, the LRA revealed that state-owned institutions such as the NPA contribute annually, not monthly, as Wreh claimed. Therefore, we found no record that the NPA contributed US$3.5 million in 10 months.
