The plenary of the House of Representatives has unanimously voted to approve the request made by President Joseph Nyumah Boakai to spend a little over US$41 million to cover the government’s operations for the month of February 2024, even though they previously flagged contentions of unexplained lines within the request.
On Friday, February 16, 2024 the Senator of Margibi County and Chairman of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) Legislative Caucus, Nathaniel F. McGill, underscored that a lot of unexplained lines were indicated in the President’s request for the approval of the US$41.3 million, highlighting that the President’s instrument requested for US$5 million to settle domestic debt but failed to clearly state the individuals to be paid.
Senator McGill further flagged the US$2 million for operation, saying the Liberian Chief Executive did not tell the Legislature in detail what kind of operation he was referring to under the US$41.3 million request.
Also, Nimba County’s district #7 Representative, Musa Hassan Bility, on Monday, February 19, 2024 wrote the plenary of the House of Representatives and urged the body to withdraw the budget request from committee and send it back to the Executive with recommendations to address the concerns and on how to proceed thereafter.
Among other things, Representative Bility indicated that the document that was presented to the House and read in plenary was a two-page document, which included a cover letter and a budget summary, but the summary did not include details on each budget line item to provide clarity and transparency on the budget. “For instance, the budget summary includes payments of debt servicing in the amount of US$5.7 million but falls short of outlining what specific debts are to be paid out of the requested amount,” Representative Bility’s memo to the plenary observed.
Representative Bility also flagged the lack of explanation as to why the Executive has not submitted an amended Fiscal Year 2024 National Budget, the lack of adherence to the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act, and the lack of a legal basis for the request.
But amidst these unresolved concerns, the House of Representatives unanimously voted to approve the request made by the President on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, following a joint committee report by the Ways Means & Finance and Public Accounts.
The joint committee recommended that the report be approved to avoid the government from shutting down and for civil servants to take pay and be sent to the Senate for concurrence.
Following the submission of the report and further deliberation by the Ways Means and Finance Chair, Representative Dixon Seboe, a motion was proffered by Montserrado County’s district #13 Representative, Edward Flomo, endorsing the report, and plenary voted to forward the instrument to the Liberian Senate for concurrence.