Monrovia — The opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) has labeled President Joseph Boakai's statement of inheriting US$20.5 million in the consolidated account as lies and misleading.
President Boakai, in his first annual message to the legislature, contradicted the US$40 million claim made by former President of Liberia George Weah, stating that only 20.5 million dollars were left in the consolidated account.
In his annual address to the legislature, President Boakai mentioned that the net international reserves position reported at the end of December 2023 was US$220 million. He dismissed the reported US$40 million as the Government of Liberia's consolidated account balance as of January 19, 2024, calling it unsupported by facts.
"The balance reported by the CBL as of the same date was US$20.5 million, highly encumbered, not US$40 million. To this end, we re-emphasize our earlier commitment to audit and ensure that regular audits will be a culture across all branches of government, not only the Executive," President said.
Responding to President Boakai's statement, the Chairman of CDC, Mulbah Morlu, said that despite President Boakai's claim that the state of the Nation is in distress, Boakai was unable to offer a policy prescription or solution on how he intends to "rescue" this situation, except for saying he would "think outside the box."
According to the party chairman, the CDC left the state of Liberia stronger than it was when they took office.
"For example, President Boakai is inheriting 222,700 million US Dollars in the net international reserve and over 40 million in the consolidated account as of January 17, 2023, left behind by the CDC government compared to the under 7 million the CDC inherited when it took power from the Sirleaf/Boakai-led government in 2017," he said.
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Morlu added, "The CDC is appalled that even at this early stage, President Boakai would seek to mislead the public about the financial situation of our country by disputing the figures quoted by former President Weah during his farewell statement on January 21, 2024, which are available. We challenge President Boakai to publish the statement of the consolidated account within 48 hours, or the CDC will make public copies of the same," Chairman Morlu said.
The CDC party chairman Morlu stressed that the budget deficit must be noted; the FY 2023 budget was recast after actual revenue collection amounted to USD 710 million.
"This actual collection represented the highest amount of revenue collected in contemporary Liberia; while serving as Vice President of this republic, his government never got close to this amount of revenue actualized," he said.
According to Morlu, this decision makes the country a divided nation in critical and urgent need of reconciliation, inclusion, and the maintenance of peace and stability.
