President Joseph N. Boakai has presented his government's maiden national budget for the year 2024, amounting to US$690.2 million, for consideration by the House of Representatives. The budget submission was made by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, led by Finance Minister Boima S. Kamara, Deputy Minister Anthony Myers, and Deputy Minister Tanneh G. Brunson. The budget highlights a reliance on domestic revenue, with a small portion coming from external sources.
On behalf of the President, the Finance Ministry officials on Thursday, March 14 submitted the budget to the House of Representatives in accordance with the 2009 Public Finance Management Law.
The budget, the first for the new Unity Party administration, marks a crucial step in the fiscal planning and governance of the nation.
Deputy Minister Myers said during the submission that 93% of the budget will be based on domestic revenue while about seven 7% will be external sources.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister Brunson noted that compensation has been reduced from US$305m to US$297.
Deputy Speaker Thomas Fallah accepted the budget on behalf of the House of Representatives, which has adjourned for a constituency break until May 10. Despite the break, the House's Committee on Ways, Means, and Finance will review the budget thoroughly during this period.
This thorough review process, Fallah said, aims to ensure that each member has the opportunity to scrutinize the budget comprehensively and consult with their constituents effectively.
Many expect that the budget will align with President Boakai's vision for the country, which is encapsulated in the acronym "ARREST" (Agriculture, Roads, Rule of Law, Education, Sanitation, Tourism), and emphasizes key areas for development.
It is, however, evident that the submission of the 2024 national budget is overdue, as it should have been done since last December.
However, the 54th Legislature saw it prudent that the scrutiny and passage of the budget submitted by the George Weah administration should be done by the new government, as the transition was just a few weeks away.
It was against this backdrop that members of the 55th National Legislature, specifically the House of Representatives, unanimously voted in early January to return the 2024 National Draft Budget to the newly inducted President for realignment on his agenda.
Delivering his inaugural address, President Boakai said his government would ensure incentives for agriculture and access to appropriate technologies for farmers, as well as improve market and trade, food storage, and processing, among others.
However, the delay in submitting the budget led to government funds running short, prompting the President to sign a spending bill to keep operations running until the end of February 2024.
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The top priorities in February's US$41.3 million spending bill were compensation or salaries for government employees, which constitutes US$26 million (63%); Debt Servicing, US$5.7 million (14%); the president's 100-day deliverables agenda, US$1,941,210 (5%); and other goods and services, US$2,014,000 (5%).
The House subsequently voted unanimously -- granting the President's request for the February spending budget, though to the annoyance of Nimba County District 7 Representative, Musa Bility, who frowned at his colleagues for being hasty in their decision.
Bility said there was no report submitted by the President as to how the US$66M that was used by the past regime, requested by former finance minister Samuel Tweah as required in the Public Financial Management Law, used 1/12 of the Budget.
"There was no explanation as to why there is no budget by now. There was no explanation as to when we [are] going to have a budget," Bility said in a Facebook live statement. "There is no explanation as to what happened to the first US$66 million."
