Misleading! The Ruling Unity Party did not meet the country’s education budget by 13.9%

Gloria Wleh December 15, 2025 2 minutes read

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Gloria Wleh

Claim: “Unity Party met the budget for the education sector at 13.9% in 2023,” says the chairperson of the Propaganda Bureau of the Student Unification Party (SUP).

Verdict: Misleading. In 2023, the education sector’s budget was 12%.

Full Text

The chairperson of the Propaganda Bureau of the Student Unification Party (SUP) says the 2026 draft national budget does not support the development agenda of the ruling Unity Party (UP).

According to Polay Emmanuel, education, which is one of the key development priorities of the ARREST agenda, has seen a significant reduction in funding since the UP government took office in 2024.

Emmanuel says, “The Unity Party met the budget for the education sector at 13.9%” of the total national budget in 2023, but in 2024, they reduced it to 13.7%. He says by 2025, it will also be reduced to 12.6%.”

The SUP steward is heard on a morning show from 20:42 to 21:03.

Given the priority the ruling establishment has placed on education, DUBAWA verified the assertions.

Verification

DUBAWA reviewed Liberia’s national budgets from 2023 to 2025 and examined the education sector budgets for each year.

In 2023, the year before the ruling Unity Party took office, the national budget was at $782,943,000.

Of that amount, as shown on page xxxv, approximately $93,861,430 was budgeted for the education sector. This represents 12% of the total budget.

Misleading! The Ruling Unity Party did not meet the country’s education budget by 13.9%

Photo of page xxxv

By 2024, the year the UP took office, the national budget had dropped to $738,859,827 million, while the education budget had surged to $111,329,481 million, representing a 15% increase from the total.

This is shown on page xxi of the budget.

Screenshot of page xxi

In the 2025 national budget, which now totals $880,661,873 million, the sector’s budget is $119,722,252 million. This shows a 13.5% drop in the percentage.

This can also be seen on page xxvi.

Photo of page xxvi

The UP met the education sector’s 2023 budget at 12%, not 13.9% as claimed by Emmanuel. Additionally, the education budget was increased by 15% in 2024 and has remained unchanged since.