Claim: In six years, under President George M. Weah, the National Port Authority (NPA) only contributed $4m to the national budget, the head of the Authority said.
Verdict: False. According to Liberia’s national budget, the NPA contributed US$9 million between 2018 and 2023.
Full text
The managing director of the National Port Authority (NPA), Mr Sekou Hussein Dukuly, claimed that the administration of former president George Manneh Weah could only raise $4 million within the last six years of his administration.
The NPA boss indicated, “Today, June 25, 2024, in just about five months, the National Port Authority (NPA) will contribute two million United States dollars (US$ 2 million) to the government of Liberia’s general revenue account.”
“To put this in context, in six years of our former landlord of President Weah’s administration, they made a total contribution of four million United States dollars (US$ 4 million),” Mr Dukuly claimed.
Mr Dukuly made the claim on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, at the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism’s regular press briefing.
The press briefing was carried live on the Ministry’s official Facebook page, plus a host of other online media outlets in the country, including Spoon TV Live and Metro Media.
At the time of the press briefing, the live video had more than 1k views, seven comments, and 16 emojis.
Mr Dukuly stated between 19:45 and 20:00 minutes of the over one-hour press briefing.
Verification
Based on the magnitude of the claim and the huge public attention it gained here and here, DUBAWA thought it was necessary to ascertain the facts about this claim.
To begin with, our researcher first contacted the claimant, Mr Sekou Dukluly, via messenger to ask him for the source of his information but has yet to get a response, as seen in the screenshot below.
Our researcher then used the country’s financial statements between 2018 and 2023 to ascertain the facts. On page 13 of the Financial Statements of the Consolidated Fund Account for Fiscal Year 2019/2020, it was discovered that in 2018/2019, the NPA contributed $5 million, US$ 1.2 million, and US$ 2.5 million in 2019/2020.
According to the Financial Statements of the consolidated fund for fiscal year 2021, it was discovered that in 2021, the National Port Authority (NPA) contributed US$ 0.30 million.
Also, according to the Financial Statements of the consolidated fund for fiscal year 2023, dividends from shares in NPA were US$0.20 in FY2023 compared to US$0.8 million in FY2022.
Our researcher also contacted Mr Danicius Kaihenneh Sengbeh, Communications Manager of the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), the arm of government responsible for collecting all government lawful revenues in the country, and they provided us with the picture below:
Therefore, within six years, under President George Weah’s administration, the National Port Authority contributed 9 million dollars, with the breakdown being $5 million, US$1.2 million, US$2.5 million in 2019/2020, and .30 in 2021.
Conclusion
Based on all our investigations and available evidence, the claim made by the National Port Authority (NPA) boss, Sekou Dukuly, is false.
