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Claim: The five-million-dollar budget for Regime Speaker Koon is a disservice to Liberians, says the New Dawn Newspaper (March 4, 2025, Editorial).
Verdict: False. The New Dawn editorial did not provide evidence to support this claim. Research on the approved national budget indicates that Speaker Richard Koon’s budget is US$1,505,553.
Full Text
The New Dawn, an independent Liberian newspaper, published an editorial accusing Representative Richard Koon, Speaker of the majority bloc of the House of Representatives, of increasing his budget to US$5 million.
The editorial criticised the government for allegedly allocating such an amount despite its promise to fight corruption, economic hardship, and poverty during the 2023 elections.
“But for heaven’s sake, what do we gain as a country in allotting US$5 million to the office of an illegitimate speaker?” editorial question.
The editorial further asserted that Speaker Koon was building a larger home for himself using these alleged budgetary allocations.
Additionally, it cast doubt on Koon’s recent visit to John F. Kennedy Hospital, where he pledged to increase its budget to $20 million.
The editorial suggested that such promises were unrealistic, particularly given that the United States government had reportedly cancelled all USAID-sponsored health, education, and infrastructure programmes.
Given our focus on verifying facts, we at DUBAWA examined claims regarding Speaker Koon’s budget allocation.
Verification
According to the Collins Dictionary, an editorial is an article in a newspaper that expresses the opinion of an editor or publisher on a given topic. However, in journalistic practice, opinion pieces should be grounded in verifiable facts and credible sources.
A thorough review of the draft and approval of the 2025 national budget contradicts the editorial claim. The budget document, as indicated on page 7, clearly states that the total allocation for the Office of the Speaker amounts to US$1,505,553, significantly lower than the alleged US$5 million.
Budget line 0300, under the caption 101 National Legislature, outlines the specific objects of expenditure, which include the use of goods and services and compensation of employees.
The New Dawn editorial did not cite any official sources, government documents, or financial records to support this claim.
In contrast, the official budget figures provide concrete evidence that disproves the $5 million allegations.
However, against its editorial, the paper published a clarification release from the House of Representatives.
Conclusion
Based on an examination of the approved national budget and the lack of supporting evidence in the New Dawn editorial, we conclude that the claim regarding Speaker Koon’s alleged $5 million budget is false.
