MONROVIA, LIBERIA – Revelations from Matthew Nyanplu, former Assistant Minister for Information Services at the Ministry of Information, Culture Affairs, and Tourism (MICAT), have cast a harsh spotlight on alleged financial irregularities and systemic corruption within the ministry under the leadership of Minister Jerolinmek M. Piah.
In a Facebook post on December 23, 2024, Nyanplu accused MICAT of operating a secretive financial system that sidelines transparency and accountability. According to him, even senior officials at the ministry are unaware of how much MICAT receives in allotments from the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) or how those funds are allocated and spent.
“No minister from MICAT, except Minister Piah and his Director of Management and Administration (DMA), can tell you how much MICAT has received in allotments from the Ministry of Finance,” Nyanplu wrote. “Ministers could not tell how much MICAT received in quarterly and total allotments to date; and how that was or is spent.”
Nyanplu detailed discrepancies in MICAT’s budget, noting that while the ministry was budgeted $3.25 million after recast, its leadership insisted the budget was only $2.8 million, including $2.1 million for salaries and $700,000 for operational expenses. Attempts to clarify the figures reportedly led to confusion, with senior officials left in the dark about the exact allotments and expenditures.
He further alleged that MICAT’s finances are managed in secrecy, with no transparency regarding departmental allotments. “Transparency counts as a good governance tenet,” Nyanplu stressed, adding that this lack of accountability reflects broader issues across government ministries and agencies.
Nyanplu’s accusations extended to a specific budget line titled “Media Relations and Intelligence,” valued at $280,000 for 2024. He claimed that this allocation has become a slush fund for corrupt activities, with MICAT officials allegedly colluding with lawmakers to divert the funds.
“Before we left, MICAT was already concocting strategies to spend that money with lawmakers in the lower house,” Nyanplu revealed. “The legislators themselves are in cahoots with the executive to steal from the Liberian people.”
Nyanplu, who now leads the proposed Party for the People, declared his intention to expose and end what he described as an “organized scheme to defraud the people” in Liberia’s government. He vowed that such practices would cease under his party’s leadership, stating, “All that chopping will end in 2029!”
These revelations come amid growing public enquiry of President Joseph Boakai’s administration and its commitment to transparency and accountability. Nyanplu’s claims, if verified, could trigger an investigation into MICAT’s financial practices and its leadership.
