CAPITOL HILL, LIBERIA – The passage of the Draft National Budget for Fiscal Year 2026 by the House of Representatives on Thursday, December 11, 2025, has sparked immediate and forceful reaction from Senator Amara Konneh, who described the rushed approval as a threat to fiscal discipline, legislative integrity, and national development. The House approved the US$1.2 billion budget “at the aggregate level” with majority votes, while Representatives Musa Billity and Frank Saah Foko voted against it. The bill now heads to the Senate for concurrence.
Senator Konneh began by acknowledging President Joseph Boakai and Finance Minister Augustine Ngafuan for securing a second Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact for Liberia, describing the achievement as significant at a time when global development assistance is shrinking. However, he shifted swiftly to concerns surrounding the FY2026 budget, underscoring that his earlier warnings about fiscal inconsistencies in the FY2025 budget appear to have gone unheeded.
He recalled that President Boakai submitted the US$1.2 billion draft budget to the House on November 7, a proposal he previously praised for its size and projected domestic revenue. But Konneh said constructive feedback from lawmakers was effectively ignored, even though the FY2025 experience had already exposed harmful patterns of discretionary spending that weakened the Public Sector Investment Plan (PSIP).
Konneh stressed that funds approved for key development initiatives in the FY2025 PSIP were widely diverted to unrelated recurrent spending after the Legislature had approved the budget. Such reallocations, he said, undermine development planning, obscure inefficiencies, and may have violated the Budget Transfer Act of 2008. He warned that this cycle of fiscal mismanagement now risks repeating itself under the new budget.
Drawing on an analysis of 11 PSIP projects totaling US$16.1 million in FY2025, Konneh highlighted cases where projects received zero dollars despite being fully approved. He cited the Executive Mansion Renovation Project, the Roberts International Airport Upgrade, the Ministry of Finance headquarters construction, and urban sanitation projects as examples where no funding reached the implementing entities even though all had been budgeted.
The senator further noted that these funds were not simply delayed but transferred across multiple ministries and agencies, including the Ministry of State, the Ministry of Defense, the Liberia Electricity Corporation, and others. He pointed out that the Education Ministry alone lost US$3.3 million in planned investments, weakening efforts in school feeding, infrastructure, and sectoral delivery.
Konneh also underscored cases of overspending, particularly the National Service Program under the Ministry of Youth and Sports, which exceeded its allocation by 39 percent. He described this as a clear sign of weak expenditure controls, an early warning of what may lie ahead if the FY2026 budget is not rigorously scrutinized.
He expanded his concerns by pointing to the Agriculture Value Chain project, which he described as central to the administration’s ARREST Agenda. The project received only half of its intended funding, with US$1.19 million diverted to six other institutions. Similarly, the Liberia Land Authority’s Real Property Valuation project suffered severe shortfalls after more than US$986,000 was reassigned to various agencies.
Konneh described the cumulative effect of these reallocations as dangerous for critical sectors. He said that aviation safety at Roberts International Airport, urban sanitation efforts in Monrovia, agricultural modernization, and domestic revenue mobilization were all compromised because funds intended for development work were scattered across institutions without clear justification.
The senator further raised alarm over the absence of financial disclosures from State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in the FY2026 budget. He emphasized that SOEs control vast public resources and should operate with transparency comparable to corporations reporting earnings to shareholders. He said it was unacceptable for such institutions to appear in the national budget without providing a financial account of their operations.
Konneh also flagged a US$13 million increase in salaries with no indication of additional staff or justification for pay raises. Even more concerning, he said, was the introduction of a new budget category, Budget Code 114, “General Government Expenditure,” which accounts for US$256 million, representing 21.3 percent of the total budget, without clear indication of oversight, purpose, or control mechanisms.
Konneh described the House’s decision to pass the budget without examining its details as a grave dereliction of duty. He argued that approving the budget “at the aggregate level” while planning to review its details later undermines the Legislature’s constitutional authority, weakens oversight, and exposes the public to potential mismanagement of funds. He warned that such an approach could lead to another year of high taxes with little improvement in public services.
With the budget now before the Senate, Konneh called on his colleagues to uphold the strict scrutiny mandated in their earlier resolution, particularly the separate hearing championed by Senator Abe Darius Dillon. He said the Senate must conduct a thorough and transparent review of the sectoral allocations, investment plans, and institutional safeguards before concurring with the House’s decision.
Konneh pledged to work with his colleagues to ensure the 2026 budget becomes a tool for economic expansion rather than a document that deepens fiscal risk. He described the FY2026 budget as historic, with enormous potential to transform the country, but insisted that only discipline, transparency, and accountability will unlock that potential for the benefit of all Liberians.
He concluded by reaffirming his commitment to collaborate with the Executive and fellow lawmakers to ensure that the national budget reflects the priorities of the Liberian people, strengthens development outcomes, and delivers on the promise of improved governance and economic growth.
