Quick Check: Yes, US$3.6 Million Is Allotted to the Legislature for ‘Engagement & Accessibility’ in 2022 Nat’l Budget

Monrovia –A viral claim that lawmakers received US$30,000 each for “legislative engagements and Public Accessibility” from the 2022 national budget have spread in the media – both social media and mainstream. However, some lawmakers have claimed that there is no such allocation in the national budget for the Legislature.

Quick Check By: Varney Kelvin Sirleaf | LVL Fact Checker

Speaking via mobile phone on the Thursday’s (July 14^th) edition of the OK Morning Rush Senators Saah Joseph of Montserrado County and Senator Jeremiah Koung of Nimba County claimed that there is no money in the Liberian Senate 2022 national budget for legislative engagement and public accessibility.

When we reviewed the respective allocations for the House of Representatives and the Liberian Senate in the approved 2022 National Budget for Fiscal, we did not see any budget line “Engagement and Public Accessibility”.

However, we further checked on Page 3 of the instrument and under National Legislature, we found a budget line item with Code 0563 showing an allocation of US$3,600,000 (3.6 million) for “engagements and accessibility project”.

A screenshot of the budget line that allots US$3.6 million to the National Legislature for “Legislative engagements and public accessibility”| Source: Ministry of Finance & Development Planning – 2022 Approved National Budget

This budget line is allocated to the upper and lower houses of the Legislature.

Conclusion:

Based on a simple review of the budget, we conclude that US$3.5 million is allocated in the 2022 National budget for the Legislature for “Legislative engagements and public accessibility”. We find this claim by the two senators to be incorrect.

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