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A member of the opposition community and the government here have disagreed on the account for US$63.3 million from Civil Service Wage bill.
By Lincoln G. Peters
Monrovia, Liberia; August 28, 2025 – The Government of Liberia and opposition parties, especially the former ruling Congress for Democratic Change, have begun clashing over US$63.3 million unaccounted for in the Civil Service wage bill, as indicated in the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning’s Mid-Term Fiscal Year Financial Report.
On Tuesday, August 26, 2025, former Assistant Minister of Finance and staunch member of the opposition Congress for Democratic Change, Benedict Kolubah and the Director General of the Civil Service Agency, Dr. Josiah Joekai, were engaged in heated argument regarding increment in the wage bill of the country, despite removing ghost names from payroll and making no additional appointment to the CSA payroll.
Mr. Kolubah, providing an in-depth economic analysis on the Government of Liberia Civil Service 2024 Report, Ministry of Finance 2024 Consolidated Financial Report and the Mild-Term Fiscal Year Report from the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Liberia, alarmed over financial deceit, which he said comes from the wage bill of the CSA, thereby indicating the government wage bill fall short of US$63.3 million that is unaccounted for.
Page 10 of the CSA-Report, on Employees status regularization says that in collaboration with relevance government authority, the ESR, involved a comprehensive review and verification of personal records of one hundred and three government institutions, focusing on establishing clear and variable employment status for CSA.
This standardization of documentation not only reduces the number of ghost workers on government payroll but also strengthens workforce accountability across the CSA. By October 2024, just under eight months, the workforce had been streamlined from sixty-seven thousand, seven hundred forty-six employees, to sixty thousand, nine hundred, achieving a reduction in the government’s monthly wage bill from US$23.5m to US$21.1m.
But, Mr. Kolubah analyzing the report argued that the CSA in page 10 of its report said that by October 2024, just eight months under its government, reduced government wage bill from US$23.5m to US$21.1m, which means that they save around US$2.4 million from the government wage bill monthly.
“Now, the way they save that money is not clear in the report. But, if you say the wage bill is US$21.1m per month, what will you think the wage bill of 2025 will be? We have twelve months in a year, so if you calculate and multiply US$21.1m by 12, we will be having around US$253.2million. So, they are creating false impression; it means this 2025 wage bill should have been US$253.2million. Now, the wage bill has been revised to US$316.5 million, according to the Ministry of Finance Consolidated Financial Report.” He stated.
The ex-Minister argued that the Ministry of Finance Mid-Term Fiscal Report, page 18, 2025, on compensation of employees, puts original appropriation at US$315million, and the revised is US$316.5m, therefore, if they deducted US$253.2m from US$316.5m, they will now have US$63.3m difference.
“So, we are talking about a distorted data of US$63.3 million unaccountable for from the wage bill. Listen to me, if a person is removed from the CSA payroll, it means that the wage bill should not have gone up but they created the impression and placed people on the wage bill secretly that they are paying and refused to tell the Liberian people. Now, their wage bill has gone up than the CDC in less than three years.” He stated.
He continued that the CSA again indicated in its Report on Page 26, that it has saved US$8.2m in the year, from payroll audit, and cleansing, this should have affected 2025 on page 25; they saved one hundred thirty-one thousand plus Liberian dollars, US$8.2m and when they are summed up, at the rate of US$180, it is almost US$9million.
“So, that means when they were cleaning the payroll in 2024, they saved internally US$9 million. But, according to the 2025 budget, the compensation was US$27 million. If you saved US$9 million, it means that the consolidated outflow, as stated in the Ministry of Finance Consolidated Report, was US$282 million. After they reported, Page 24 of the Consolidated Account Report, shows that expenditures made for compensation for employees amounted to US$282.8m against the Finance Budget of US$296.8m, so inconsistent are the numbers and data, from the budget to the report.” He noted.
But, responding to Mr. Kolubah in a telephone call on a local talk show late Tuesday evening, August 26, Civil Service Agency Director General Josiah Joekai termed the statement from the former Minister as false and misleading and wrong interpretation and presentation of the data and reports.
Dr. Joekai however, in his respond failed to answer the question regarding the CSA and the UP government, upgrading the CSA payroll above the CDC, adding that they have initiated payroll and consultancy policy.
According to him, they have removed the one thousand consultants added to the payroll by the CDC, noting that they have one hundred consultants, amounting to about US$1.2m and now saving US$4.2m, adding that they brought salaries down from US$23.5 to US$21.1m monthly.
“So now, we are around US$21.1 and US$21.6, depending on the variation. Now, why is the Ministry of Fiancé Reporting that amount in its report, is because you have the SOE, like LPRC, NPA and LEC and different entities that are not under the CSA. CSA only reported for the one hundred and five spending entities and not all the government institutions. That is why he is very deceptive. He knows that it constitutes the totality of the government institutions.” He concluded.
But, the Managing Director of the Liberia Petroleum Refinery Company, Amos Tweh, called and differed with the CSA boss publicly, clarifying that the Ministry of Finance doesn’t control and pay their employees.
“I just wanted to correct something. I don’t know the basic for his advocacy, but I heard that Ministry of Finance is paying LPRC. I don’t know what the basic is for that. But, it is a blatant lie. Whoever said that is telling story. Ministry of Finance is not paying nor controlling our employees”, MD Tweh concluded. Editing by Jonathan Browne
