McGill, Bility call for audit

Two members of the 55^th Legislature are calling for an independent audit over alleged tempering of the 2024-approved National Budget.

By Ethel A. Tweh 

Monrovia, Liberia, August 16, 2024—Senator Nathaniel F. McGill of Margibi County and Representative Musu H. Billity of Nimba County District #7 are calling for an independent investigation into the alleged alteration of the 2024 National Budget. 

Addressing a press conference here Thursday, August 15, at the Capitol, the two lawmakers said there has been an official complaint from both houses’ chairs on Public Account Committee, Sen. Amara Konneh and Rep. Clarence Garh, that the budget that was brought before the Legislature is totally different from the one that is currently at the Executive. 

However, McGill and Bility disagree over where the alleged alteration of the budget originated. Bility points fingers at the Liberian Senate, but McGill defers and blames the Ministry of Finance instead. 

Despite their disagreement, both lawmakers are calling on the General Auditing Commission, the Ministry of Justice, and the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the matter, as it is a national concern and should seek their attention.

“We don’t want this to go in the committee room because it will die there, and moreover, they’re not of the authority to investigate a criminal matter.”

 In his disagreement, Senator McGill believes the alteration might have occurred at the Executive branch during the final printing process of the approved budget. 

He says the Legislature should call themselves back to session rather than waiting for President Boakai to call them back from break, underscoring that it is very important that they come back to discuss this whilst the investigation is ongoing.

The Senator insists that there would be no other budget discussion if there was no investigation. “How can we have a recast budget when we do not know what happened to the original budget? What are we recasting?” he asks.

Meanwhile, Senator McGill condemns the immediate dismissal of nine employees of the Monrovia City Corporation on orders of the director-general of the Civil Service Agency, Josiah Joekai. Editing by Jonathan Browne