By Festus Poquie
Former Finance Minister Samuel Tweah has publicly disputed assertions by incumbent Finance Minister Augustine Ngafuan that salary harmonization across government agencies and the judiciary has been reversed, providing a detailed tax-and-salary analysis to support his position.
In an open rebuttal, Tweah said Ngafuan’s claim that harmonization was being undone is “fundamentally incorrect,” arguing that some institutions cited by the minister were never subject to the same harmonization controls as central government entities.
“The LACC and GAC were never harmonized,” Tweah wrote, adding that those integrity institutions already operated under a single pay structure and that harmonization merely applied a standardized pay grade to existing arrangements.
Tweah also emphasized the technical distinction between reversing harmonization and increasing salaries.
He noted that harmonization had raised pay for thousands of workers: 15,000 in the first year and an additional 45,000 over the next three years, including University of Liberia instructors whose pay rose by more than 60 percent. He said a true reversal would require reinstating the old Basic Salary + General Allowance dual-pay system that harmonization eliminated.
To illustrate the fiscal effect, Tweah presented a hypothetical example of a typical worker, “John Peter,” comparing tax liabilities before and after harmonization. According to Tweah’s calculations, John paid about US$199 in annual personal income tax before harmonization and about US$325 afterward — an increase of US$126 per year, or roughly US$11 per month. Tweah said the higher tax bill results from combining previously separate income components into a single taxable base, aligning Liberia with global practice of taxing a single income.
Tweah further argued that harmonization cannot be undone without legislative and administrative steps that would effectively restore the old pay structure. He cited the National Remuneration and Standardization Act as the legal foundation for the harmonization program, saying the law mandates regular salary adjustments while preserving equity and that the judiciary cannot be exempted from paying taxes on any portion of income.
Ngafuan has publicly said otherwise. On the regime social media program Class Reloaded, the finance minister said, “We have reversed harmonization at LACC. This year, in this budget, we have reversed harmonization at the GAC. For the Supreme Court bench and judges, we have also reversed harmonization.”
Ngafuan also said workers at the DEA would receive pay increases in the current budget and made broader comments about the economy and Millennium Challenge Corporation funding.
