Defends Boakai Record as Budget Swells to $1.3 Billion
Liberia’s finance minister has mounted a detailed defense of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s economic stewardship, saying the administration has delivered across jobs, pay and infrastructure as the national budget surged to $1.3 billion over the past two years.
Speaking at the launch of a National Cadet Program in Gbarnga, Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan sought to rebut persistent political criticism by pointing to measurable gains in public spending, infrastructure projects and public-sector wages.
“Today, through this National Cadet Program, we are about to give hope to more than 1,000 young people of Liberia; yet, our detractors will say Liberia is going backward,” Ngafuan said, drawing applause.
Ngafuan highlighted what he described as a rapid expansion of fiscal space — the national budget grew from $738 million to $1.3 billion in “2 years, 3 months, and 24 days” — which he attributed to stronger domestic revenue generation, improved tax administration and reduced leakages.
The minister said surplus collections have even prompted the government to prepare a supplementary budget rather than the previously used recast budgets.
Those additional resources, Ngafuan said, are funding an array of hires and pay rises: recruitment into the armed forces, police and immigration service; absorption of volunteer teachers, health workers and local chiefs onto the payroll; and salary and incentive increases for critical professions including health workers, judges and engineers.
He pointed to emotional scenes at C.B. Dunbar Hospital, where staff reportedly celebrated receiving notifications of pay increases effective January 2025.
On infrastructure, Ngafuan listed a pipeline of school and road projects. The government plans to construct or rehabilitate more than 100 schools nationwide and to renovate several high schools under the Monrovia Consolidated School System. Road works cited include paving to southeast Liberia — Zwedru, Fish Town and Harper — rehabilitation from Free Port to St. Paul Bridge and plans for Salayea-to-Voinjama and Mendikorma-to-Voinjama routes.
He also said household electricity connections are expanding in Monrovia, along the RIA Highway and in Buchanan, enabling extended business hours.
Ngafuan framed the claims of progress as part of a longer governance narrative, citing gains in Liberia’s international standing — including a non-permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council — and improved engagement with multilateral and bilateral partners such as the World Bank, IMF, African Development Bank, the EU, the U.S., China and France. He used an analogy to describe progress as incremental: “We may not have reached Gbarnga yet, but it is wrong for anyone to say we are still at Red Light.”
Addressing the new cadets, Ngafuan urged humility, discipline and integrity in public service, drawing on his own early-career internship at the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company. He officially launched the 2026 National Cadet Program under the Ministry of Youth and Sports’ Public Sector Investment Program and pledged continued finance ministry support.
