MONROVIA – President Joseph Nyuma Boakai is facing mounting criticism for what many see as a betrayal of his campaign promise to run a modest and accountable government. Nearly two years into his presidency, spending patterns reveal excess and waste rather than discipline, with almost US$8 million channeled into foreign trips and allowances for government officials.
In a strongly worded commentary released on Wednesday, September 10, exiled activist and former student leader Martin K. N. Kollie argued that the president’s pledge to deliver modest governance has become a “farce” and risks turning into a total fiasco. Kollie said President Boakai has allowed millions of dollars to be poured into travel budgets while ordinary Liberians remain trapped in poverty and hunger.
“Was President Boakai’s campaign message to run a ‘modest government’ a fact, a farce, or a fiasco? The latter appears plausible based on what we now see almost at the end of year two,” Kollie wrote. “This is a wake-up call to cut down on public waste. Don’t believe us. Believe the facts. The truth is what we seek. Almost US$8 million has gone out of the window in 24 months just on foreign travels alone amid what we term as ‘The DSA Syndrome.’”
Figures from the 2025 National Budget show that between fiscal years 2024 and 2025, the Boakai administration spent US$3.96 million on travel, US$3.38 million on daily subsistence allowances, and US$649,000 on incidental allowances, totaling US$7.99 million in just two years. Critics question why the government would pay both subsistence and incidental allowances to the same officials when Liberia is battling economic hardship.
“This is happening at a time when US$7.99 million is being lavishly spent on foreign travels and US$7.84 million on so-called entertainment and food mostly for ‘big shots and/or VIPs,’” Kollie said. “Why pay a hefty subsistence allowance, and turn around to pay incidental allowance again to the same traveler amid scarce resources and competing national priorities, including mass joblessness and the cries of thousands of civil servants including volunteer teachers and health workers?”
Liberia’s struggles are further highlighted by the 2024 Global Hunger Report, which ranks the country as the second hungriest nation in West Africa after Niger. Kollie noted that while Liberians go hungry, Boakai’s government continues to indulge in extravagance. “The national cake is still on the dinner table of economic vultures as the people watch from afar in misery and hunger,” he said.
As President Boakai approaches the end of his second year in office, Kollie insisted that urgent reflection is needed. “Any such reflection or pause intended to readjust must begin with a massive cut on public wastage,” he wrote. “The system in Liberia was designed by a few to oppress, marginalize, and suppress the majority. The suffering in Liberia is artificial; man-made.”
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