A FrontPageAfrica investigation of support from the United States to Liberia from the period 2009 to 2017 has shown that the United States assistance to the country has been declining drastically and has dropped by more than 50 percent from $224.02 million in 2009 to $110.89 million commitment in 2017
Samwar S. Fallah, [email protected]
Monrovia- It is still regarded as the pledge that never came through in most circles in Liberia, a 2006 commitment by Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the US House of Representative, who promised to “to turn on the lights” again while visiting Liberia in the aftermath of the election of Africa’s first female head of state, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
This week, U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama made a stop in Liberia to promote her “Let Girls Learn initiative” which was followed by an announcement by the United States Aid for International Development(USAID) that it would be doling out $US27 million in funding to directly support the U.S. Government initiative aimed at ensuring adolescent girls in Liberia attain a quality education that empowers them to reach their full potential.
Liberia vs. the Rest: Stark Differences in Aid
In contrast, on her next stop, Morocco, the U.S. First Lady provided details of nearly $100 million in funding from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a foreign-aid agency, to create a new model for secondary education. The money will reportedly fund mentoring programs, internships, afterschool clubs, upgraded bathrooms for girls and “gender-responsive” training for teachers to change the way curriculum is delivered.
The stark difference in what the U.S. is doling out to Morocco points to an emerging disparity between what the U.S. had doled out to Liberia, its adopted stepchild and what it has given other countries.
Founded by the American Colonization Society, a group of white Americans—including some slaveholder in the 1800s, Liberia’s relations with the U.S. dates back to 1819, when the US Congress appropriated $100,000 for the establishment of what would is regarded today as Africa’s oldest republic. The United States officially recognized Liberia in 1862, 15 years after its establishment as a sovereign nation, and the two nations shared very close diplomatic, economic, and military ties until the 1990s.
This disparity is reminiscent of President George Bush’s 2009 visit to Africa, where he doled out $700 million to Tanzania and $500 million to Ghana, while giving Liberia a million worth of books and chair, arguing that the US Government does not give cash to “countries that steal from their people.
The argument in many quarters is that aid programs like Let Girls Learn, carry the bulk of the money back to their countries of origin. In this case, much of those funds will aid existing programs being offered by the Peace Corps operations in Liberia.
It is a dilemma Liberia and some beneficial of not just U.S. aid but also the European Union have had to endure, a situation where bilateral aid money goes back to INGOs from donor nations like the U.S.
One diplomatic observer states that it is unfair to compare the amounts Liberia gets to what more developed and experienced countries with larger populations get. “Liberia has to improve its capacity to negotiate. But perhaps the negative stories being reported by the media daily is also a factor. The media sometimes make Liberia an unfavorable environment. We have done damage to ourselves and perhaps the country’s situation is not conducive enough for donors to give more than they are giving,” said the source speaking on condition of anonymity Wednesday.
Sirleaf’s massive international contacts and respect, was instrumental in propelling her to two successive terms with voters believing that her international connections will translate into big international support and aid to the country.
And this so far has not been the case, at least as reflected in the actual dollars provided to Liberia.
Cementing Ties, Domestic Concerns
Presenting her Letters of Credence recently, Christine Ann Elder, the new U.S. Ambassador to Liberia praised Sirleaf for her exceptional leadership in lifting Liberia up, giving Liberia a powerful and respected voice on the continent and giving Liberians confidence in a brighter future, a standard praise often giving by US diplomats.
Domestically however, Sirleaf’s critics have taken the President to task, lamenting that those international goodwill is not being felt on the ground, a grave contrast to some former Presidents who disagreed with the Wesy and their regimes underwent economic and other strangulations.
Former President Samuel K. Doe, who started well and was making gains in developing the country, found his regime under pressure when he disagreed with the United States on some issues at one point, promising that he will raise local taxes to pay off debts owe the United States.
Former President Charles Taylor, who after years as a rebel leader, eventually won presidential election in 1997 with the popular vote of over 75%. He came under immense pressure for the entire years of his regime as he did not maintain a cordial relationship with the United States. He was later forced into exile by well supported and armed rebel factions-the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL).
During the ousting of all of these two Liberian Presidents, Madam Sirleaf kept a good relationship with the United States where she resided for many years.
When civil wars finally ended in Liberia, during the first post war election in 2005, Sirleaf based her camapign on the argument that only her had the international connection and ability to woo donors to the country.
She was eventually elected president in 2005 and during her first year in power, she was able to get donors to come to the aid of Liberia and assist the country in its reconstruction drive.
The first year of Sirleaf regime saw the United States providing $106.00 million in 2006 and $147.08 Million in 2007.
In 2010, Liberia managed to get debt waiver of over US$4.6 billion from international institutions including the World, Bank, International Monetary Fund and donors countries, something Madam Sirleaf used as one of her major achievements in the entire history of her now nearly 11 years leadership.
Sirleaf enjoyed close and fruitful ties to with Washington, where former President George W. Bush, former US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton all visited the country, the reality appears different. Bush raised some eyebrows during a 2008 visit to Liberia when he handed over 10,500 pieces of school furniture and one million books to the government and people of Liberia, instead of providing cash support.
More than 50 percent drop in US support
But contrary to the continuous boast by the Sirleaf regime that her leadership continues to enjoy the confidence and support of the United States government which is resulting to increased aid to the country, a FrontPageAfrica investigation of support from the United States to Liberia from the period 2009 to 2017 has shown that the United States assistance to the country has been declining drastically and has dropped by more than 50 percent.
Data available on ForeignAssistance.gov http://beta.foreignassistance.gov/explore# the United States support to Liberia has been reducing greatly. Foreignassistance.gov is President’s Obama initiative to bring more transparency to where and when is US aid going.
During the early years of the Sirleaf regime the United States support to Liberia through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other support was $162.9 million in 2008. The US support was directed to sectors such as Health, Peace and Security, Economic Development, Education and Social Services, Democracy, Human Rights and Governance, Humanitarian Assistance, amongst others.
By 2009 the US assistance to Liberia increased to $224.02 million and again jumped to $230.51 million in 2010.
In 2011 under the regime of President Barrack Obama, United States support to Liberia started to decline with $216.30 million committed that year to the country.
Since 2011, the United States support to Liberia has been dropping with only $211.07 million committed in 2012 down, by $5.23 million from 2011.
Massive decline in support
The United States support to Liberia began to fall greatly from the year 2013 with the US providing only $190.06 million and in the year 2014, the United States support again went downward to $175.83 million.
During 2015 the United States provided a bare minimum $104.69 million to Liberia and during the current year-2016, the United States has committed just $125.37 million to Liberia.
The year 2017 will see the least support by the United States to Liberia since the country returned from civil wars in 2003 with the US projecting that it will commit only $110.89 million to all its ongoing programs in the country including Health, Environment, Economic Development, peace and Security, Education and Social Services, Democracy, Human Rights and Governance, amongst others.
While the United States support to Liberia has been declining the US has increased its support to countries such as Rwanda, Ghana and others.
From 2013, the United States has provided more support to Rwanda and Ghana for example than Liberia.
In 2013, the United States provided $203,583,000 to Rwanda and in 2014 it also provided $187,522,000 to that country, far more than what was provided to Liberia.
The United States in 2015 provided $177,709,000 to Rwanda and in 2016 also provided $160,935,000 with a projected $137,680,000 in 2017.
Over the last three years the United States has provided more support Ghana which has closer tie with Great Britain than Liberia which is believed to be stepchild to the United States.
In 2015, the United States provided $140,297,000 to Ghana $36 million more than Liberia which was provided $104.69 million during the same year.
During the current 2016 year, the United States is providing Ghana $146,347,000 and in 2017 the US will be committing $146,504,000 to that country far more than what Liberia will be receiving.
Even neighboring Ivory Coast which has long standing ties with France has been getting more support from the United States than Liberia in 2015 and is getting more in 2016 onward to 2017.
Ivory Coast received $141,244,000 from the United States in 2015 while Liberia only received $104.69 million. In the current years 2016 Ivory Coast is receiving $145,685,000 from the United States while Liberia is only getting $125.37 million.
During the ensuing year 2017-Ivory Coast will received $145,745,000 while Liberia is expected to only get $110.89 million one of the lowest in recent years.
According to the United States Foreign Aid data, transaction data represents every individual financial record in an agency’s accounting system that has been processed in the given time period for program work with implementing partners and other administrative expenses. The data shown in the planned, obligated, and spent tabs represents the same financial data at a higher level of aggregation (by country and sector only), thus this data is called aggregated data.
It is stated that the transaction data shows the same financial data at a more granular level. Each data record – or financial transaction – contains up to 37 qualitative data fields, including descriptive titles, vendor names, and location, along with the financial data. Thus, the transaction data is called disaggregated data.
The United States has indicated that its assistance to Liberia in FY 2017 will continue to be an essential part of helping to bring the country back onto a sustainable development path. The United States will continue to promote a secure, stable Liberia with enhanced rule of law, broad-based economic development, and improved education and health systems.
Corruption Responsible?
It is not clear what is responsible for the massive fall in the United States government support to its longtime friend Liberia but experts could be guessing whether corruption or the lack of confidence in the regime of President Sirleaf.
The regime of President Sirleaf continues to come under the spotlight for failing to fight corruption but the United States has not publicly expressed its dislike for the unfolding events even though diplomatic discussions are never brought to the public. And President Obama offered to help Liberia to fight corruption, as he did with Ebola.
President Sirleaf during a visit to the United States in February 2015 and a meeting with President Obama, the US President promised to help Liberia reduce corruption.
“Those are all areas where we’re very interested to hear how we can be helpful. We’ve got some ideas as well. In the meantime, on programs — everything from our Millennial Challenge grants to encouraging international investment, to the return of Peace Corps volunteers, we want to accelerate as much as possible a return to Liberian growth and development, to accelerate some of the efforts that President Sirleaf had already begun to reduce corruption, and to make sure that prosperity and growth is broad-based, not just in Monrovia, but throughout rural areas. That’s the kind of partnership that we’re looking forward to, and we could not have a better partner than President Sirleaf”, said President Obama during the 2015 meeting.
Under the President Obama administration, United States assistance to Liberia has been dropping which could also be blamed on a lack of confidence from the Obama administration towards to Liberia.
Liberia will be benefiting US$257 million from the United States Government Millennium Challenge Corporation when other countries that are far ahead of Liberia in terms of infrastructure and human development are receive far higher.
Ghana will receive $492.2 million from the MCC compact fund, Ivory Coast is eligible for a 300 billion CFA franc ($500 million) grant from the MCC.
Morocco will get a five-year, $697.5 million Compact with the MCC while Senegal will be getting $540 million.
Liberia with numerous problems and long standing relations with the United States than these countries is getting one of the least from the MCC.
FrontPageAfrica is also investigating a far bigger confidence issues, as to why the US Government, Great Britain and France are providing Direct Budget Support to many countries in Africa including Uganda, Ghana and Sierra Leone and Liberia is not receiving direct budget support, except the US$27 million it received from the European Union. Even more pressing is why the US is not providing direct budget support to Liberia.
FPA investigation continues.