IN A DEMOCRACY, budgets are not whispered into law. They are signed, sealed, announced, and accounted for.
SO WHEN EXACTLY did President Joseph Nyuma Boakai sign the US$1.248 billion Fiscal Year 2026 National Budget into law?
THAT QUESTION NOW hangs heavily over Capitol Hill and the Executive Mansion following the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning’s (MFDP) quiet, almost casual publication of what it describes as an “approved” FY2026 National Budget—without a formal announcement from the Presidency confirming presidential assent.
IN A COUNTRY still recovering from the political trauma of the 2024 budget “fingering” scandal, silence is not just suspicious — it is dangerous.
Governance by Assumption?
THE 55TH LEGISLATURE passed the FY2026 budget in December 2025 and forwarded it to the President, as required by the Constitution. From there, the law is clear: the President must either sign it into law or return it with objections.
BUT SINCE TRANSMISSION, there has been no official statement from the Executive Mansion confirming that the President signed the instrument. No press release. No publication of the signed act. No formal notification to lawmakers. No ceremonial ACKNOWLEDGMENT. NOTHING.
YET, THE MFDP has now uploaded what it calls an “approved” budget. Approved by whom? Signed when? Witnessed by whom? Transmitted back to the Legislature when?
THESE ARE NOT political questions. They are constitutional ones.
EVEN MORE TROUBLING was the omission during President Boakai’s Annual Message — the State of the Nation Address — where he proudly referenced the size of the FY2026 budget as “the highest in the history of our country.”
HE PRAISED REVENUE performance. He announced plans for a supplementary budget. He detailed fiscal reforms.
BUT HE NEVER explicitly stated that he had signed the FY2026 budget into law. That omission now appears glaring.
IF THE BUDGET was signed on December 22, 2025 — as the MFDP now claims — why was this not publicly announced? Why was the instrument not published by the Executive Mansion in keeping with Liberia’s Open Budget Initiative and Public Financial Management (PFM) Law?
TRANSPARENCY DELAYED IS transparency denied.
FINANCE MINISTER AUGUSTINE Kpehe Ngafuan further complicated matters when he declared that the government was still executing the FY2025 budget — even after the Legislature passed the FY2026 spending plan.
IF FY2026 TOOK effect on January 1, as claimed, why is the government still operating under FY2025? Under what legal authority are funds being disbursed?
YOU CANNOT BE executing two fiscal realities at once. Such mixed messaging erodes confidence not only among lawmakers but among development partners, investors, and citizens who depend on fiscal predictability.
EVEN MORE ALARMING is the admission from former Speaker Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa that he has not received a signed copy of the budget. How can lawmakers exercise oversight over a law they have not formally seen signed?
IF THE LEGISLATURE has not been officially notified of presidential assent, then where exactly is the documentary trail?
A NATIONAL BUDGET is not a memo. It is the most important financial instrument of the Republic. Its passage and signing cannot be treated like an afterthought.
LIBERIANS DO NOT need reminding of what happened in 2024.
THAT YEAR’S US$738.8 MILLION budget was allegedly altered after passage, with discrepancies of approximately US$20 million surfacing in the printed version signed by the President. Accusations flew between the Executive and Legislature. Investigations confirmed unauthorized alterations. No meaningful sanctions followed.
THE EPISODE DAMAGED public trust in the integrity of the budget process.
NOW, BARELY TWO years later, the country is confronted with another opacity problem — this time not over alleged alterations, but over whether the President has even signed the document at all.
HISTORY HAS MADE the public vigilant. The government should have learned to be careful.
THIS IS BIGGER than politics. This is not about embarrassing the President. It is about institutional integrity.
THE CONSTITUTION IS not optional. Public Financial Management laws are not suggestions. The Open Budget Initiative is not a branding exercise.
WHEN PROCEDURES ARE ignored or handled casually, it feeds a culture of suspicion.
IF THE PRESIDENT signed the budget on December 22, the Executive Mansion should produce the signed instrument and clearly state the date and conditions of assent.
If he has not signed it, the government must explain why MFDP is publishing it as “approved.”
THERE SHOULD BE no room for guesswork when it comes to US$1.248 billion in public funds.
A SIMPLE SOLUTION: tell the public the truth.
THE EXECUTIVE MANSION can end the speculation in a single statement: confirm whether the President signed the FY2026 budget, provide the date of assent, publish the signed instrument, clarify when the budget legally took effect, and explain the current execution framework. That is all.
IN GOVERNANCE, PERCEPTION often becomes reality. Silence creates narratives. And in Liberia’s fragile political climate, ambiguity is combustible.
LIBERIANS DESERVE CERTAINTY — not assumptions — about how their money is being authorized and spent.
UNTIL THE MANSION SPEAKS clearly, one question will continue to echo across the country: When did JNB sign?
