The former Secretary General of the African Law Students Association and graduating senior of the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law at the University of Liberia, Ephraim T. Nyumah, has dismissed claims by exiled activist Martin Kollie that the Ministry of Justice squandered US$155 million without jailing looters, branding the assertion as misleading, politically driven, and designed to inflame public anger.
Nyumah was responding to a Facebook post by Kollie alleging that between 2024 and 2026, about US$155 million was budgeted or spent on the Ministry of Justice with no successful prosecutions for corruption. In a detailed rebuttal, Nyumah argued that Kollie’s claim rests on a false premise, namely, that the entire US$155 million was meant for prosecution alone.
However, he described the accusation as “a calculated distortion designed to provoke anger, undermine confidence, and unfairly discredit the current leadership of the Ministry of Justice. According to him, government records show that for fiscal years 2024 and 2025, approximately US$93.6 million was spent on the Ministry of Justice and its associated agencies, including the Liberia National Police, Liberia Immigration Service, Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency, Liberia National Fire Service, the National Police Training Academy, and the Ministry’s Central Administration. For fiscal year 2026, the Legislature has approved an additional US$62.1 million.
“These allocations cover the full spectrum of justice and security operations nationwide,” stressing that they were never intended as prosecution-only funds. To suggest otherwise is to deliberately blur institutional lines and mislead the public,” he narrated.
Breaking down the figures further, Nyumah disclosed that of the US$93.6 million spent in 2024 and 2025, only US$17.4 million went to the Central Administration of the Ministry of Justice, which includes prosecution. Of that amount, just US$731,138 was allocated and spent specifically on prosecution over the two years.
He noted that this means only about 0.7 percent of the Ministry’s total budget for 2024, 2025, and 2026 was spent or earmarked for prosecution, contradicting Kollie’s portrayal of a massive prosecution budget.
Nyumah emphasized that the broader justice-sector budget also funds prison operations, rehabilitation services, codification, administrative duties, economic affairs, and general policy coordination. “There was no US$155 million prosecution budget,” he said. “What exists is a severely underfunded prosecution arm expected to deliver justice under strict legal standards.”
Despite these constraints, Nyumah maintained that the Ministry of Justice under Cllr. Oswald Tweh has still recorded tangible results. He further clarified that in Liberia’s budgetary structure, the Ministry of Justice falls under the Security and Rule of Law Sector, which encompasses multiple autonomous institutions with separate mandates and leadership.
“All these agencies’ expenditures, ranging from border control and police patrols to fire services, prisons, training, fuel, and logistics, are captured under a single budget line for the Ministry of Justice,” Nyumah explained. “Without understanding this distinction, Kollie’s entire argument collapses.” He concluded by urging the public to examine budgetary facts carefully and resist narratives that, in his view, sacrifice accuracy for political propaganda.
