The Ruling Unity Party National Youth Congress has termed as damaging the ongoing General Auditing Commission (GAC) audit of the Central Bank of Liberia revelation an unapproved disbursements for 2019 Independence Day Celebrations in the amount of US$730,000.
In 2019, around the July 26 Independence Day Celebration, the Central Bank of Liberia made several disbursements totaling US$730,000 to the Liberia National Police, the National Security Agency, and the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs without any approved policy.
An audit by the General Auditing Commission (GAC), discovered that on July 24, 2019, US$200,000 was disbursed to the Liberia National Police as the Bank’s contribution for the July 26 celebration.
Also, on July 23, US$300,000 was disbursed to the Ministry of State for the same purpose and US$80,000 was disbursed by the Bank to the National Security Agency (NSA) for “special security operations.
These disbursements took place in 2019 when the CBL was in transition, with Deputy Governor Nyemadi D. Pearson (Operations) in charge of the Bank.
The Deputy Governor for Operations also oversees all financial transactions/disbursements of the Bank.
The GAC’s audit observed that these amounts were unsolicited by the receiving entities, which could be a recipe for financial malpractices.
Addressing a press conference Wednesday, May 22, 2024 in Monrovia, Jusu Kamara, Spokesman of the Unity Party National Youth Congress, described the actions as very gracious one and, trust that upon the completion of the audit, the GAC recommendations will be fully implemented by the President Boakai.
“Notwithstanding, the leadership of the Unity Party National Youth Congress is appalled by the damaging reports emanating from the ongoing GAC Audit of the Central Bank of Liberia which is deeply exposing the longstanding corruption, and financial malpractices of the past administration with the Deputy of Operations- Madam Nyemadi Pearson as prime suspect and chief facilitator,” he noted.
According to him, he believes that this will be followed by a decisive prosecution of Madam Pearson and all the culprits. UP Youth spokesperson added that zero tolerance for corruption is a promise made to the Liberian people.
At the same time, the leadership of the Unity Party National Congress also extolled President Boakai for what he termed as the first 100 days of efficient and responsible governance and efforts to get the country working again.
“The leadership also honors the President for entrusting many qualified and competent young people with public service. This is a clear manifestation of the President’s commitment to empowering young people by giving them a platform to serve and lead the charge of building the nation,” he stated.
