One of the world's poorest country president slashes own salary amid budget cuts for lawmakers

Liberia's president, Joseph N. Boakai, aiming for savings, reduced the budgets of state institutions and announced over the weekend that he would cut his salary by 40 percent. He also reduced the budget of the Senate president's office, Nyonblee Karnga Lawrence, to 1.5 million dollars.

Liberia, one of the ten poorest countries in the world, can boast the highest salaries of its legislators. Our senator Patty Murray, who earns 193,000 dollars annually, might envy Senator Lawrence's salary.

Liberia struggles with high unemployment, limited access to education and healthcare, and widespread poverty. According to the World Bank, more than half of the population lives below the poverty line, surviving on less than $1.90 daily. In Liberia's 2024 budget, 40 million dollars were allocated for the expenses of 103 legislators, while only 3.3 million were designated for education.

The president's decision on budget cuts was made in the face of public discontent about the high salaries and benefits granted to public officials in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

This discontent was further amplified by two reports concerning lawmakers. In June, the pro-government radio station Spoon FM reported that a group of senators organized a four-day training course in the city's most expensive hotel, for which they spent 700 thousand dollars.

In July, activist Martin N. Kollie revealed that members of the lower house of parliament allocated 45 thousand dollars each for luxury vehicles, which, according to the budget, they are entitled to every three years. Since they hadn't received them yet, they attempted to blackmail the finance minister by arriving at a parliamentary session on Thursday in three-wheeled vehicles known in Liberia as keh-keh.