In each democracy, numbers can both illuminate fact or be weaponized to mislead. Sadly, the latest Fb publish by Comrade Martin Kollie falls squarely into the latter class. In a Fb publish, he claimed that “From 2024 to 2026, US$155 million has been budgeted/spent on the Ministry of Justice, however nobody has been despatched to jail for looting the nation. This assertion is a flaw because the conclusion fails to assist the premise. It’s not solely inaccurate; it’s a calculated distortion designed to impress anger, undermine confidence, and unfairly discredit the present management of the Ministry of Justice, headed by Cllr. Tweh. Mr. Kollie’s declare collapses below the burden of information. It depends on a false premise that the Ministry of Justice acquired US$155 million for prosecution functions alone, and that this quantity was squandered with out outcomes. This isn’t an harmless mistake; It’s propaganda and partisan sentiment.
By: Ephraim T. Nyumah, contributing author
To know why Mr. Kollie’s declare is fake, one should first perceive how Liberia’s nationwide finances is structured. The Ministry of Justice doesn’t stand alone as a single spending entity. It falls below the broader Safety and Rule of Legislation Sector, a sector that features a number of establishments with distinct mandates, management constructions, and operational tasks. Throughout the Ministry of Justice, you’ve gotten the Liberia Nationwide Police, the Liberia Immigration Service, the Liberia Drug Enforcement Company, the Liberia Nationwide Fireplace Service, the Nationwide Police Coaching Academy, and the Central Administration of the Ministry of Justice itself, which is headed by the Lawyer Normal, Cllr. Oswald N. Tweh.
Many of those establishments are autonomous. They aren’t straight managed by the Lawyer Normal; their heads are presidential appointees. But, all their expenditures, starting from border management and police patrols to fireplace companies, jail administration, coaching, gasoline, and logistics, are captured below the identical finances line coded within the nationwide finances 202-Ministry of Justice. This distinction is important as a result of with out it, your complete argument superior by Mr. Kollie falls aside.
Now, let’s have a look at what portion of US$155 million was spent on the central administration of the Ministry of Justice and or prosecution. For the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years, the Authorities of Liberia spent roughly US$93.6 million on the Ministry of Justice (the Liberia Nationwide Police, the Liberia Immigration Service, the Liberia Drug Enforcement Company, the Liberia Nationwide Fireplace Service, the Nationwide Police Coaching Academy, and the Central Administration of the Ministry of Justice) and for 2026, the Legislature has allotted US$62.1 million.
These figures cowl the total spectrum of justice and safety operations nationwide. They have been by no means supposed as prosecution-only funds. To counsel in any other case is to intentionally blur institutional traces and mislead the general public.
When the numbers are correctly disaggregated, a really totally different and much more trustworthy image emerges. Of the US$ 93.6 million allotted and spent by the Ministry of Justice for 2024 and 2025, solely US$17.4 million was spent by the Central Administration, inclusive of prosecution.
Throughout the US$17.4 million, solely US$731,138 was allotted and spent for prosecution within the final two years of the Unity Social gathering Administration. This implies, for 2024, 2025, and 2026, solely about 0.7 % of the Ministry of Justice finances has been spent or allotted for prosecution, not your complete determine as introduced by Mr. Kollie.
The US$155 million funds the operation of the Palace of Correction, rehabilitation companies, codification, financial affairs, administrative capabilities, and normal coverage coordination.
Out of your complete justice-sector finances over two years, lower than one %, or about 0.7%, was spent or allotted to prosecution. Even inside the Central Administration itself, prosecution accounted for under about 4 % of spending. Subsequently, there was no US$155 million prosecution finances. What really exists is a severely underfunded prosecution anticipated to ship justice below strict authorized requirements.
Regardless of low funding for prosecution, the present Ministry of Justice below Cllr. Oswald N. Tweh has delivered outcomes that talk louder than rhetoric. We show this by evaluating the CDC’s first two years’ spending on prosecution and the achievement with the Unity Social gathering’s first two years’ spending on prosecution and the consequence in line with information from previous nationwide budgets.
Throughout the first two years of the CDC authorities, roughly US$3.88 million was spent on prosecution, greater than 5 instances what the Unity Social gathering had spent in its first two years. With that bigger finances, the CDC administration promised accountability and punishment for corruption.
Nevertheless, what materialized or stood out as achievements in apply have been largely audit experiences, payroll verifications, and administrative investigations. These processes are usually not profitable felony prosecutions. They generate proof; they don’t themselves quantity to profitable prosecutions or convictions.
In sharp distinction to the file of the CDC administration, the Ministry of Justice below the Unity Social gathering has delivered tangible prosecutorial outcomes whereas working on a dramatically smaller finances. The present management has moved past audit experiences and rhetorical commitments to supply outcomes that face up to judicial scrutiny.
In 2024, inside about two phrases of court docket, the Ministry of Justice efficiently prosecuted and gained 52 felony circumstances, struggling solely a minimal variety of losses. This efficiency displays deliberate case screening, improved prosecutorial technique, and strengthened collaboration with legislation enforcement companies, not simply talking loudly and writing on Fb.
The Ministry additional distinguished itself by securing Liberia’s first-ever piracy convictions, a landmark achievement that elevated the nation’s felony justice system to worldwide requirements. This consequence required refined authorized experience, coordination with worldwide companions, and strict adherence to complicated evidentiary and procedural necessities—an accomplishment no earlier administration achieved.
For 2025 alone, the Ministry of Justice, inside three phrases of court docket, filed 305 indictments, prosecuted 96 circumstances, and secured 60 convictions, reaching a few 62 % conviction price.
In parallel, prosecutors resolved 37 circumstances by way of Various Dispute Decision and concluded six circumstances by way of plea bargaining, which demonstrates a strategic use of recent prosecutorial instruments to ship justice effectively whereas decreasing court docket congestion. Moreover, the Ministry efficiently defended and gained 5 main circumstances earlier than the ECOWAS Courtroom that saved the federal government thousands and thousands of {dollars} and safeguarded Liberia’s authorized and sovereign pursuits on the regional degree.
These information expose the weak point of the declare or notion that solely justice requires the arrest or public humiliation of former officers. I repeat {that a} felony prosecution is a authorized course of, not a political efficiency pushed by emotion or partisan strain.
The legislation calls for proof, due course of, and circumstances able to withstanding judicial scrutiny; something much less would collapse in court docket and finally reinforce injustice. What residents, together with Mr. Kollie, ought to rightly anticipate, and what the present Ministry of Justice is delivering, is credible prosecution that produces convictions, strengthens public belief, and upholds the rule of legislation.
By this, the present management of the Ministry of Justice is demonstrating a transparent dedication to legality over populism, substance over showmanship, and outcomes over propaganda that’s pushed by competence, self-discipline, and respect for due course of.
Additionally, the efficiency of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Company below the present Minister of Justice additional reinforces this file. Regardless of working inside the identical restricted fiscal surroundings, the company expanded its operational presence to all fifteen counties, carried out unprecedented narcotics seizures price tons of of 1000’s of U.S. {dollars}, secured tons of of arrests, obtained dozens of indictments, and achieved convictions involving each Liberian and overseas nationals. These are usually not theoretical achievements; they’re measurable enforcement outcomes.
When the spending on prosecution is positioned facet by facet, the distinction is stark. The CDC administration spent extra on prosecution however produced fewer courtroom outcomes. The Unity Social gathering administration spent far much less however delivered convictions, case wins, worldwide authorized successes, and institutional reforms. This isn’t a matter of partisan interpretation; it’s a matter of file and legislation.
I really feel the one cause why the present management of the Ministry of Justice appears to not be working is that former authorities officers of the CDC are usually not behind bars. Such pondering reveals nothing however a deeper misunderstanding of how justice works. Prosecution is just not a political rally the place outcomes are introduced on a timetable set by public anger. It’s a authorized course of ruled by proof, process, and judicial independence.
No Minister of Justice, irrespective of how well-intentioned, can lawfully jail somebody just because they’re perceived to be corrupt or politically unpopular. To take action can be to desert the rule of legislation and return Liberia to an period of arbitrary justice.
The truth is, the restraint proven by the present Ministry of Justice is proof of power, not weak point. By insisting on correct investigations, admissible proof, and due course of, the Ministry is guaranteeing that when prosecutions are introduced, they’re sustainable and never simply overturned. It’s a public file that rushed, politically motivated circumstances usually collapse in court docket, finally reinforcing impunity somewhat than dismantling it.
As an example, in 2019, the CDC administration charged and indicted the late Charles Sirleaf and others on allegations of financial sabotage and publicly paraded them in an orange jail uniform for political objectives; but in lower than a 12 months, all fees have been dropped, and so they walked free. It is a clear final result that underscores the risks of publicity-driven prosecutions unsupported by sustainable proof.
Liberia doesn’t want louder accusations or sensational claims. It wants a justice system that works rigorously, lawfully, and pretty. On that measure, the present Ministry of Justice is just not solely doing nicely; it’s laying the muse for justice that may endure lengthy after political slogans have pale. In addition to, the management of the Ministry of Justice below Cllr. Oswald N. Tweh deserves to be judged on information, not propaganda.
With one of many smallest prosecution budgets in latest historical past, the Ministry has delivered convictions, improved success charges, and expanded entry to justice domestically. That isn’t failure. It’s disciplined governance.
The reality is now unmistakable; the US$155 million declare by Mr. Kollie is a political fiction, not a authorized or fiscal actuality. Lower than one % of the Ministry of Justice finances went to prosecution, but below Cllr. Oswald N. Tweh’s management, regardless of restricted funding, has produced many convictions, landmark circumstances, and measurable justice outcomes that far exceed these of better-funded predecessors.
Justice in a constitutional democracy is just not delivered by noise, name-calling, or partisan outrage. As an alternative, it’s delivered by proof, self-discipline, and respect for the rule of legislation. Historical past will keep in mind this second not for Fb propaganda, however for a Ministry that selected legality over populism and outcomes over rhetoric, and that alternative, nonetheless inconvenient for critics, is precisely how actual justice is constructed.
Disclaimer: The views expressed on this article are solely these of the creator and don’t essentially replicate the editorial place of this publication.
