28/12/2025
Government Payroll Hits $354 million but $ 26 million is hidden under “ Other Compensation “
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Report By: Isaac Isaac
Former Finance Minister, Samuel Tweah writes✍✍✍
Having demolished lies and myth about gas and rice prices under UP, we turn to the much bandied Government wage bill.
So many lies were parroted against the CDC about compensation. Today, and partly inspired by Musa Bility’s message from Saclapea, Nimba, we advance the argument for greater honesty and transparency in public finance.
We present below in table and graph form Liberia’s wage bill, which has grown from $113.9 million in 2010 to now $354 million in 2026, though the UP Gov is hiding $26 million in “ Other Compensation “ which is a Goods and Services line under the budget, with budget code 222123.
Other Compensation should not be a salary line but, in the last two years of Rescue governance, has emerged as a major line. We present data for Other Compensation for several years. Under CDC the line maxed at little over $5 million in 2023, netting over $2 million in 2022, and averaging bellow $200,000’ for years before 2022.
The UP has now taken this as a major line to employ workers and hide the figure from the public, since public scrutiny is greater on the core Compensation line, which is reported at $329 million in the 2026 budget.
We argue today that Government should abolish this line and report all compensation under the 21 coding for Compensation of Employees and we call on the legislature to ensure this transparency is achieved in the mid term review of 2026. Journalists are encouraged to monitor the line and press for this transparency.
With conpensation now at $ 354 million, this means compensation has increased by more than $43 million since the CDC exited power. This demolishes all false claims by the CSA about reduction in the wage bill and all false promises made to the IMF under the IMF program.
The figures below also show which of the two parties has managed public wage better. The wage curve shows that when the UP is in power wage is rising but flattens when CDC governs. Three regions can be observed under the curve: Rising, under AFT UP, flattening, under Pro-Poor CDC and rising again under RESCUE UP.
The general public, but more narrowly, economic and business students should analyze these numbers to understand the structure and evolution of public wage in Liberia and assess how far the wage bill should grow without raising salary of Government workers, who continue to be shunned, though Government has now passed a budget of $1.2 billion.
We will say more on this during our Spoon Interview on Tuesday.
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