Finance and Development Planning Minister, Hon. Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan has called on the Liberia Anti‑Corruption Commission (LACC) to open investigations into the General Auditing Commission’s (GAC) audited reports for 2023 and 2024, saying the findings warrant closer scrutiny.
Speaking on ELBC 99.9 FM’s Super Morning program on Monday, September 8, 2025, Minister Ngafuan asked the LACC to examine two items highlighted by the GAC: US$96 million cited in the 2023 audit and US$2.8 million flagged in the 2024 audit.
Hon. Ngafuan said the 2024 audit of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) showed “significant system improvement,” noting the GAC delivered a “qualified” opinion for 2024, whereas the 2023 audit was given an “adverse” opinion. He attributed the 2023 adverse opinion primarily to US$96 million that the GAC said lacked documentation.
Minister Ngafuan also detailed one component of the 2024 finding, saying that on September 9, 2024, payments totaling US$423,482 were made to the Ministry of Education to settle local scholarship arrears for 2022, 2023 and 2024. He said that amount formed part of the US$2.8 million the GAC classified as having inadequate documentation in its 2024 report.
“Auditors don’t come to say you have stolen. They come to look at those internal weaknesses and provide recommendations for improvement,” Ngafuan told listeners.
“We don’t claim perfection. There are issues we must work on.”
Hon. Ngafuan said the MFDP is working to improve records management and expects the Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) to be fully functional by December 2025.
Once operational, he said, the system will ease the locating and retrieval of government financial documents and transactions.
During the interview the minister displayed a 2011 government memo demonstrating an earlier commitment to improving the MFDP archive.
He also urged the public to learn more about the government budgeting process to avoid “labeling good characters as criminals” based on misunderstandings or incomplete information.