An investigation indicates that approximately US$40 million was spent under former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, while an estimated US$7 million was subsequently spent under former President George Oppong Weah on continuing renovation, and rehabilitation works at the Executive Mansion.
The nearly two-decade effort to renovate the Executive Mansion, has emerged as a major public-spending controversy.
For that, an independent investigation has indicated that successive governments may have spent, or committed US$47 million on a project that has repeatedly faced delays, additional funding demands, and questions over its final cost.
An investigation indicates that approximately US$40 million was spent under former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, while an estimated US$7 million was subsequently spent under former President George Oppong Weah on continuing renovation, and rehabilitation works at the Executive Mansion.
The figures raise serious questions about how much public money has been poured into the presidential residence since a devastating fire damaged the building in 2006, and why, after nearly two decades, the country has yet to produce a comprehensive, and publicly reconciled account of the project total expenditure.
What began as a major rehabilitation project to restore the most important national landmarks has instead, become a long-running expenditure spanning multiple administrations.
The absence of a definitive public accounting has fueled concerns over procurement, contract management, project supervision, and value for money.
Under the Sirleaf administration (2006 to 2018), more than US$32 million, and according to the investigation, potentially closer to US$40 million, was reportedly allocated to the Executive Mansion renovation.
Reports previously associated with the General Auditing Commission (GAC), and legislative inquiries, raised questions about contracts awarded for the project, and whether the money spent translated into a fully completed, and operational presidential facility.
The concern is not simply the amount of money spent, but whether the government received commensurate value for those expenditures.
People familiar with the repair work remarked: “A project that consumes tens of millions of dollars over several years should ordinarily have clearly defined deliverables, completion milestones, certified payments, and a publicly verifiable final cost.”
Yet, despite years of construction, and rehabilitation, questions persisted over unfinished areas, additional contracts, and the need for further government funding.
Some previous assessments have placed the cumulative cost of the Executive Mansion refurbishment at approximately US$38.9 million by the time the Weah administration assumed office.
The difference between that figure, and the higher amount identified in the latest investigation makes a comprehensive reconciliation even more urgent.
The Weah administration, which took office in 2018, subsequently injected an estimated US$6 million to US$7 million into additional renovation, and rehabilitation activities.
It repeatedly presented the renovation as nearing completion. Pres. Weah, at one point, announced that the Executive Mansion would “come alive” by December 2020, creating expectations that the years-long rehabilitation would finally be concluded.
However, subsequent observations continued to raise questions about unfinished sections, and the overall condition of the structure.
This has left taxpayers asking what precisely the additional millions under the Weah administration delivered?
The controversy therefore extends beyond the physical condition of an aging government building.
At its core is a fundamental question of public accountability: How much has the country spent on the Executive Mansion, who received the money, what work was completed, and who certified that the work was properly executed?
If the combined expenditure approached US$47 million, one expert says, Liberians are entitled to see the documentary evidence.
