Liberia Empowerment Agency Under Investigation For Allegedly Spending Over $675,000 On Tours

Source: Africa Publicity

The Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment (LACE) is being investigated by the Liberian Senate for allegedly spending more than $675,000 on assessments tours across Liberia. 

According LACE, the $675,000 was used to conduct community surveys, town hall meetings, and field assessments for over 300 proposed initiatives submitted by the Liberian Senate.

The Senate Committee on Public Accounts and Audit announced the investigation on Tuesday, June 3, 2025.

The announcement of the investigation comes amid concerns about the transparency and accountability of public funds allocated for development purposes across Liberia.

LACE is an autonomous agency of the Liberian government responsible for implementing community-based development projects. Its projects aim at alleviating poverty and advancing national development goals.

The agency is said to have received the $675,000 funding as part of a $11 million package approved in the 2024 National Budget of Liberia for legislative projects.

But the Senate believes some investigation ought to be done on how the amount was spent.

Senator Prince K. Moye of Bong County who is the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Ways, Means, Finance and Budget, questioned the magnitude of the amount spent merely on assessment activities, calling for immediate oversight action by the Legislature.

Senator Moye says “The US$675,000 that was used by LACE to do community surveys, town hall meetings for the Senate or from the legislative projects or community development projects, which we have a copy of the report but we have not thoroughly gone through – the PAC needs to make that as part of our investigation.”

He stressed that the report submitted by LACE detailing the expenditure had not yet been properly reviewed, and called for a comprehensive audit to ensure transparency.

The funds were disbursed to the agency under a framework agreement signed by Liberia’s Ministry of Finance and Development, LACE, and the Legislature of Liberia.

Under the said framework, all funds for legislative projects are to be transferred into an account controlled by LACE, with the agency responsible for execution and oversight.

But a number of lawmakers are in doubt about the effectiveness of the system functioning.