Liberian lawmakers slash their salaries to save money for citizens in 2020 budget

• Liberia’s lawmakers have agreed to cut away 30 per cent of their total earnings in the country’s 2020 budget.
• The lawmakers said the move is to help the West African nation meet the important IMF Standard.
• The actions of the Liberian lawmakers occurred about one month after Nigerians sued their own senate for proposing to buy N5.5bn worth of cars its principal officers.

Reports in Monrovia say federal lawmakers of Liberia have passed the country’s 2020 budget with massive cuts to their salaries and allowances.

According to FrontPage Africa, a magazine in the West African country, the lawmakers, in a selfless move on Tuesday, October 1, voted unanimously to have their earnings slashed.

The lawmakers cut the proposed budget by the executive arm led by President George Weah, a former international football player, by almost $7million.

Weah had proposed $532.9m but the lawmakers approved $526 million after cutting their own earnings and those of the officials of the judiciary.

The budget committee said it came up with the reductions in order to help the country meet the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Standard.

The action of the Liberian lawmakers is reminiscent of that of the Italian parliament which is set to reduce the number of the country’s federal lawmakers in the bid to save funds.

The Italian lower legislative chamber approved a bill to reduce the number of the members of the parliament from 630 to 400 and senators from 315 to 200 in line with a promise made by the country’s main party, the Five Star Movement.

Meanwhile, in Nigeria recently the senate was sued by citizens and some civil rights groups lik Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, BudgIT and Enough is Enough over plans to spend N5.550 billion (approximately $15.3m) on vehicles for its principal officers.

The suit against the senate was filed at the federal high court in Ikoyi, Lagos.

The citizens urged the court to “restrain, prevent and stop the National Assembly Service Commission from paying or releasing the budgeted sum until the downward review of the amount proposed by the Senate.”

Report by Eagle 🦅 Media TV earlier revealed that Ekiti state governor Kayode Fayemi said that Nigeria can cut down on legislative spending by doing away with the Nigerian Senate.

He argued that the country can scrap the red chamber and adopt a unicameral legislature.