MONROVIA, Liberia — Montserrado County District 3 Representative Sumo Kollie Mulbah has challenged a recent assessment by Naymote Partners for Democratic Development on the implementation of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s national development agenda, arguing that the organization’s methodology does not fully capture ongoing economic and infrastructure activity.
In a detailed response, Mulbah disputed Naymote’s reported completion figures, saying they present an incomplete picture of the government’s performance by focusing heavily on completed interventions while giving insufficient weight to projects still under implementation.
He pointed to broader economic indicators that, according to his statement, offer a different perspective on the administration’s performance, including figures attributed to the International Monetary Fund showing real GDP growth of 5.1 percent and average inflation of 4.4 percent.
Mulbah also questioned Naymote’s classification of interventions as “Not Rated,” arguing that insufficient publicly available information should not automatically be interpreted as evidence of government failure.
According to his statement, Naymote classified 103 interventions, representing 26.8 percent of the national agenda, as “Not Rated.” Mulbah attributed the classification primarily to limitations in local data collection rather than a definitive absence of government activity.
He further questioned whether local civil society organizations can independently verify hundreds of government commitments across Liberia’s 15 counties using predominantly field-based research, media monitoring and public information.
Mulbah argued that international financial institutions employ broader technical and analytical systems for assessing economic performance and public investment.
He also criticized what he described as a “binary” approach to evaluating government projects, saying infrastructure initiatives should be assessed according to their implementation timelines rather than being considered unsuccessful simply because they have not yet been completed.
The representative cited road construction, electricity expansion and other public investments as examples of projects whose economic impact can begin before final completion.
Mulbah’s statement also pointed to claimed improvements in domestic revenue collection, payroll management, public-service delivery and audit compliance under the administration’s ARREST Agenda.
He referenced Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, claiming that Liberia improved by two points, and presented the figure as an indication of institutional progress.
Mulbah called on civil society organizations to strengthen their monitoring methods, including through technology-assisted verification and more advanced statistical tools.
He argued that public assessments should distinguish between projects that have failed, those experiencing delays and initiatives that remain under implementation according to their planned timelines.
The statement ultimately called for greater reliance on what Mulbah described as objective and verifiable data when evaluating the government’s performance.
Naymote has yet to publicly respond to the specific criticisms raised by the lawmaker.
