Monrovia-A senior official at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) has come to the defense of Finance and Development Planning Minister, Augustine Kpehe Ngargfuan, launching a scathing rebuttal against Spoon Network owner Stanton A. Witherspoon, and accusing him of deliberate misinformation and character assassination against Minister Ngafuan.
Mustapha Dukuly, Principal Advisor for Program and Policy to the Finance Minister, in a statement flooded on social media titled “Nailing Witherspoon For Ngafuan,” said Witherspoon’s problem with Minister Ngafuan has become open and personal, especially whenever the Ministry records measurable gains.
The controversy stems from Minister Ngafuan’s appearance last Thursday on Clarence Jackson’s OK FM Morning Show, where he stated that government began adjusting pay for public servants in January 2025 and that the Judiciary, the General Auditing Commission (GAC), the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), engineers, health workers and soldiers had benefited from salary increases or top-ups.
Ngafuan disclosed that President Boakai has instructed a technical team led by the Civil Service Agency (CSA) to work on options for further pay increase to take effect in the 2027 fiscal budget. He also argued that Liberia is better off than Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Guinea and many other African countries, noting Liberia’s minimum civil servant pay is US$150 per month while most other countries are below US$60.
According to Dukuly, Witherspoon, already angered by Liberia crossing the US$1 billion domestic revenue threshold – which he and some panelists had said was impossible – used his Spoon Talk show to rain insults on Ngafuan’s character.
Witherspoon reportedly played a video of the City Mayor of Foya, Lofa County, at a town hall attended by President Boakai in December 2024, complaining that he was receiving US$65 monthly, and juxtaposed it with Ngafuan’s OK FM interview to label the Minister a “bloody liar” and dishonest.
Dukuly said the video was deceptive because it was outdated. “The video you played is from an event that took place in December 2024,” Dukuly wrote. “May I remind you that Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan formally took over as Minister of Finance and Development Planning on September 16, 2024.”
He explained that from day one, Ngafuan made it a priority that the Fiscal 2025 budget which began in January 2025 would have no civil servant below US$150. The draft budget with that provision was approved by the Legislature, prompting President Boakai to announce in his State of the Nation Address in January 2025 that beginning January 2025 no one on the Government of Liberia payroll would make less than US$150.
“Since that pronouncement, the GOL has not reneged on that commitment and that City Mayor of Foya is no longer making the US$65 that he complained about in December 2024,” Dukuly stated.
He acknowledged that previous administrations of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and George Weah had taken steps to bring many civil servants to the US$150 threshold, but a significant number still earned below it. The Boakai government, he said, ensured all civil servants are now at or above the threshold.
“What you did on your show, playing an outdated video to contradict the Minister was nothing less than pure deception. Any viewer who did not check the date would walk away misinformed, which was your intention,” Dukuly accused.
Dukuly, who did not spare words, accused Witherspoon of openly admitting personal dislike for Ngafuan, quoting him as saying “I don’t like the guy!” on his show, and of invading the Minister’s privacy months ago with a WhatsApp text calling him a “bloody liar.”
He said Ngafuan has refused to be dragged into indecency, choosing to respond through work rather than name-calling.
Dukuly defended Ngafuan’s 20-year record, noting that at 35 he was already a Cabinet member under Sirleaf, having served as Director-General of the Bureau of the Budget, Minister of Finance, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Dean of the Cabinet.
He noted Ngafuan represented Liberia at the White House, Élysée Palace and UN Security Council, currently chairs the African Development Bank constituency covering Liberia, Ghana, The Gambia, Sudan and Sierra Leone, and chairs the ECOWAS Convergence Council of WAMZ. Before returning home, he managed an AfDB portfolio in Uganda valued at US$2.2 billion.
He detailed Ngafuan’s education, a product of Boatswain Junior High, Booker Washington Institute and University of Liberia where he graduated summa cum laude and led the University Student Union, later earning an MBA in Finance and Accounting from Simon Business School, University of Rochester, plus executive training at Harvard Kennedy School, Wharton and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
“That background does not place him beyond criticism. No public official is beyond scrutiny. But criticism should be honest, evidence-based and proportionate,” Dukuly wrote.
Dukuly also accused Spoon of selective journalism, dedicating segments to reports of President Boakai being booed, while ignoring crowds in Barclayville celebrating the arrival of yellow machines on the same day.
“You go on your talk show and feed your audience with a spoon full of lies and distortions about President Boakai, Minister Ngafuan and several others. And when you are disproved, you do not correct the record,” he said. “You have appointed yourself to wear white and paint everyone else black.”
Dukuly said Minister Ngafuan will continue to deliver regardless of personal attacks, stressing, “Whether you like him or not, he will deliver. That has been true for twenty years and it is true now.”
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