How Accurate Are Titus’s Claims About GBV and Rape in Liberia?

Claim: "Under President Boakai, Liberia has recorded a higher post-war GBV/rape incident rate than any government. 2024 alone amounted to 3,957 cases."

 

 

Verdict: Partially Correct

 

Full Text: On January 14, 2026, Liberian activist Titus Pakalah shared a post that got people talking. He presented statistical data on Gender Based Violence and rape cases in Liberia under the Boakai administration, comparing the numbers to previous governments since the end of the civil war.

 

According to Titus, "Under President Boakai, Liberia has recorded a higher post-war GBV/rape incident rate than any government." 2024 alone amounted to 3,957 cases." He dropped a link in the comments section backing up his claim. The post generated 31 reactions, 32 comments, and 27 shares.

Before we dig into the numbers, let's clarify what we're talking about here. According to Plan International, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) "refers to any act of violence that is directed against an individual based on their gender identity or perceived gender." "It's a widespread problem that affects people of all ages, cultures, and backgrounds. This includes violence against women and girls, intimate partner violence, and harmful practices like child, early and forced marriage, female genital mutilation/cutting, forced pregnancy, and trafficking.

 

Rape, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is "unlawful sexual activity and usually sexual intercourse carried out forcibly or under threat of injury against a person's will or with a person who is beneath a certain age or incapable of valid consent because of mental illness, mental deficiency, intoxication, unconsciousness, or deception."

Now, when Titus talks about "incident rate," he's referring to what the National Institutes of Health of the United States defines as "the rate of new cases or events over a specified period for the population at risk for the event."

 

 

Verification: The Stage Media Liberia reviewed the link Titus referenced in his comments section, and here's what we discovered.

His claim about the 2024 numbers? That checks out.

According to the Ministry of Gender's pre-launch press conference for the 16 Days of Activism hosted on November 23, 2025, Deputy Minister Atty. Laura Golakeh confirmed the figures. "The Ministry's Annual GBV Report of 2024 highlights a total of 3,957 cases of gender-based violence recorded, with rape alone constituting 2,759 cases," she stated. The report also showed that women were the most affected, accounting for 3,554 cases, while men accounted for 37.

 

But here's where things get complicated. Titus claimed that under President Boakai, Liberia has recorded the highest post-war GBV/rape incident rate of any government. We couldn't find credible data to fully support this sweeping claim.

 

Looking at the available numbers from recent years, we found some context. In 2022, the UNDP reported 1,975 GBV cases. Going back further, there were 2,240 cases in 2020 and 2,708 in 2019. In 2023, UN Women stated in its Liberia Country report that there were about 3,204 SGBV cases.

 

Yes, the 2024 figure of 3,957 is higher than all these recent years. But that does not automatically make it the highest in Liberia's entire post-war period. We could not find comprehensive, credible data for all the years from 2003 (when the war ended) to now that would let us make that comparison with confidence.

We reached out to Titus to ask where he got his data to conclude that the Boakai administration has recorded the HIGHEST post-war incident rate on GBV/rape. His response? "Hi boss man, I will definitely provide clarification in the shortest time. Busy at the moment."

We're waiting, and we'll update this article when he gets back to us.

 

Conclusion: Titus is correct that Liberia recorded 3,957 GBV/rape cases in 2024, a figure confirmed by the Ministry of Gender on November 23, 2025. But there is no credible data to verify his claim that this was the highest rate in postwar Liberia. The 2024 numbers are alarming on their own, and accuracy matters—especially on GBV and rape.