What we found on claims made by Nimba Senatorial Aspirant Samuel Kongar
Samuel Kogar, representative of district five Nimba County, in a radio interview on Gompa Radio, made these claims:
- 5:53: The salary of Senators and Representatives are the same
- 7:22: Representative salary is less than $100,000 annually
- 9:11: Feika is the rep for D.1 in Grand Cape Mount
- 20:47: Gongloe-Weh took Koung to court for 7 months
The death of Senator Prince Johnson created a power vacuum in Nimba County. Before Johnson’s death, he served four Legislatures, including the 52nd, 53rd, 54th, and now the 55th, in various capacities.
He was the longest-serving member of the Senate in post-war Liberia. Elected in 2005, Senator Johnson was elected for the third consecutive nine-year tenure in the 2023 presidential and legislative elections.
Kogar, after the death of Johnson officially joins the Movement for Democracy a nd Reconstruction (MDR), the party founded by the late Senator Prince Y. Johnson after he was a member of the People Unification Party. (PUP).
Kogar received a strong endorsement from the widow of the late senator, Madam Arhifa Boyidee, who has pledged her full support to Kogar’s candidacy in the anticipated Nimba County Senate by-election.
He says his move to the MDR is a fulfillment of a political “will” left behind by Johnson, revealing that the late senator had personally invited him to rejoin the party before his passing.
“I am not joining MDR because Senator Johnson is dead. I am joining MDR because of Senator Johnson’s legacy,” Kogar declared.
During a live appearance on radio Gompa, Kogar claimed that “representatives and senators are being paid the same” and “representative's salary is less than $100,000 annually”.
Verification: In 2024, asset declarations from Senators Abraham Darius Dillion and Jonathan Sogbie, submitted to the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission, reveal that each Senator receives a substantial annual gross salary of $129,992, translating to about $10,832 monthly.
The representative 2024 salary structure document obtained for the House of Representatives indicates that each representative earns a gross annual salary of $105,000, or approximately $8,810 monthly. In addition to their base salaries, Representatives receive a generous gas allowance of $26,700 annually, which amounts to about $2,225 per month.
Both Senators and Representatives are afforded additional funding for various support roles, including security personnel, yard staff, drivers, cooks, and other necessary supporting staff to help carry out their duties effectively.
An inspection of the funding provisions for the salaries and allowances of the National Legislature reveals a striking increase of roughly US$9 million from the budgetary le vels recorded in 2007, bringing the total to US$44.3 million in 2025.
We contacted press directors for both the Senate and Representatives, but they h ave not responded.
Oscar Mulbah, Senate Press Secretary, said in a text on March 13, "Thanks for reaching out, Kindly allow me to hold consultations and get back to you."
For Robert Haynes, House of Representative press director, read the inquiry but did not reply.
Another claim by Kogar is representative Gbessie Sonii Feika, the lawmaker for Grand Cape Mount district one. The claim is misleading; Feika is the lawmaker of District 3, while Bintu Massaley is the lawmaker of District 1.
In 20:47 second, Kogar claimed that aspirant Edith Gongloe-Weh took current vice president Jeremiah Koung to court for 7 months.
Verification: The Supreme Court of Liberia today, Thursday, April 8, 2021, in its opinion, ruled against the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) candidate, Edith Gongloe-Weh in the Nimba Co unty Senatorial election dispute.
The National Elections Commission (NEC) had earlier declared sitting Representative Jeremiah Koung as winner of the December 8, 2022, special Senatorial election, something the CPP’s candidate challenged, alleging a number of irregularities.
On Wednesday, March 31, 2021, the Supreme Court reserved ruling on the Nimba County Senatorial election dispute case involving the opposition CPP candidate, Madam Edith Gongloe-Werh and incumbent Representative Jeremiah Koung in northeastern Liberia,
Lawyers representing Madam Gongloe-Weh were seeking the Court’s mandate to rerun the December 2020 polls in five electoral districts in Nimba, citing several irregularities, electoral fraud, and voters’ intimidation, among others.
As per the record, it showed that even though Gongloe-Weh took Koung to court, the case did not take 7 months but 4 months when the Supreme court ruled.
