African Leaders Can Be Financially Modest — if They Want To

Recently elected, Boakai campaigned on the back of wide-ranging reforms, and his salary reduction is meant to set the tone for fiscal responsibility and financial modesty by government officials. As laudable as the slash is, there’s some skepticism as to its effectiveness. George Weah, Boakai’s immediate predecessor, announced a 25 percent cut to his salary after assuming office in 2018, but there was little transparency as to what he was paid, and citizens routinely complained about his and other government officials’ lavish lifestyles while the cost of living kept rising.

In a complicating wrinkle to his goodwill, there’s the fact that parliament, not Boakai, has the power to set his salary. Also, the country’s annual budget makes provisions for other allowances for the presidency, which could plug any gaps left by the voluntary reduction. On the more optimistic side, however, Boakai disclosed in February that his monthly salary was $13,400, which means his salary after the 40 percent cut would be $8,040.

Amidst the skepticism, knowing the definite figure of the Liberian president’s salary is something of an anomaly in Africa, where the salaries of presidents are shrouded in secrecy and speculation. “Any question relating to the President’s salary is governed by an omerta of sorts (law of silence),” Congolese journalist Jacques Matand told TRT Afrika last year, a sentiment shared by analysts across the continent.

Per a Business Insider article from May 2022, Cameroon’s perennial President Paul Biya is paid just over $620,000 in annual salary, making him the highest-paid African president. Sourced from the IMF and CIA World Factbook, the reported figures in the Business Insider article are more speculative than authoritative. For example, the reported figure of the annual $90,000 salary for Weah is significantly less than the $160,800 annual salary for the Liberian president, according to Boakai’s February disclosure. It’s even less than $96,480, the new annual salary after the proposed cut.

The secrecy around what African presidents earn extends to top public officials. This clearly limits financial accountability, especially on a continent where it’s scarcely a secret that officeholders use their position to enrich themselves. With their salaries and total allowances not being fully revealed, corruption becomes easy and this in turn fuels a lack of political will to actually better the lives of citizens.

For example, earlier this year, there was a budget padding drama in the upper house of Nigeria’s legislature. Bauchi State Senator Abdul Ningiwas suspended by his colleagues after alleging that the country’s budget for 2024 had been padded to the tune of ₦3.7 trillion (over $2.3 billion), to the advantage of several senators. That suspension came after an exclusive Premium Times report alleged that Senate President Godswill Akpabio had helped pad the budget with about ₦4 trillion (over $2.5 billion) in bogus projects.

In 2019, it was estimated that the monthly salaries of 469 lawmakers in Nigeria was equivalent to the salaries of over 120,000 civil servants on minimum wage. This is in a country where thousands are dealing with severe inflation and a cost of living crisis. The government refuses to raise the minimum wage significantly, stating that it will not be able to afford the wage bill according to the demands of local labor unions.

This is a stark reminder to African politicians who earn millions, are accused of looting millions more, and allegedly sidestep and actively fight any measure to not impoverish their citizens. Last Friday, Kenyan President William Rutoannounced several budget cuts due to sustained protests against a proposed finance bill. It’s a very rare event, where elected officials are strongarmed into policies that are actually in favor of the people.

In presenting the 2024 Finance Bill, the Kenyan government said it needed to increase revenue to service international debts, but rather than cut down the cost of governance, its first answer was to tax citizens who are already bearing the brunt of a cost of living crisis. In the now-scrapped bill that would have raised the prices of staple materials, increased levies, and introduced new taxes, top government officials were set to receive raises in their salaries and allowances. It took several protests, where dozens of people were killed and hundreds were injured primarily by police force members, for those salary increments to be frozen.

There’s a consensus amongst many that bad leadership is the primary reason African countries are not developing at the rate they’re supposed to. It contributes to the general belief that these countries can’t be financially dependent, and need foreign aid and loans from international banks and bodies.

“Africa’s challenge is not the absence of liquidity or funds to finance development,” United Nations under-secretary-general and special adviser on Africa, Cristina Duarte, said in 2020. “Its problems are massive illicit financial flows that are draining funding capacity and the lack of ownership over natural resources, coupled with a whole narrative built around managing poverty instead of development, and depicting Africa as a poor continent in need of help from the international community.”

It would be foolhardy to believe that Boakai’s salary slash or his Kenyan counterpart’s budget cuts will inspire a trend amongst governments in Africa, but it’s worth knowing that presidents and top officials can be more thoughtful, accountable and financially modest — if they want to.