“When You Pretend to Pay, People Pretend to Work”: Dr. Clarence Moniba Backs President Boakai’s Wage Admission, Demands $500 Minimum Civil Servant Pay in 2027 Budget
BY: Rufus Divine Brooks Jr.
MONROVIA, Montserrado County – Dr. Clarence K. Moniba has welcomed President Joseph Boakai’s recent acknowledgment that low wages undermine productivity, saying the President’s statement validates longstanding concerns raised about public sector compensation.
In a statement released Thursday, Moniba referenced his earlier objection to the 2026 National Budget, when he argued that the compensation allotment for public workers did not reflect current economic realities.
“I made it clear that we cannot expect excellence from public workers while paying wages that barely cover transportation, rent, food, and the basic needs of their families,” Moniba said.
He had called on the President to withdraw and resubmit the budget to guarantee a minimum monthly take-home pay of US$500 for every civil servant.
President’s Admission “Precisely the Point”
Moniba cited President Boakai’s remarks at the JFK Family Breakfast on July 1, where the President said: “When you pretend to pay, people pretend to work. If you pay somebody something that can’t even cover their transportation or take care of their children…”
“On this note, I could not agree more with the President, as this is precisely the point I made when I challenged his administration to rethink its budget priorities from being elite-focused to people-centered,” Moniba stated.
The statement noted that low wages do not only reduce household income but also weaken morale, lower productivity, encourage absenteeism, and undermine the quality of public services that Liberians depend on.
“The issue before us is no longer whether public servants are underpaid. Even the President has now acknowledged that reality.
The question is whether his administration will act on that acknowledgment,” Moniba said.
He called on President Boakai and the National Legislature to reflect that understanding in the 2027 National Budget by prioritizing people over bureaucracy and redirecting resources toward frontline workers.
“When I proposed a US$500 minimum salary, it was never about politics. It was about restoring dignity to public service and building a government that rewards hard work instead of asking workers to survive on wages that cannot sustain a family,” Moniba said.
He asserted that Liberia cannot achieve meaningful development while expecting committed public service from workers trapped in poverty, adding that civil servants “deserve more than sympathy.
They deserve fair compensation, Now is the time to move from recognition to reform.”