Filed in by Olando Testimony Zeongar – 0776819983/0880-361116/life2short4some@yahoo.com
Monrovia – Vocal Liberian politician of the opposition Liberty Party (LP), Abraham Darius Dillon has slammed the ruling CDC establishment, indicating that under the leadership of footballer turned politician George Manneh Weah, the Government of Liberia lacks sense of direction.
Recently, in Ganta City, Nimba County, the launch took place of government’s long awaited Pro-Poor Agenda for Development and Prosperity (PADP), which Weah and his political institution the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) told electorate that if elected, they would anchor the running of the affairs of the country on, but Dillon, in an exclusive interview with Punch TV Wednesday, referred to the PADP as a mere slogan, stating that the Weah administration has no sense of direction.
Asked as to whether judging from the country’s ailing economy, Liberians will have a good Christmas celebration this year, Dillon, who is the vice chairman for political affairs of Liberty Party, answered, “The economy of our country is in the toilet and this government is attempting to flush it out. The economy is bad.”
“This government has no sense of direction. I think they were trying luck. And the people who love George Weah thought he was coming to rescue them. Not knowing George Weah was…” Dillon added.
Dillon averred that Weah and the CDC are not prepared to properly manage state power, stating that during the period of the elections that brought them to the country’s leadership, they were only experimenting but that the electorate then acting on the assumption that the current ruling class was prepared, gifted them power.
“Let’s just go there, we know they will not elect us, but let’s just be there, and maybe we will get some compromises here and there,” this was the mindset of Weah and his followers, according to Dillon, who added that “And in the end, the people thought they were serious and they gave it to them, and now, they are waking up to the reality.”
To further advance his assertion that the Weah-led government lacks sense of direction, since its 11 months in power, Dillon says the government has not attracted investors, adding that investors that are already in the country, are either scaling down, pulling back or they are leaving the country.
“The government’s vision for job creation is to dump more people in government rather than expanding the private sector, said Dillon, who insists that the country’s economy is in the toilet.
“I knew from day one that President George Weah did not intend to be president. And when he became president by accident, you saw his intent, Dillon intimated, saying, “any leader who decides to eat first is not a good leader.”
Dillon continued: “George Weah is just not a good leader. He’s demonstrated it over and again. He’s not a good leader, it’s all about himself.”
“You’re talking about Christmas, I will wish our people merry Christmas, and I can only hope that things will get better, [but] there is no sign that things are going to get better,” he lamented.
According to Dillon, the Weah-led government is imposing sanction on itself by its conduct, saying, “good money is always afraid of bad environment. This environment is bad. It is not attractive; it is not friendly towards investment.”
When Dillon was queried on what are his party’s recommendations to get the country out of its current leadership quagmire, the Liberty Party vice chairman for political affairs responded by recalling that during the 2017 electoral process, the LP presented Liberians with the party’s manifesto, detailing what it would do for Liberia and Liberians, but that the electorate turned the LP down and instead elected Weah and his CDC.
“Liberty Party told the Liberian people what we would do if you give us state power. You said no. You noticed that during the elections, we didn’t only say what we would do. We said how we would do it under our four Rs pillar; Reconciliation, Recovery, Rebuilding and Reform, and we can tell you everything about the country under those four Rs, we can break them down and tell you how, timelines,” he said.
He pointed out: “During the campaign, we were all issues-oriented, but you the Liberian people especially those who deliberately refused to hear, made the serious issue a beauty pageant, saying that the Liberty Party vice standard bearer was not handsome. You made the bread and butter issues of this country a beauty pageant.”
“Today, you have Mr. Gentleman in the Mansion, you have Ms. World; the president is handsome, the vice president is beautiful – George Weah can go for Mr. Gentleman and win, Jewel can go for Ms. World and win, but the economy is in the toilet. So it’s not about your beauty or your handsomeness, it’s about … and [what] you are bringing to the table,” Dillon noted.
“Pro-poor is a slogan”, Dillon said, adding, look at the President of Liberia; he takes the Executive Mansion, his office, to be a place for photo shoot.”
He accused President Weah of routinely dressing up and requesting that his special aide, Sekou Kalasco Damaro do for him selfies on a daily basis – “every day the president dresses and stands in front of his desk and Kalasco takes his picture and puts it on Facebook and say the president will succeed,” said Dillon, who disclosed that “I’ve got about 40 pictures of the president doing nothing, but just stands up for photos.”
Dillon revealed that the tripartite political marriage between his party the LP, the immediate former ruling party, Unity Party (UP) and the party of businessman turned politician, Alex Cummings’ the Alternative National Congress (ANC), forming the three-party collaboration, has on numerous occasions made recommendations to government for the advancement of the country, but that such recommendations are often not taken in good faith and most times never acted upon.
He narrated that when these recommendations are proffered, government actors most times dwell on the criticism portion and downplay the actual recommendations coming from the three parties, citing an instance of Cummings proffering to the Weah administration things that could be done to save the country’s ailing economy, but that the ANC man was only to be angrily referred to by officials of the government as a one who knows how to only trade in Coca-Cola and not having the answers for a failing economy lest to talk about the smooth running of a good government.
He stated that even on issues of the ELTON and EBOMAF failed loan deals, the three opposition political parties warned the government against such deals and made appropriate recommendations, but Dillon noted that the government again, did not heed their advice until the deals hit the rock.
Dillon says whenever recommendations are made like in the cases of the ELTON and EBOMAF failed loan deals and when President Weah was being advised to declare his assets because the opposition parties said at the time that the president’s failure to have declared his assets was a breach of the country’s laws, all they got was to be branded as “enemies of the state.”
“We’ve been making recommendations to the government, but the government is adamant to receiving recommendations,” said Dillon.
Dillon disclosed that Phebe Hospital located in central Liberia is shutting down due to budgetary constraints, adding that the opposition bloc has recommended to President Weah to put his government’s priority right as regards health institution’s operations in the country, by prioritizing existing public medical facilities that are nearing collapse due to limited funding allotted to these institutions
“Phebe Hospital is dying, JFK to the ground, [so are many other] hospitals across the country, why don’t you equip those hospitals that are existing already, and then when there is need, we start to construct new ones,” said Dillon, who emphasized that he’s not opposed to the construction of new hospitals in the country, be it a military health facility or whatever kind.
In the face of financial constraints weighing down on several public health facilities including the nation’s largest referral hospital, the John F, Kennedy Medical Center, a situation that has rendered almost all of the public heath institutions across the country incapacitated, the Weah administration has released an initial US$2 million for the 14-Military Hospital, named in honor of the president, as a mark of respect for his number fourteen jersey during his days as a soccer player.
