Filed in by Olando Testimony Zeongar – 0776819983/0880-361116/life2short4some@yahoo.com
MONROVIA, Liberia – Amid a turbulent economic climate and heightened hardship being experienced by Liberians under the rule of President George Weah, the Liberian leader is poised to today deliver his second State of the Nation Address (SONA), since coming to power a little over a year ago.
Liberians are eager to hear what’s contained in the president’s address, especially so when most part of his one year rule was characterized by allegations of corruption and misuse of public funds, with lingering questions bagging answers to the ‘disappearance’ of 16 billion Liberian dollars, some US$25 million from the state’s coffers being ‘unaccounted for’, and the rapid acquisition of properties by the president and some of his officials.
Howbeit, it seems that instead of getting the desired answers from questions on graft allegedly taking place in government and the widely reported early amassing of wealth by President Weah and some government officials many of whom are from the ruling party, Liberians may rather be hearing a polished speech on achievements of the Weah administration, that is if assertions from presidential press secretary I. Solo Kelgbeh is anything to go by, as far as hinting what the president will say in his SONA today in the joint chamber of the Legislature on Capitol Hill, is concerned.
In a Facebook post days before the scheduled date for the president’s State of the Nation Address was made public, presidential press secretary Kelgbeh disclosed that never before in the history of the country, since it gained independence in 1847, for any administration to have accomplished so much under a year, as the Weah-led government has done.
He then set off to enumerate several development projects he boasted the Weah administration of achieving within less than 365 days, beginning by stating the construction of 400 km roads across Liberia including Fish Town/Harper Road, Greenville/Barclayville, Buchanan/Cestos, Rivercess/Sinoe, Ganta/Sanniquille, Zwedru/Ganta, and Gbarnga/Voinjama highways, Bishop Michael Francis, Chugbor, Doe Community to Clara Town road, Rehab Community road, Jamaica Road to Logan Town Broad Street, Streets of Central Gbarnga, Fair Ground Road in Buchanan, Tusa Field Community Road, Johnsonville connecting Pipeline Community roads.
Presidential press secretary Kelgeh continued his cataloging of achievements of the CDC-led government on this note:
Coastal Defense Project in New Kru Town (saving D. Tweh High School and other communities from erosion)
c) Construction of 14th Military Hospital on the Robertsfield Highway
d) Ministerial Complex (Congo Town)
e) Roberts International Airport Terminal and new VVIP Lounge (under construction)
f) Tuition-free education for public universities and colleges across the country
g) Scholarships to 18 doctors for specialized training in the health sector (studying abroad)
h) Increment in health workers salaries (making them the highest among civil servants)
i) Scholarships for higher honor high schools students in West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) to study in China
j) Payment of public schools students’ WASSCE and West African Examination Council fees
k) Empowering local businesses (through loan scheme)
l) Reroofing of over 200 homes in Gibraltar.
Mr. Kelgbeh then concluded what multiple sources are preempting to form part of the major talking point of President Weah’s SONA today, by bragging that having achieved all these within a year in office, after inheriting a nearly empty coffers, “GBEHKUGBEH” (President Weah) after all, got to be a God-sent leader.
It is not clear as he delivers his second State of the Nation Address, whether President Weah would actually thread the path of his press secretary, but what is certain however, is that the president’s address will be critiqued in no small way by several Liberians in many quarters of the country.
Already, four collaborating opposition political parties including the immediate past ruling party, Unity Party (UP), All Liberian Party (ALP), Alternative National Congress (ANC), and Liberty Party (LP), have announced that they will give an immediate joint response to the president’s SONA at the Headquarters of the LP at Catholic Junction in Congo Town at 6PM the same day.
