Filed in by Olando Testimony Zeongar – 0776819983/0880-361116/life2short4some@yahoo.com
Monrovia – Hours following the release on social media of photos of President George Weah’s 47-unit deluxe structures nearing completion along the Robertsfield Highway, several Liberians continue to express indignation, with many questioning their president over the source of the funding enabling him to be proceeding with the construction and near-completion of the elongated chain of buildings with lightning speed.
Weah was sworn into office in January last year, and just three months on as president, his 9th Street property was demolished, and works began immediately to reportedly transform same into a modern hotel, while he also revamped his Jamaica Resort, also located off the Robertsfield Highway, and proceeded with the 47-unit exotic estate that is now nearing completion for which many Liberians are raising eyebrows.
Under Weah, Liberia is experiencing a tattered economy with hardship pinching several Liberians so hard, as their leader swiftly moves at acquiring and developing properties at a marathon speed, something which is the cardinal issue of concern for many of his citizens questioning the source of funding for such projects.
After months of reluctance over declaring his assets amid public outcry for him to do so, President Weah finally bowed to pressure and declared his assets, but not without being shredded in secrecy. Six months in his administration, the General Auditing Commission (GAC) disclosed that it had received the declaration of personal interests, income, assets and liabilities forms from President George M. Weah, on Wednesday, July 25, 2018, at 6:05 PM, but the GAC said at the time that it was forwarding the president’s filings to the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) which is yet to make such filings public.
For now, what is known of President Weah’s net worth is based on his 2005 declaration made to the National Elections Commission when he first ran for the presidency, which puts his overall income per annum at US$335,000.00 on properties both in the United States of America and back home in Liberia.
According to his 2005 declaration to the NEC, Weah earned US$60,000 from his supermarket in Florida, USA; US$250,000 from real estate in the USA and US$25,000.00 from his real estate in Liberia.
Weah declared then that his combined assets both in Liberia and the USA were not more than US$2.8 million. His residence in Florida, USA was said to worth US$1.5 million, while his Supermarket in Miami, Florida was put at US$1.2 million. But documents seen by Punch FM/TV Online Service indicate that the Weah’s Florida supermarket – Flavors West Indian Supermarket and Restaurant – which is registered in his wife’s name has been inactive.
Weah’s two residences in Liberia were said to be valued US$250,000, with the one in which he currently resides located in the ELWA Rehab Road area outside Monrovia being put at US$100,000. His demolished residence on 9th Street in Sinkor, according to his 2005 filing was valued at US$150,000. In his 2005 filing, Weah failed to state his bank balances.
Howbeit, when he filed again with the NEC in 2014 when he contested the Montserrado County Senatorial election, which he won, Weah reported a monthly income of somewhere around US$15,000. His total worth as Senator for the three years is estimated to be US$540,000.
So many Liberians, who have taken onto Facebook are demanding answers from President Weah regarding the source of his funding for his numerous projects, especially as photos of the 47-unit multi-million dollar gargantuan plush structures are nearing completion in the Baptist Seminary Community, along the Robertsfield Highway.
In reaction to the emerging photos being splashed all over social media of President Weah’s multifaceted buildings that are now nearing completion, Ma Victoria Son wrote on Facebook: “Acquiring personal wealth is not Liberia’s problem!! Liberia problem is about you fixing the messy and broken economy!
For his part, Ansony Sieh, termed the president’s project as an act of looting, stating that “This episode will detrimentally break the looting records since 1847.”
Hilton Prince insinuated that the electrifying speed at which the president’s Baptist Seminary Community housing project is moving should rather be a matter of a shameful way to proceed as the leader of a country whose economy is plunged nose-down to rock-bottom, stating, “He bought this land 1996, since than nothing grass was beautifying the land ..Within six months estate appeared no shame.”
Hilton is of the belief such early acquisition of properties and amassing of wealth upon assuming the presidency is egoistic on the part of President Weah – “This is egoistic mind set, I am sorry for our brethren who for the passed 12 years printed their owned T-shirt, walk from barnesvilles to oldroad and walk back to and fro, continue walking ahhhhh. What type of walking is this????” Hilton lamented.
In a show of sarcasm, Andrew Borbor Werlay Jaye, Jr. wrote: “You nailed it senior brother, this looting of state covers and sluggishly ignoring the calls of the masses is accelerating day by day under the stewardship of Pres. Weah. Mr. Weah is possessed with arrogance and Ignorance and doesn’t look like an individual that is prepared to vomit these possessions out of his belly.”
Davina Yei Makador Queeglay wrote: “Smh. All this in a year as a personal property n u say getting better? With all the hardship you’re surrounded by?”
For Augustus K. Mellen, he’s concerned that in the midst 16 billion Liberian dollars allegedly gone missing under the watch of President Weah, the Liberian leader is showing off early wealth, wondering that “16 billion is missing, and the president is doing this. What does it mean to Liberians?”
While displaying on his official Facebook page several photos of President Weah’s luxurious structures, Ernest Moibah, Jr. wrote: “A full glance of Mr. Weah’s Forty-Seven (47) units on the Baptist Seminary Road.”
He added: “Nearly a year since Mr. Weah took over to the nation’s highest seat, Liberia has fallen prey to corruption.BE PATIENT LIBERIANS!!!”
A Liberian economist based in the USA, Samuel Jackson, for his part is peeved with those supporting the president’s action to put wealth on display so early during regime.
Jackson writes: “Good morning. If you believe in worshipping a human being and become blinded to reality count me out. George Weah is no God. I know him to be a hedonistic playboy.”
Jackson continued: “One year ago he was dragged into magisterial court for refusing to pay child support. My daughter was the lawyer for the child’s mother. All court proceedings are public. He claimed to be indigent.”
Howbeit, Jackson maintains that after recently divulging that he was indigent, “less than a year later he’s building multimillion dollar ultra-modern luxury condos in the planet’s poorest country.”
“If you’re okay with that due to your low IQ and occultish standing do not force your limitations on us with higher order thinking,” Jackson warned President Weah’s supporters heralding him for the speedy construction of the fabulous structures.
Moses Uneh Yahmia writes: “Robert Sirleaf looted NOCAL and used a meagre part of the looted funds to build mini stadiums in slum communities, we called him a thief. But Weah is looting the same national treasury and building his private mansions and you call that national development?”
William S.F. Cole, for his part, asked, “where did he [President Weah] get the money?”
He went on to write, “If and only if President Weah cannot explain to the Liberian people where he got the money from to build all these mansions, then I myself will join the other people to accuse him of using our country’s money for his personal benefits.”
He explained: “Too often, in recent times, I have heard people saying, “At least he did not carry the money to another country. So let him steal more to develop the country”. How dare you say that? Is he developing the country or he is destroying it? What do we always say about the Congo people? Don’t we accuse them of stealing our country’s money to build large buildings and renting same to government? What good are the buildings in Central Monrovia doing for our country. Oh! Let me not forget to make mention of Ducor Continental Hotel, Vamoma House, Hotel Africa, the Masonic Temple and the rest.”
“Stealing is stealing. If Weah is stealing our money and building mansions right in our face without remorse, what much about building them in foreign lands, where we have no ability to know. Whether he steals to make the physical feature of Monrovia great, or to build other countries, it is wrong to steal,” William noted.
He maintains, “The president must tell us where he got all that money from. I am this poor and this uneducated because past leaders stole Liberia’s moneys the same way George Weah is doing.”
“That’s the end of my opening statement. If I am asked to present evidence, I can prove my case further…” he added
He then offered a prayer for the president to lose whatever he may not be acquiring legitimately – “May God lead someone to steal all that belongs to you and make himself/herself rich with your labor. May it even be your wife who will loot all that you will ever acquire in life and use that to enrich herself and abandon you thereafter.”
