Filed in by Olando Testimony Zeongar – 0776819983/0880-361116/life2short4some@yahoo.com
Monrovia – Ahead of the much heralded June 7th “Save The State” street protest, President George Weah has slammed organizers of the protest as detractors and opposition dealing in vicious machinations and trickery to divert attention from ongoing national developments.
A statement from the Executive Mansion quotes President Weah as giving a rallying call to partisans of his Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) and those he describes as well-meaning Liberians that the June 7th protest was a ploy shrouded in hypocrisy only to distract Liberians’ attention from many positive interventions government is making to improve lives and develop the country.
This is not the first time the president has engaged in mudslinging opposition figures in the country, as on the advent of a two-day tour of central Liberia including Bong and Nimba Counties in June last year, out of disappointment over heightened criticisms against his administration, Weah similarly slammed his critics, many of whom are from the country’s opposition political bloc, as enemies of the state.
Recently, an attempt on the part of President Weah to talk organizers of the planned June 7th protest into discontinuing their plan did not materialize, as a Unification Day meeting with the protest planners, requesting them to choose dialogue over street protest ended in deadlock.
The Executive Mansion statement says while addressing members of his political party on Friday, May 17, 2019 in New Kru Town where partisans of the CDC had gathered for primaries to choose candidates for the pending Montserrado County Senatorial and District #15 Representative By-elections, President Weah questioned the moral justification and significance of street protest being organized by those he referred to as detractors, who he said are under what he described as the hallowed pretext of “Save the State”.
Even though President Weah acknowledged there were challenges plaguing the country’s fast-dwindling economy, which is one of several reasons organizers of the June 7th “Save The State” protest are citing as the basis for their action, the Liberian leader argued that such rapid decline of the economy does not amount to the collapse of the state, indicating that after close to two years in office, his administration is endeavoring to ameliorate the economy that is disappointingly experiencing a free fall, with the US dollar soaring astronomically above the local currency, while prices of commodities including the price of the country’s staple – rice, sky-rockets.
He took a jab at the past regime headed by former president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who supported him to become president, instead of her Vice President and longtime friend, Joseph Boakai.
While assuring Liberians that the country under his leadership will never experience division and stagnation, Weah, a former international soccer icon, said his one and half years leadership has been focused on fixing the systemic economic and social problems which the past administration left behind.
“Yes, there are challenges, but what we are doing here is to cover the dark holes that have been dug,” Weah said.
“Today, they are accusing you for the economy that was bad under their leadership,” said Weah, adding, “But let me say that the only reason any Liberian will get into the street is simply because they were defeated and don’t want you to lead.”
Weah bragged that the Liberian government under his watch, just within a period of almost two years, is performing to expectations far more than what the administration of his ally, Johnson-Sirleaf-led government could not do for 12 long years, stating that the planned “Save The State” protest is a mere display of frustration against his leadership.
The former World Best, Europe Best and Africsa best footballer says he is a unifier who is not distracted by the oppositions’ machinations intended to divert his attention.
“What they are doing is to stop you from doing what you are doing,” said Weah, adding, “It is intended to stop you from paving the community roads. It is to stop you from connecting the country with paved roads. They do not want to see you modernize the huts poor people who have been living in squalor since the founding of the country. It is to stop you from improving the education system.”
‘Weah’s wrongdoings’
Howbeit, planners of “Save The State” protest have given multiple reasons, as the basis for which such action is necessary at this time, mostly accusing President Weah of wrongdoings.
One of the protest organizers, controversial talk radio presenter, Henry Pedro Costa last month released a marathon list of charges against President Weah, accusing the Liberian president of being broke prior to his ascendancy to the presidency, indicating that since he took the mantle of leadership, the retired footballer has embarked on what the talk show host calls “a massive property acquisition spree.”
He also accuses President Weah of being a blatant violator of the 1986 Constitution of Liberia, and a president who has “callously” undermined all of the country’s transparency and integrity institutions, noting, “when he blatantly violates our constitution, we must save the state.”
Costa also charges President Weah of making ‘pleasure trips’ abroad, to the detriment of the Liberian people and the country’s fast-declining economy.
He said while the country’s economy bleeds, President Weah has taken interest in frequently flying outside the country in what Costa describes as style and luxury, noting that the former footballer turned politician does so in private jets with large delegations of those the vocal talk show host referred to as sycophants.
During the course of 2018, President Weah’s foreign trips reportedly cost Liberia, a country with a fast dwindling economy, over one million United States Dollars.
It was also reported during this same period that the president had acquired for US$30 million a private jet to fly him around, but the Liberian leader debunked the report saying at the time, “The airplane they are talking about is for my friend, who is the manager of a big company in Burkina Faso. He told me to use it anytime I want to travel because he has seen me use planes owned by Ivory Coast and others. He wants me use a plane that is not labeled to boost my moral too.”
Costa alleges that President Weah is condoning and benefiting from the siphoning of some US$25 million intended for mopping out excess liquidity in the Liberian economy.
He said President Weah is shielding those he called the president’s henchmen who he said carried out the alleged embezzlement of the US$25 million intended for the mop-up exercise.
Separate investigations conducted by both a government investigative team and the American government hired foreign forensic investigators have shown that there discrepancies in the US$25 million mop-up process.
Immediately following the release of reports by the Presidential Investigative Team and Kroll, an Executive Mansion press release quoting the president announced that he had mandated the General Auditing Commission (GAC), to report within two weeks’ time its findings into ‘further understanding’ of how the exercise of the US$25 million earmarked for the mopping up exercise of excess Liberian dollars in the economy was done by the Technical Economic Management Team (TEMT), which is headed by Finance and Development Planning Minister Samuel Tweah.
The Executive Mansion press release states: “The Ministry of Justice, by directive of President George Manneh Weah, has requested the General Auditing Commission to conduct an investigative audit into how the US$25 million earmarked for the mopping exercise was expended.” But to date, nothing more has been heard of regarding the money or the investigation.
Costa continued “When he condones and benefits from a supposed mop-up fiasco and protects his henchmen who carried it out, we must save the state, when he violates our budget law by spending outside of it as he pleases, we must save the state.”
Costa, who enumerated a total pf ten charges and said he could even name more against President Weah, as compelling reasons for a peaceful protest, added that when the Liberian leader refers to his critics as “enemies of the state”, it’s makes it imperative that the citizens assemble and ‘save the state’
“When double digit inflation keeps spiraling out of control with no mitigating measures or efforts in sight to curb it, we must save the state. When our President keeps quiet and never speaks to calm and assure the nervous populace that he is in control, we must save the state,” Costa maintained.
He then rallied Liberians to turn out on the day of the planned protest, stating, “My dear compatriots, come out on June 7 and let’s save our beloved country and make history together!”
