MONROVIA: The Standard Bearer of the Unity Party former Vice President Joseph Nyuma Boakai Sr., has called on President George Manneh Weah to dismiss, with immediate effect, the three senior officials of his government who have been sanctioned by the United States government for their alleged involvement in unbridled and ingrained corruption.
Boakai further urged the Liberian President to turn over the disgraced officials to the Ministry of Justice for prosecution as require by the laws of the country.
Recently, three officials of the Weah-led Government were Sanctioned by the American government, through the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), in line with the Global Manitskey Human Rights Accountability Act, which holds accountable state officials suspected to be involved in Public Corruption, Money Laundry, and other criminal acts.
The three government officials include the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and Chief of President Weah’s Office Staff, Nathaniel Falo McGill; the Solicitor General and Chief Prosecutor of the Republic of Liberia, Cllr. Sayma Syrenius Cephas; and the Managing Director of the National Port Authority, Bill Tweway, widely known by many aliases including “ELEPHANT”, and “Gbekugbeh Jr.”
At a major press conference held on Friday, August 19, 2022, at the Unity Party headquarters on Broad Street, Boakai indicated: “to say the least, as if we had seen the worst that Mr. Weah and his criminal cartel is doing to the nation, the August 15, 2022 sanctions announced by the U.S. Government, through its Ambassador accredited near Monrovia, is another national and international dishonorable action, vilification and disgrace brought upon the nation by the workings of a rogue regime that is insensitive to the plight of the Liberian people.”
According to him, while they were unequivocal in their support and commendation of the action taken by the U.S. Government, the “lukewarm response” of suspension taken by President George Weah towards the three government officials prompted the need for his press conference.
“The reason I strongly refute the mere suspension announced by President Weah is because it is weak, and will become another of the same diabolical tactics of never-ending investigations we have seen by this criminal and infested government over the past five years,” the former Vice President said.
The Unity Party’s Standard Bearer noted that the style of sweeping things under the carpet by the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change-led (CDC) government is the reason they are asking for stronger actions to be taken by President Weah.
He said the Weah-led government has a long list of such unsolved criminal acts that are still under investigation over the past five years, with no credible results.
He named some of them as the whopping L$16 billion that allegedly went missing; the US$25 million to mob-up the Liberian economy; mysterious deaths of four auditors, reported secret killings; COVID-19 food distribution; the misapplication of US$24 million dollars from the National Road Funds; the gutted LACC’s indictments of the Chairperson of the National Elections Commission (NEC), and the Minister of Agriculture and her key officials; among others.
“The latest round of sanctions imposed on Liberian government officials by the U.S. Treasury Department, while very troubling, are no surprise to the Liberian people, who have for over 5 years been suffering and become poorer because of endemic corruption and the predatory nature of the George Weah administration,” he declared.
According to the former Vice President, since President Weah took office, he and his officials have made a campaign of using their power to loot public coffers for their personal benefits at the expense of the people of Liberia.
“These sanctions are the latest in an unending list of evidence pointing to how a group of individuals in government hold the country in a stranglehold and created for Liberia a reputation that undermines its standing in the international community and the potential to leverage opportunity at home and abroad for the good of the people of Liberia” he noted.
He disclosed that the threat and the potential consequences of these sanctions go beyond the corridors of power in Washington D.C and it reverberates in the capitals of countries in the sub-region and the world, and undercut the investment climate to attract serious people to do business in the country.
Boakai noted that although the US sanctions imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is highly targeted and selective, however, in view of this latest development and the culture of corruption which is pervasive in this government, President Weah dismiss the Minister of State, the Solicitor General, and the Managing Director of the National Port Authority.
He stressed that their continued presence in government at that high level despite years of public outcry will only but plunge Liberia and its citizens into worsening economic woes.
“In addition, I demand that President Weah also mounts an all-out investigation of his entire government with a goal of delivering a comprehensive report to the Liberian people and the international community to address and cleanse the government of corruption ahead of honoring any invitation from President Joe Biden to attend the forthcoming summit on Democracy in the USA,” he accentuated.
He said corruption is one of the problems, amongst a host of others that causes underdevelopment and deprivation, noting that corruption is a poison that destroys everything it touches, including a nation.
“I am also on record to say that Liberia is not a poor country, but the perennial problems facing this country are mainly triggered by the lack of a sound and honest leadership,” he said.
He emphasized that this is the reason he ran for the presidency in 2017, and vowed to contest again in 2023, on a record of integrity and honesty.
According Boakai, his concern remains ensuring a better image of Liberia that would stop the deterioration of bad governance and propel the country on a path of change and sustainable development for the good and betterment of the Liberian people.
The former Vice President used the occasion to call on Liberians to rise and seize this moment and encouraged them not to give “these rascals more years of anguish, stealing, and public sector mismanagement.”
He cautioned Liberians to issue President George Weah and his “gang of thieves political and democratic red cards” in 2023 and make them accountable for bad governance and the ills done against the State and its people.
The UP political leader also disclosed that over the next few days, he will hold wide and intense political consultations with his allies and other leaders of the opposition community to discuss a possible and needed political action against rampant and uncontrollable corruption and the continued culture of Impunity.
