By: Frank P. Martin
MONROVIA: Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) Chairman, Janga Augustus Kowo, says the Unity Party-led government lacks governance direction, six months into national leadership.
CDC featured as its candidate, former President George Manneh Weah in the 2023 Legislative and Presidential elections, but the party conceived narrow defeat to UP.
The run-off, which was held on November 7, 2023, saw Joseph Boakai wining with 50.64 percent of the vote, against 49.36 percent of the vote for former international football star George Weah. Boakai won by a margin of 20, 567 votes.
In a radio interview on Sunday, July 28, 2024, Janga Kowo said, in six consecutive months, the UP-led government has failed to provide good governance directions that could serve as determinant to mirror the future of Liberia in six years, under the “RESCUE MISSION.”
“We are yet to see what this government has done within six months in leadership of the state. Absolutely nothing has changed since the UP took over in January,” Kowo said, in disapproval of the Boakai-Koung Leadership.
According to him, the Boakai administration is entrenched with violating several laws of the state, including the Public Procurement Law, the Code of Conduct, the 1986 constitution of the Republic, amongst others.
He also accused the government of violating the Public Financial Management (PFM) Law of 2009, when it requested, and received $80K in United States dollars from the National Social Security and Welfare Corporation (NASSCORP) to purchase vehicles while former President George Weah was still the President of the Republic of Liberia.
The Liberian Code of Conduct, which is premised on Articles 90 (a) &(b), explains that “a conflict of interest occurs when a public servant’s private affairs or financial interest are or could be in conflict or believed to be in conflict with the public servant’s duties or responsibilities in such a way that (a) his or her ability to act in the public (interest) could be impaired (b) His or her action or conduct has undermined or compromised or could undermine or compromise the public confidence in his/her ability to discharge the responsibilities or trust that is placed in him or her. (c) His or her action leads or could lead to the possibility or personal financial benefits or gains.”
The CDC Chairman further said that the Boakai administration also violated PFM Law by concealing the source of funds for purchase of ‘the much publicized 285 yellow machines.
The Unity Party-led government recently paraded with a batch of the 285 pieces of heavy-duty trucks and earth-moving equipment from the Freeport of Monrovia to the BTC Barracks.
The equipment was brought into the country under a murky agreement with South African billionaire Robert Gumede.
However, the former Comptroller General of the Republic of Liberia said, apart from government’s violation of laws to purchase those earth-moving equipment, the unlawful removal of people tenure positions from their respective post, clearly indicates that the prosperous future Liberians envisioned before voting the Boakai-Koung ticket in 2023, is far from reality.
“If this government will proceed rightly, you will see it from the last six months’ action in leadership of the state. Every law of the land is being violated just to satisfy the president, which puts the future of the country at risk.
People with tenure positions were kicked out of offices because they didn’t support the UP and its alliance during the elections. Good government doesn’t run on this poor path,” Kowo asserted.
