Former vice president of Liberia and presidential candidate for the opposition Unity Party, Ambassador Joseph Nyuma Boakai, has criticised President George Weah for his countless trips abroad and mind-boggling corruption, which if not immediately curbed could return the nation to its pre-civil war state.
The former vice president stated that the absence of leadership is currently Liberia's biggest issue during a press conference on Wednesday in Monrovia, the country's capital.
Liberians should be prepared to remove President Weah from office in 2023, according to Ambassador Boakai. According to him, President Weah's corruption and waste are intolerable, and Liberians must put an end to them.
He said, “As I speak to you, President Weah has left the country and will be away for the next seven weeks without any tangible explanation to the Liberian people … it is needless to say that his long stay away from the country with no tangible reason is unprecedented in the history of the Liberian Presidency. Of course, we are aware that President Weah’s presence or absence are the same, but at least with minimum effect on our financial resources.”
Ambassador Boakai said that the Weah government was so corrupt that it was mind-boggling. He used the preparations for the National Housing and Population Census as an example. He said the preparations were full of “controversies, characterized by outright corruption and a lack of well-defined policies.”
“Recently, we witnessed the hauling and pulling in a saga of stealing money intended for the Census by corrupt officials at the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS)”
Even though the Census process has been messed up by gross mismanagement and corruption, the former Vice President urged Liberians to take part in the whole thing, saying, “as participating in the exercise is a patriotic duty.”
The leading candidate for president said that all of the reasons that the Republic’s former leaders and rulers used to justify the wars that killed thousands of innocent people, such as bad governance, corruption, abuse of public office, and failure to hold fair elections, are back in full force.
“Today we are threatened by the same reasons that insurgents used to destroy our country. As responsible citizens, we will not fold our arms and allow an irresponsible Government to invite another crisis to Liberia.”
Ambassador Boakai also complained about the lack of Rice and other staple foods and their rising prices. He also criticized the government for being unable to pay civil servants on time, making it hard for parents to do their jobs at home.
The presidential candidate said this about the Weah government: “Never have we seen such a display of reckless disregard for the concerns of the people of this country. Never have we seen so much display of greed, selfishness, corruption, and irresponsibility at the highest level of government. Never have we seen a President of Liberia become a laughing stock or joke in the world. Never have we lived under a government that brings so much shame and disgrace to our country.”
The leading presidential candidate has urged Liberians to vote out the Weah government in 2023 “so that serious efforts can be made to better Liberia and protect the interest of future generations,” thus putting an end to the country’s retrograde slide into the same old conflicts and crises.
Ambassador Boakai said, “this will be done through the decisive and popular vote of the Liberian people in 2023.”