The Political Leader of the main opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) and former President George M. Weah has disclosed that the party will resist any attempt from President Joseph Nyuma Boakai intended to weaponize the country’s judicial system to his selfish advantage.
Addressing a news conference on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, Weah said the Unity Party (UP) can be assured that CDC will use all legal and political means at its disposal to resist such moves.
According to him, the action by President Boakai’s government on Monday, July 29, 2024, to have arrested four former members of the National Security Council including Samuel Tweah, Nyanti Tuan, Moses P. Cooper and Jefferson Karmoh, and suspension of Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) Governor J. Aloysius Tarlue, shows that the President is not a respecter of the rule of law and was in violation of the act creating said institution.
The CDC Political Leader said UP in the execution of its evil plans, choose to ignore legal and constitutional reliance, available evidence, and pursue reckless measures, reminding the UP that these antics have only brought about disorder and confusion in Liberia’s recent history.
He said the National Security Laws of the country plainly stipulate the measures that must be taken to safeguard public order and in a post-conflict nation such as Liberia. “Intelligence gathering and operations have always been of prime concern and pre-eminence, requiring authorities to exert extra efforts and resources to preserve peace and security,” he said.
Weah said the CDC-led government remains proud of its record of preserving the peace, security and welfare of the country even during the raging Covid-19 pandemic and other times when the security of the state was at stake.
“I am also deeply proud of my record as President, particularly my unwavering respect for the rule of law and my relentless fight against corruption. You may recall that during my presidency, we advanced the fight against corruption on many fronts, including granting the Liberian Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) direct prosecutorial powers, which is critical to the fight against corruption. To sustain and further advance this fight, we should not allow anyone to erode gains we have made,” Weah emphasized.
The former Liberian President said to utilize its new powers to fight corruption effectively, the LACC must treat all audit reports from the General Auditing Commission (GAC) equally without cherry-picking, to ensure fairness and transparency.
Commenting on previous audit reports by the GAC, Weah said skipping previous GAC audit reports and cherry-picking to target only officials of his administration undermines the fight against corruption, and the Liberian people must see such a move as a weaponization of the LACC to witch-hunt officials of my administration.
“Sadly, it seems that the Boakai administration is interpreting our commitment to the peace and stability of our country as a weakness, and therefore keen on disturbing the peace by weaponizing key government functionaries to witch-hunt officials of the past government,” he noted.
He accused the UP administration of wanting to exploit Liberia’s legal system and risk fomenting chaos adding, “And this tells Liberians what extent some politicians are willing to go just to maintain power. This is exactly the path that the CDC sought not to tread when it maintained the stability of the country against all odds, while spearheading a peaceful transition of power to President Boakai in spite of a hard-fought and close election.”
Weah pointed out that these political detentions have, however, shown the lack of foresight and total disregard on the part of Boakai and his confidantes, caring less about the consequences of their actions, insofar as it serves their narrow political interests.
This latest move, according to Weah, is intended to divert public attention from the lingering economic crisis the nation faces and the uncovering of government’s use of public funds from the Central Bank to bailout a private bank which the Unity Party used to finance its election campaign.
He said it comes against several instances of disregard of the country’s procurement laws thereby committing the country to hundreds of millions of dollars and the daylight robbery of US$22 million under the guise of road rehabilitation, among other glaring acts of corruption.
“Suddenly, officials who once gained notoriety for public theft now want us to believe they have transformed into referees of good-governance,” Weah said.
Weah said CDC will be briefing its partisans in the coming days during a series of mass meetings about the dangerous games of witch-hunt by the UP and called on other members of the opposition to join them in this fight to preserve the political system.
The CDC Political Leader said he will continue to engage with ECOWAS leaders, whose countries have given blood and tears to the attainment and sustenance of peace and security in Liberia, while notifying other international partners of this plan by the UP to capture the political system in its favor.
