Information Minister Jerolinmek M. Piah has called on former President George Weah to give the Government of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai chance to work in executing tasks that the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) failed to do.
Addressing a news conference Thursday, August 1, 2024, Minister Piah said there were over 60 audit reports when former President Weah came to power, but they refused to act upon them.
He said the CDC had the opportunity to take these reports and determine if there were bases for prosecution. Minister Piah said the decision of Mr. Weah on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, to resist the government’s decision to act upon reports from General Auditing Commission (GAC) and Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) by people appointed by him on claims of witch-hunt, sends a terrible message that should not be coming from a former president.
The minister said some of the comments made by the former president lead to several questions including his motive in defending people who are indicted but are yet to be found guilty as the court process is still in progress.
Minster Piah said Weah’s action of defending the indicted ex-officials shows that the CDC was carrying out unlimited industrialized looting of Liberia and the government of President Boakai will investigate all of them.
According to him, Liberia has a long history of not holding people accountable for their excesses, and government after government will always sweep under the carpet issues and concerns of accountability.
“President Boakai promised to hold people accountable for their stewardship and that will be a critical hallmark of his administration. The President did not conduct any special audit but rather respected and decided to use the existing institutions like GAC, LACC and others, and their leadership structures remain the same like it was under former President Weah,” Minister Piah said.
He said LACC and GAC are now given the space and opportunity to do their work without the influence of the President, and the two cases on hand show that they have done great jobs.
Piah wants the former president to encourage his people to cooperate with the investigation.
