Tweah  Regrets

17

– for grading Weah over Ellen 

Several  Citizens including callers and social media bloggers gave contrary views to  the Liberian  Finance    and Economic Planning Minister, Samuel D. Tweah, Jr.  for grading  Weah’s  regime over the former President Ellen Johnson Administration on the State-own Radio ELBC 99.9.

During his appearance on  RLBC alongside the Maritime Authority Commissioner, Lenn Eugene Nagbe early this  week, Tweah characterized  Johnson Sirleaf regime as a “balloon economy”, claimed that “no real money was in Liberia” at that time and said their regime has moved over million from poverty. 

The two of the top executives of the Weah’s government put the total number of roads constructed by their  government at 1,374 KM as the highest constructed road  by any regime in the history of Liberia.

The duo who were interviewed by a cross-session of some Liberian journalists with the broadcast being relayed by several radio stations across the country  boasted that the Government of Liberia under the leadership of President George Weah has taken more people out of poverty than Ellen’s  12 year rule.  

Their  interview was intended to disestablish or dispel wild-spread rumors and misinformation being allegedly  spread by members of the opposition bloc and political pundits that the government of Liberia headed by president Weah is ‘not doing anything for the Liberian people’, and to establish the fact that despite the pitfalls in the government, the current regime of President Weah have brought more development than any of  Weah predecessors since the founding of the Country 

in 1847.

After several callers differed with Minister Tweah’s assertion that the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) government of  Weah had lift millions of Liberians out of  poverty, the Minister in an amazing admission, acknowledged the government’s failure to considerably reduce poverty as envisioned in the administration’s Pro-poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development.

Tweah however blamed the coronavirus pandemic, global financial and geo-political crises for the Weah government falling short of its goals and not as a result of any policy failure on the part of Weah to aggressively fight corruption and wasteful spending, which remain the big threats to Liberia’s social and economic development.

“The effects of these obstacles placed a significant strain on our economy, limiting the government’s ability to provide fundamental infrastructure.

“When President Weah took over the country, he inherited two million people living in extreme poverty,” the Minister said without providing any evidence to back his claim.  “He Weah pledged in his PAPD to take about a million people out of poverty, that was the ambition of the PAPD. In the first year of his regime, 27 thousand people were taken out of poverty.”

Tweah’s admission comes as poverty in Liberia has been on the increase, with about 50% of the country’s estimated 5.4 million people being poor.

The increase, according to the World Bank Kickoff in 2018, wiped out nearly half of the gains made post conflict, during which the poverty rate declined from 64 percent to 42 percent between 2007 and 2014.

Extreme poverty is high as 2.3 million Liberians are unable to meet their basic food and non-food needs, with poverty being higher in rural areas, home to 71.7 percent of the poor, World Bank data shows.

The Weah PAPD Agenda was launched in 2018 and intended to be the government’s first step in addressing the country’s drastic poverty levels with  the plan focusing  on four main pillars: Power to the People, Economy, and Jobs, Sustaining Peace and Governance, and Transparency.

Under the “Power to the People” pillar, the government pledged to empower Liberians with tools to gain control of their lives through more equitable provision of education, health, youth development, and social protection opportunities.

As for the “Economy and Jobs” pillar, the government promised economic stability and job creation through effective resource mobilization and prudent management of economic inclusion. Under pillar three, which deals with “Sustaining the Peace,” the government vowed to promote a cohesive society for sustainable development.

Under the “Governance and Transparency” pillar, Weah assured Liberians of an inclusive and accountable public sector for shared prosperity and sustainable development.

The Weah administration, according to analysts, failed to achieve much of its agenda as it was overly ambitious. Critics say serious considerations were not given to cogent issues such as lack of resources, institutional capacity, corruption, and the general difficulties of rebuilding a country affected by decades of war and instability.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic may have played a role, analysts believe that the Weah administration could have made tremendous progress if serious attention had been given to corruption, which remains the main obstacle to the development of Liberia.

Without tackling corruption, the Weah government struggles to attract the necessary investment and support needed to build strong institutions and achieve sustainable development.

Liberia, as a result of severe corruption, is ranked as one of the countries that are yet to make significant progress in the fight against corruption, according to Transparency International in its 2022 corruption perceptions index.

The index paints a picture of endemic corruption and ranks Liberia 142 out of 180 countries.  The ranking, according to CENTAL, indicates that Liberia is among the worst declining countries globally in the fight against corruption.

CENTAL is the national chapter of Transparency International, and its data shows that, with the exception of Saint Lucia, Liberia has fallen 15 points since 2012.

Also, in West Africa and the Mano River Union, Liberia is the only country that has declined by six points over the last five years, it says. Since 2012, when Liberia attained its highest score of 41 on the Transparency International Corruption Index, the country has been in free-fall – topping the list of countries with stagnated and declining anti-corruption efforts, CENTAL noted.

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