THE SPEAKER OF THE ECOWAS Parliament, Moustapha Cissé Lô from Senegal couldn’t have said it better when he described the absence and short stay of some Parliament members at session as “betrayal of confidence reposed on us as by the West African populace who are anxiously looking up to us to turn their checkered fortunes”.
REGRETTABLY, THE LEAD of the Liberian delegation, Montserrado County Senator George Weah, was guilty of the charge. And his guilt was brought to the public by his colleague, Senator Prince Y. Johnson.
WEAH WHO HEADS THE LIBERIAN delegation to the Parliament arrived with his team on February 9 for the first extraordinary session for the year 2017. He attended the opening on February 10 and then left for Ghana – rendering his initial presence at the Parliament totally irrelevant. But he left after signing for the allowance that he only should have taken as an attendee of sessions.
WHILE WEAH ENDEAVORS TO attend the region session, what has become disturbing to the body and his colleagues on the delegation is his failure to stay for the entire sessions.
THOUGH WEAH MAY NOT BE the only one found involved in poor representation of his country at the regional level, it is quite disturbing that man who prides himself as a grass root, will abandon the cause of the people to go after personal interest, acting like he’s on official duty.
“HE SHOULD HAVE REMAINED here. There are procedures here; when you come for one week, it’s one week, two weeks, it’s two weeks,” Sen. Johnson told state telephone during a radio interview. Sen. Johnson further disclosed that on the Liberian delegation, it is only Weah who signed for his stipend and left.
YES, HE SHOULD have remained there.
BUT WEAH IN HIS OWN DEFENSE argued that he informed his colleagues about his scheduled meeting with the Ghanaian President for which he had to leave. Weah also tried to cushion himself with a criticism on FrontPageAfrica’s managing editor, Rodney Sieh, saying ““It is sad that they will write such story informing the Liberian public that it is because of me the parliament is making the decision.
“RODNEY ENDED IN JAIL the other day because he did not authenticate his story and what happened. The Liberia 14 years of unrest is because of misinformation to our people and we have grown from that era. We are peaceful and the press needs to be very responsible. We are a team here at ECOWAS, we have done so much and all the things we fight for, some of what Liberia is benefiting from, and I hope they realize our team spirit and don’t try to break our team.”
IT IS QUITE UNDERSTANDABLE that Weah will choose to hide behind childish and unsearched comments to save his face.
POOR ATTENDANCE AT SESSIONS BOTH at home and ECOWAS is no big secret. We still remember that Senator Weah abandoned constitutional responsibilities at the Capitol to watch a football match involving Paris San German in France. He was highly reprimanded by residents of Montserrado County which he represents at the Senate. He also shirked responsibility at the ECOWAS Parliament by requesting Rep. Edwin Snowe to present the country’s report on his behalf – a responsibility he should have performed as head of the delegation.
SENATOR WEAH NEEDS TO RISE to the occasion and prove himself worthy of his membership both the Liberia Legislature and the ECOWAS Parliament.
HIS AMBITION OF BEING LIBERIA’S President would be undeserving until he understands what representation at the level of the Legislature/Parliament means.