COLLABORATIING POLITICAL PARTIES ANNOUNCES MAJOR RALLY AGAINST THE “DON’T CARE” ATTITUDE BEING SHOWN BY PRESIDENT GEORGE MANNEH WEAH AND HIS GOVERNMENT AGAINST HARDSHIP, SOCIETAL ILLS CONFRONTING THE MASSES
‘WE ARE TIRED SUFFERING’
“We are tired suffering is a cry for President George Manneh Weah and his administration to be more accountable and stop being wasteful, deceptive and corrupt.
— Lewis Browne, Chairman, Team Cummings for 2023
Monrovia – The new Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) has vowed to rally Liberians on December 17 to compel the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) led government of President George Manneh Weah to be accountable to the citizenry and desist from being wasteful, deceptive and corrupt.
The new CPP comprises of the Alternative National Congress and the Musa Bility faction of the Liberty Party (LP).
By: Obediah Johnson
The CPP, through the Chairman of Team Cummings, Lewis Brown, disclosed that President Weah continues to “insult the intelligence of Liberians’ and exhibit a high degree of “don’t care attitude” by abandoning the entire country and citizens to witness soccer matches at the ongoing World Cup in Qatar.
Mr. Brown served as former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Information and Liberia Representative to the United Nations under the administrations of former and current Presidents Charles Ghankay Taylor, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and George Manneh Weah.
It can be recalled that on October 31, President Weah departed the country for Morocco and Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt to attend the MEDays Forum and COP27 respectively.
On November 9, he departed Egypt and arrived in Paris, France to attend the 5th Edition of the Paris Peace Forum which serves as a platform upon which state and non-state actors engage in transnational cooperation for collective action.
He’s currently in Qatar for two weeks to witness his son Timothy Weah, who received a call up to the senior national team of the United States of America, features in the World Cup.
President Weah extended his trip abroad by additional 25 days. The notice of the extension was contained in a letter he dispatched to the Liberian Senate on Tuesday, 18 November.
A dispatch from Doha, Qatar, where the president is Guest of Honor of the Fifa World Cup, noted that the president will not be returning home until 18 December.
But speaking at a news conference held in Monrovia on Thursday, December 1, Mr. Brown observed that President Weah is using his stay in Qatar to only care for himself and satisfy his celebrity lifestyle.
He stated that the President continues to do so without caring about how his desire as a celebrity is affecting ordinary and poor Liberian taxpayers.
“All over this country, in every village and town, across every region and community, from mosques to churches, from markets to schools from prisons to hospitals, across all political parties, ministries, agencies and institutions of the government, no Liberian need me to tell them that things are bad and only getting worse. Sadly, President Weah and few of his officials who are overseeing and benefiting from the downfall of our country, either do not understand this or simply do not care.”
He observed that the Liberian leader and his officials are merrymaking at a time vast majority of the citizenry are hopeless in their own country.
He described the move by the President as a “national and international embarrassment.”
“President Weah continues to insult the intelligence of the Liberian people with lies and deception. The shameful truth is that President Weah and some of his officials are on safari and having a good time. I wouldn’t be complaining, except that they are doing it at the expense of the suffering Liberian people. While they are jolly jollying, many Liberians are becoming increasingly hopeless.”
Mr. Brown noted that the heartlessness of the President and his officials is “wicked and intolerable.”
JFK not for rich government officials
He observed that five years since the ascendancy of the CDC led government, the largest referral hospital remains “for drivers and securities”, while hospitals overseas only provide treatment for government officials who failed to properly equip and provide what is needed for the JFK.
His comments were in sharp reaction to the flying of Finance and Development Planning Minister Samuel Tweah and his wife out of Liberia to Turkey for advance medical treatment shortly after they were involved in a tragic motor accident while on their way to Monrovia from Lofa.
The security guard and driver assigned to Minister Tweah were reportedly treated at the JFK.
But Mr. Brown claimed that the shouldering of medical bills of government officials is being done at the expense of poor Liberian taxpayers who cannot afford to go to the hospital to seek medical attention, as those facilities that have not been upgraded to meet international standards.
“A town in Nimba County is still grieving as we speak and could not find the body of an eight week old baby who drowned along with seven other Liberians when they canoe capsized while they were headed to their farm just about the same time our President was boarding a private jet, paid for by those who bodies we may not be able to find, flying up to the world cup to see and celebrate his son playing for another country.”
Mr. Brown maintained that many Liberians are going to bed on empty stomach, while parents cannot also afford to pay the fees of their children attending schools and universities in the country.
He emphasized that the harsh constraints and difficulties in the nation have forced many qualified people to “beg” because of the lack of jobs.
“Those who are lucky to be working cannot pay hospital bills and cannot care for their families because their pay is wickedly harmonized. Most than five years after President Weah took over the leadership of our country and promised ‘change for hope’ for many Liberians, the only change has been one from hope to hopeless as dreams are failing, prisons are overcrowded with young people, mysterious deaths and murders are leaving grieving families with no closure for deceased loved ones.”
Mr. Brown observed that the cost of living is rising in the post-conflict nation, while income continues to fall, and lawlessness and insecurity remain the order of the day.”
He noted that slum communities are even more economically depressed, more than ever before, while rising the homes of those around the coastal belts are threatened as a result of rising tides, with the government sitting and doing nothing.
“Da God manning us”
“The common greeting today reads through for more Liberians when they say, ‘da God manning us”. The government is absent, and the President is nowhere to be found.”
He said the worsening living conditions of the masses remain visible as compare to any other administrations in the history of the country.
Corruption
Mr. Brown added that the Weah led administration is more corrupt, abusive of power, and increasingly desperate to lead by threats of violence, fear and intimidation of perceived opponents and other Liberians.
“By his bad examples, President Weah himself has invited his administration to be indiscipline, deceptive, and wasteful of the country’s resources. The hard truth is that
President Weah is unfit to lead; he was never a leader and will never be a leader and his one term presidency is a failed one.”
He said Liberia and its citizens continue to be embarrassed due to the manner and form in which President Weah is steering the affairs of the nation.
He observed that things are moving from bad to worse under the CDC led administration, and mockery is being made of the citizens.
Mr. Brown noted that despite these tough times in the society, the Liberian leaders and few of his officials continue to benefit from the backwardness of the nation.
Living in pretense
He observed that President Weah is living in “pretenses ranging from a Pastor to a musician”, during everything except being President of a country, a duty he was elected to perform.”
“As President Weah lives in his urban of pretenses, pretending to be from a musician to a Pastor, nothing seems to be working in the country. Systems of democratic governance are all breaking down and sycophancy has replaced competency.”
He said as Liberians are divided, President Weah continues to live in his “make-believe world”, noting that, the country is like an “airplane that is on autopilot-flying by itself and worse, all of its mechanic devices are malfunctioning.”
The rally
Mr. Brown disclosed that as a result of the growing wave of societal ills, hardship and sufferings in Liberia, the CPP will rally citizens, especially those who are experiencing extreme suffering, hardship and poverty, to speak out at its planned event in the country.
He pointed out that the rally is not for those in the government and other sectors who are not suffering.
He said the CPP has duly informed the government and made payment to the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the usage of the outdoor facilities at the Samuel Kanyan Doe Sports Complex in Paynesville on December 17.
“We will offer the Liberian people the chance to peacefully speak out. It is a democratic and constitutional guarantee that they be afforded the chance to do so even if to an unresponsive and deaf government. This government cannot hear; we will now have to believe that they cannot see.”
He added that the rally, which is dubbed, “WE TIRED SUFFERING’’ will comprise of citizens from all other political parties, and it has no secret undertone as being perceived by some officials of the ruling party.
“We will go to the rally, and we expect it to be peaceful. This rally of Liberians will bring together political parties, groups and individuals from all walks and stations of life. It is seeking an expression for the suffering people of Liberia.”
Mr. Brown emphasized that the rally is a plea for President Weah’s “failed, wasteful and disappointing administration to care for the Liberian people and care about what ordinary Liberians are living, going through and feeling every day.”
“WE TIRED SUFFERING is a cry for President Weah and his administration to be more accountable and stop being wasteful, deceptive and corrupt. It is a patriotic call to fix the John F. Kennedy Medical Hospital so that ministers, drivers, securities and all Liberians, who cannot afford to be flown out of the country at the expense of the government, too can go there and be treated because; every Liberia life is important and matters to our country.”
He pointed out that the rally will put a halt to the “wicked slashing” of civil servants’ salaries, while the President wastes taxpayers’ money “with jolly jolly, going everywhere even when he’s not invited.”
He said the rally is a responsive move by the opposition to give some level of hope to Liberians.
“We tired suffering is to call on the administration to do their jobs to serve the Liberian people and not themselves. Liberians are tired suffering. We hear echoes of this everywhere and we have a duty to help them peacefully express this to the government. And make no mistake; you will not frighten or intimidate the people of Liberia from expressing themselves. I dare and defy you. On December 17, the people from across Montserrado will stand up. People are in the streets begging just for food for the day; you think you can frighten us? We will be there, and we invite workers of the government who are tired suffering.”
Mr. Brown further warned that the CPP will not tolerate any counter-rally like the one that transpired between supporters of the ruling party and students at the University of Liberia on July 26.
He, however, assured that the CPP will protect the peace, stability and democracy of Liberia.
“Those who are threatening the peace are those who we gave the mantle of authority to lead us and safeguard and protect the peace-President Weah and his administration. This man takes taxpayers’ monies, go to Qatar watching soccer matches. I think the people there are even tire with him.”
He said the CPP and the opposition community in general remain the “custodians” of the peace and stability of the nation, and as such, the group will do nothing to derail the hard-earned peace and tranquility during the rally.