Monrovia – The political leader of the opposition Movement for Progressive Change (MPC), Simeon Freeman, has blasted the members of opposition community for being insincere to the people of Liberia.
Report by Edwin G. Genoway, Jr., [email protected]
Freeman describes some members of the opposition community as “hypocrites” who only seek their own and use the poor people to accomplish their selfish goals.
“They are all hypocrites and cannot be trusted, these same people danced and wined with the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the past when they all were having share in the country resources,” he alleged.
“But now they have the guts to speak because the current regime does not give them the opportunities Ellen gave them in the past.”
He said his party stands ready to expose any individual – be it from the opposition or from the ruling establishment. According to him, the MPC has Liberia as its first agenda unlike other opposition parties.
“We will not shy away from whoever does wrong; we will say it as it is, we were never silent during the time of Madam Sirleaf and we are not silent during this period,” he said.
Freeman is concerned about the “hypocrisy and criticism” being carried out by some members of the opposition that were “extremely mute” during the Johnson-Sirleaf’s regime.
“We cannot be silent if an opposition guy urinates on the road; we must say it if the opposition does wrong and we should also say it if government does wrong as well,” he said.
He said due to the alleged missing L$16 billion, Liberians were mobilized and put in the streets to protest when it was clearly proven that no money was missing.
Freeman said all of what was being said about the printing of the money happened during the past regime.
“All the parties that are making the noise around here were still around when oldman Joe Boakai was Vice President; when the ANC was mute and when the Liberty Party was a regime collaborator, they all did not say a word,” he said.
The only reason members of the opposition, particularly the Alternative National Congress (ANC) and the Liberty Party (LP) are now speaking is because those parties do not have a space in the current George Weah government, he said.
He continued: “All of them were regime collaborators, including the ANC and the Liberty Party, they all were around during the Ellen’s administration [when] excess money was printed but they did not see it as a problem but months in the George Weah administration they found it prudent in order to find some forms of political equity, capital relevance, and substance to put thousands of people on the streets asking George Weah and his government to investigate LD$16 billion when in fact they printed the total of LD$15.5billion this is hypocrisy”.
He wonders why members of political parties that were “in bed” with the former regime have now turned to spokespersons for the people of Liberia.
“All the parties that are making the noise around here were still around when old man Joe Boakai was Vice President; when the ANC was mute and when the Liberty Party was a regime collaborator, they all did not say a word.”
– Simeon Freeman, Political Leader, Movement for Progressive Change
“Out of a sudden because ANC and the Liberty Party are no longer in power and have no access to resources so they have now become speakers for the people of Liberia that are suffering but West Point existed in 2017, so also with Clara Town, so also with Doe Community, so also with all of the slums community around here where people are suffering, too many things happened under Ellen that they spoke nothing about,” he said.
He described as “childish”, calls for the resignation of Finance Minister Samuel Tweah and Minister State Nathaniel McGill during protests.
“When we engaged Ellen government, we engaged them based on policy and substances, we did not say to Ellen fired Amara Konneh or fired Augustine Ngafuan, these are childish things because the Constitution gives the president the right to appoint whoever he wants, that’s why they go to the Senate for confirmation, those kind of requests were nonsensical and it didn’t make any sense at all.”
Reacting to Freeman’s allegation against opposition political parties, the Secretary General of the ANC, Aloysius Toe, said the comment is “unfortunate and has no basis as a politician”.
“The comment made by Simeon Freeman that the ANC is a hypocrite is quite unfortunate and the ANC has in no time being in bed with the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf regime,” Toe said.
“We challenge Simeon Freeman to produce facts that the ANC ever went to bed with the Jonson-Sirleaf’s administration.”
Toe told FrontPageAfrica via mobile phone on Sunday June 14, that the ANC’s current critical stance on issues has no motive but to address national issues.
“Our current critical stance with the Weah administration is not that we expected anything; we in the ANC are educated and our position on issues are real and don’t have any motive,” he said.
For her part, the political leader of the Liberty Party, Senator Nyonblee Kangar Lawrence of Grand Bassa County failed to comment or respond to Freeman’s on ground that her party has a structure, adding that she was not the appropriate person to speak on such issue.
The Grand Bassa County Senator, however, promised to put FrontPageAfrica in touch with the appropriate person to respond but failed to do so up to press time.