Reykjavik, Iceland – Liberia’s Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor is speaking out for the first time since the emergence of reported strains with President George Manneh Weah.
In an Instagram post Tuesday, VP Taylor, who is currently attending the Women Political Leaders Global Forum in the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik, said as the first female vice president in Liberia, she chose to accept the tantamount role of standing next to, then the would-be president of the great Republic of Liberia knowing it would not be easy. “It was not a decision I entered into lightly. My agreement was not only with George Manneh Weah but also with and for the people of Liberia,” the Vice President posted.
The support of Taylor’s National Patriotic Party was crucial to President Weah’s victory in the 2017 presidential elections.
Despite lingering concerns from some forces around the presidency that the vice president is harboring a presidential ambition and an open accusation from Rep. James Biney, former head of the party, who is a close confidante to President Weah, VP Taylor says she will continue to support the President.
VP Taylor posted: “I will continue to support him and hold him to his words laid out in the pro-poor agenda for development strategy and for the courage of selecting a female Vice President especially in Africa where women are still marginalized for standing tall and strong. For recognizing my abilities to be his able deputy, President Weah’s choice of a Female Vice President sends a loud message to the world that male champions are here and are playing an active role in closing the gender gap with women in leadership. Encourage our women and girls to be leaders.”
Aides to the Vice President are expressing fears amid concerns that she may be asked to resign upon her return to Monrovia following this week’s forum.
The fears arose in the aftermath of her departure from Monrovia which is said to have drew ire from President Weah.
The VP had reportedly gone to the President’s office to inform him of her travel to Reykjavik, Iceland to participate in the 2018 Women Leaders Global Forum which runs from November 26 to 29 and her travel to Accra, Ghana for an international health conference.
To her surprise, FPA has learned, the VP was kept waiting for nearly two hours before being told by the President’s Chief of Staff, Finda Bondoo that the President was too busy to see her. The VP, according to sources, reportedly left a file detailing her travels with the Chief of Staff and asked her to kindly relay the message to the President. The VP, prior to that visit had reportedly been denied multiple requests to see the President, according to sources.
To the VP’s surprise, FPA has learned, the President reportedly called her while in Accra, ordering her to return home at once, declaring that he had no knowledge of her travel and would face consequences upon her return to the country.
This is the second time in as many days that the VP has posted on Instagram with hints about the ongoing reported strains with President Weah.
In an early cryptic Instagram post at the weekend, the CP channeled former US President Roosevelt, alluding to her current ordeal. Roosevelt in one of his famous speeches on fascism and democracy said: “The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power…. Among us today a concentration of private power without equal in history is growing.”