Monrovia – The Institute for Research and Democratic Development (IREDD) has called on President George Weah to relieve Finance Minister Samuel Tweh of his position for “undermining” the ongoing investigation of the “missing billions”.
Report by Henry Karmo, [email protected]
IREDD, during a Press conference during the weekend, said, “it is deeply troubled and concerned” by the statement issued by the Government of Liberia through its information Minister, Len Eugene Nagbe on September 18, 2018 on the Voice of America (VOA) concerning the missing L$15 Billion Liberian Dollars.
“Not only this revelation [is] a grave concern, and tantamount to labeling Liberia as a rogue nation, we are baffled by the huge degree of information contradictions coming from the Minister of Finance, Hon. Samuel D. Tweah, former Central Bank Governor, Milton Weeks denying Minister Nagbe’s earlier claim,” the group said.
According to the civil society group, the statement from Finance Minister Tweah undermines the investigation committee set up by the President George Maneh Weah.
“We believe that Minister Tweah’s statement is a clever attempt to throw dust in the eyes of Liberians and have us blindfolded.
“If the Minister of Finance who manages the fiscal policy of our economy can categorically debunk the previous admittance made on the Voice of America by the Information Minister Len Eugene Nagbe that billions brought into the country vanished in thin air in the absence of concrete outcome from the ongoing investigation, then the Minister of Finance leaves us with no option but to believe that there is a sinister motive to conceal information about the missing billions,” the group said.
Bob Johnson, IREDD Project coordinator, challenged the former CBL governor Milton Weeks to display the resolution that the bank received authorization to print 5 billion and 10 billion respectively from the legislature.
“We also call on the President to relieve Finance Minister Tweah of his position as Minister of Finance on account of undermining the investigation,” IREDD said, while calling for calm asking all citizens to give the government the opportunity to come up with its investigation findings.
IREDD is also cautioning the government for the investigation not to be “Business as Usual”.