So, you’re fast enough to “suspend” Assistant Information Minister Matthew Nyanplu for exposing the Nekotech scam, but you cannot even chastise your Foreign Minister who brought your government to public disrepute when she apparently fronted for a group of Ghanaian fraudsters.
By Molley Passewe, contributing writer
Moreover, you’re fast enough to pressure your Commerce Minister Amin Modad to resign over the US$90,000 vehicle-gate, but you’re shielding the LRA boss who bought the vehicle for Modad in a shady deal that breached the public procurement laws of the country. Yes Kehkeh Boakai, at the same Commerce Ministry, your Inspector General Dorr Cooper went and wore full University of Liberia graduation regalia with the expectation of receiving a diploma for which he never sat in class. After the University-empaneled investigation found Dorr Cooper culpable of academic fraud and recommended his suspension and investigation, you are still keeping him as Inspector General apparently because he hails from vote-rich Nimba County, so you wouldn’t want to jeopardize your party’s political future in 2029. Kehkeh Boakai, what example does your inaction indicate to my three daughters that are attending Universities here? That they are just wasting their time and my hard-earned money obtaining tertiary education in a country that doesn’t value or promote meritocracy?
At the Ministry of Public Works, your two most senior officials were fighting over kickbacks from the US22 million allotted for roads rehabilitation in the Southeast. Up till today, that money has yet to be accounted for, while the Southeast remains impassable, and the ministers still enjoy your confidence. No investigation. Nada.
Kehkeh Boakai, you have a Minister of State who cannot account for thousands of United States dollars’ worth of vehicles that he surreptitiously got from NASSCORP during the transitional period. What about the US$600K inauguration funds that were mismanaged in such a way that international guests became witness to the worst historical inauguration spectacle Liberia has ever experienced?
Not to even mention the head of your telecommunications authority who is embroiled in a GAC audit because of unaccounted funds.
The yellow machine fiasco, the rundown buses from Ghana and a plethora of many other scandals make George Weah’s government look like a Cinderella story compared to the Rescue Mission.
No wonder why conscientious young folks like Matthew Nyanplu have decided, enough is enough, and opted to tell the town chief that he is parading the village without bombor.
Many Liberians like myself joined the Rescue Mission from 2017 to 2023, really believing in your forthrightness to bring about the much-needed change that eluded this nation when a group of non-commissioned officers stormed the Executive Mansion on April 12, 1980, disemboweled President William R. Tolbert, and ended a century-old oligarchy. But sadly enough, since the killing of Tolbert and a horde of his cabinet, Liberia has never fared well under our own indigenous rule, as every successive government germinates its own litany of anti-democratic postures – from Samuel Doe, Charles Taylor, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, and now, you who we sincerely believed would have broken the bad governance jinx, have followed suit.
Kehkeh Boakai, I am bringing up the past because therein we can garner lessons learned and forge ahead for national development. Repeating the mistakes of the past will only lead us down the ugly road of civil misrule and chaos.
The frustration of Assistant Minister Matthew Nyanplu over the missteps of this government amplifies what the ordinary Liberian feels, especially those who risked life, limb and resources to propel the Rescue Train to state power.
And the most frustrating part is that those citizens who openly supported the Rescue Mission during the heated campaign seasons cannot open their mouths to criticize this administration openly because of the barraging rebuke they would receive from the other camps.
Matthew Nyanplu spoke for all Liberians, especially those that voted your government into power, Kehkeh Boakai. With the exception of your handful of fair-weather praise singers who will abandon you when the Rescue Train engine becomes damaged from excessive misuse, Matthew Nyanplu spoke for all of us.
The comments expressed here are those of author and do not represent the views of FrontPageAfrica.
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