Monrovia – The Chairman of the Legislative Caucus of the former ruling Unity Party (UP), Representative Hanson Kiazolu, has attributed the persistent hardship in the country to leadership deficit at both the Executive and Legislative branches of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) led government of President George Manneh Weah.
Lawmaker Kiazolu is representing the people of Montserrado County’s Electoral District #17 in the 54th National Legislature.
According to him, the lack of adequate leaderships at both the Executive and Legislative branches continue to impose economic constraints and other hardships on the already impoverished Liberian people.
He made these assertions in an exclusive interview with FrontPageAfrica via telephone recently.
Rep. Kiazolu maintained that actions are not taken at the two branches in the interest of the Liberian people because, those heading them lack the ‘technical know-hows’ to make things work for their people.
He claimed that decisions are reached at both branches based upon political maneuvering to please the ruling party, and its standard bearer, Pres. Weah.
The Unity Party’s lawmaker noted that the Executive and Legislative branches have not been able to work or take actions in the interest of the country and its citizens because of the massive level of failures that persist at both branches.
“I am very sure that whatsoever that is happening at the Legislature is the issue of leadership. CDC is head of the Executive and the Legislature and so, you don’t expect things to work perfectly in the interest of the country, because the same failure at the executive is the same failure at the legislature. The same group of people that managing the two are faced with challenges because they do not have the technical know-hows,” he noted.
“To admit, we are in a long haul; it’s bad for our country and our citizens,” he added.
CDC lawmakers on Executive payroll?
As lawmakers from opposition political parties, bulk of whom are ‘new comers’ at the National Legislature continue to express concerns over the delay in the payment of their salaries and benefits, their colleagues from the ruling party continue to aggravate their annoyance by calling them names.
Rep. Solomon George, a stalwart of the ruling CDC, recently told FrontPageAfrica that young lawmakers at the Legislature, particularly the House of Representatives, are eager to get for themselves.
“I noticed that there are too many new comers that do not understand legislative workings. These new guys thought we have a lot of money under the table. And now they are seeing that there is no much money as they thought. They are having second thought-but it’s late. They are in the water with us, and they have to swim,” he stated.
“We are having very young lawmakers right now. For me, they are not bad. The young people here now are too eager. They want to rush the ball game. I see a lot of them want to get what they planned or thought they were going to get. They need to learn,” the CDC lawmaker maintained.
But to Rep. Kiazolu, most CDC lawmakers continue to play mockery of their colleagues from opposition political parties because, they (CDC lawmakers) are allegedly receiving extra salaries from state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that are contributing to the country’s national budget.
“Rep. Solomon George is right to say that because he’s on the secret payroll of the President as lawmaker from CDC. Why [Speaker] Bhofal [Chamber] can’t waive his budget; he’s a member of the CDC. We had to actually attack him before he could reduce his US$29,000 salary to US$21,000. This is sad,” he stated.
Rep. Kiazolu added: “All the CDC lawmakers, I can tell you, they are on secret payrolls. This is not something that we don’t know. We know they can get it; but you know, criminality is always followed by denial. By the time you engage them, they will deny it. All of them are getting US$10,000 per month.”
Reaction
When contacted, Rep. George described the comments made by the UP lawmaker as “jokes”.
He challenged the Montserrado County lawmaker to produce the payroll from the Executive detailing the names of CDC lawmakers receiving extra salaries apart from the ones being received at the Legislature.
Rep. George, however, urged his legislative colleague, Kiazolu to desist from telling ‘lies’ before he falls in trouble with his people.
For his part, Rep. Acarous Gray, Vice Chairman for Political Affairs of the CDC, declined to comment on grounds that he doesn’t want to give credence to allegations.