MONROVIA – Citizens, partisans, officials of government, and other sympathizers who had gone to mourn along with the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Nathaniel McGill, has he lay his mother to rest on Thursday, stood in awe when they saw her burial tomb. It was amazingly spectacular.
Ma Watta Varmah’s tomb is situated in a state-of-the-art building with electricity built in a secluded compound and a fenced plot of land near the Adventist University of West Africa along the Roberts field highway.
From the onset, many were marveled by the gold-polished casket and thought they had seen enough, not until they got to the burial site. “This is a complete luxury for the dead,” a sympathizer was heard saying.
The lavishness of the tomb has raised several concerns and debates on social media, especially Facebook, where many have questioned the source of funding for such ‘luxury for the dead’.
However, Minister McGill says the site was constructed for his mother by his friend.
Cellphones and cameras were not allowed into the tomb building.
This display of wealth comes just a fortnight after the youths the party had expressed dismay over the action of Assistant Minister J. Emmanuel Potter who bought his wife an Audi Q7 and popped champagne on it to wish her a happy birthday on social media
They described his action as anti-pro-poor and called for his investigation, owing to the belief that he could not have afforded such a vehicle prior to his ascendency to the position.
Speaking to journalists at the CDC Headquarters in Congo Town over the weekend, Newland said the Youth League does not have any interest in how the minister spends his salary but wants to remind him that the CDC’s government is a government that is intended to uplift the lives of the ordinary masses, which, according to him, is the essence of the Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development.
The late Ma-Watta has other children serving the Weah-led government in high positions. They include her daughter Rebecca McGill, Deputy Finance Minister at the Minister of Finance and her son Zinnah Norman Mayor of the City of Bopolu City, Gbarpolu County.
Comments on Facebook
Nurminee Walker: Are some of these decisions thought through thoroughly? What is it with govt jobs in Liberia and the largess that comes with it? Folks act and behave like nobody knew them before they got these positions? Why call all this attention to yourself? Why?
Nurminee Walker: This is insane. What exactly is he trying to communicate? This is a guy who could not afford to buy a used car few years ago.
And I agree. That’s why they are willing to go to any length to protect this lifestyle. It’s not easy to remove a person from a position of opulence in this case. The future looks challenging….To get these “monkeys” to put down that banana will not be easy…
Genevieve Holmes: Liberians are living in slops while the minister buried his mother in a newly constructed building. Only God knows how much that cost.
Hon Bobby Benito: So, because of the poverty rates in the country, someone shouldn’t give their mother a honor buried, mother love and blessing is the best gift any living human beings can get, even myself I could have done the same.
Angacee OA Dualu: life is for the living. Your private money in your private capacity? Fine! Controlling state resources with constant refusals for transparency? No. Get it? I doubt it given that you’re driven by what Liberians call “Dey man looking for it.”
Morris Grear Sr.: Seriously? This man that couldn’t avoid a house rent 3 years ago. Liberia people we told your they are all corrupt and heartless, but your voted them to power. How your like it now?
Who was Ma-Watta
Ma-Watta, as she was affectionately called, was born on January 2, 1951 unto the Union of Mr. Varmah Siryon and Madam Sangay Bonnah-Siryon in the city of Gbapolu County, Liberia. At a Teder age, young Watta embraced the Christian faith and became a devout member of the Lutheran denomination.
She was a morally disciplined mother, who brought her children up teaching them the values of morality, decency, Christianity and civilization exerting concrete efforts on their upbringing with an emphasis on reading the bible, focus on education, domestic discipline and good conduct.
The late Ma-Watta will also be remembered for the thoughtful and caring concern she consistently showed her children relative to their health, eating schedules, and even their dress code; in the case of the ladies, she will remind them to style their hair and nails to look responsible and presentable.
During the 2017 general and presidential Elections, the late Ma-watta provided spiritual support, to the now ruling CDC with focus of achieving victory for party, which eventually became a reality. She was an ardent, darling, loyal and sup portative member of the governing Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC).