Bentol City – The National Youth Movement for Transparent Elections (NAYMOTE) has intensified its President Meter project aimed at tracking President George Weah’s campaign promises.
Report by Gerald C. Koinyeneh, [email protected]
At a town hall meeting in Bentol on Saturday, September 8, NAYMOTE’s Program Officer, Joshua D. Cleon told the gathering that the President Meter project is expected to increase accountability of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) led government on its electoral campaign promises; increase advocacy for better governance and provide space for citizens’ participation in the debate on public policies.
During the project period, Cleon said NAYMOTE will hold series of town hall meetings to share update on promises documented, produce citizen report cards on the government’s performance, conduct national stakeholder dialogues on the status of the campaign promises have been achieved, ongoing and not started.
In addition, he outlined that the institution will develop policy briefs to be shared through various media outlets and with various stakeholders.
“The institution will collect, compile, analyze and release quarterly report on the status of campaign promises documented,” he said.
As part of the project, he mentioned that NAYMOTE has reproduced 800 copies of the CDC Party’s Manifesto, which is being distributed across the country to help citizens understand what was promised during the elections.
He furthered that NAYMOTE has also produced a drama series titled, “We Voted, So What?”, which is being aired across Bong, Margibi, Lofa, and Nimba Counties, educating citizens on the CDC Party’s Manifesto and the institution has erected 15 signboards about key cities to create awareness about the project and promises and also engaging the media: social media and community radio stations.
According to him, the institution has identified and quantified 66 promises from the CDC’s manifesto and 20 promises from speeches and other sources made by the President after his induction.
Speaking earlier, Liberia’s Peace Ambassador, Rev. William R. Tolbert III indicated that the ‘President Meter’ is a unique platform that afford citizens the opportunity to sit together at community level to constructively discuss issues affecting them and put forth their recommendations that will help drive national development.
Ambassador Tolbert thanked OSIWA and NAYMOTE for the project and called on citizens to use make use of the platform for their voices to be heard.
“Today is an opportunity for us to dialogue and to see to what extent progress is being made. It’s good to know that we can now constructively engaged at community level, and then put forward our findings and recommendations through NAYMOTE to government and international partners,” He averred.
Meanwhile, during the forum, the residents welcomed the President’s promises but voiced out their concerns over the implementation of some of these promises, as there is no time frame attached to them.
Commenting on the key promises in the CDC’s manifestos, the residents called on the President to fulfil his promises, especially towards upgrading the educational sector.
The residents, through the Vice Principal of the Euphemia Barclay Elementary School, Samuel Coker said since school reopened for academic 2018/2019, the administration has not received basic instructional materials from the Ministry of Education; something he said is impeding the smooth operation of the school.
He lamented that the school also lacks seating capacity for students and as a result, students are compelled to sit on the floor or blocks to learn.
The CDC in its manifestos, among other things, promised to “double efforts and resources to reinforce and implement the current national compulsory free education policy and Act; revamp the national scholarship program for effectiveness and relevance for development; reintroduce and expand the school feeding program in public schools and absorb the West African Examination Council (WAEC) fees for all students sitting the exams.
The party also pledged to “provide adequate support and special attention to vulnerable students with a history of misconduct, learning and physical disabilities and their families to reduce and remove barriers to their full participation in the learning process, and review and reform school curriculum to address 21st century development and labor market needs with emphasis on science, technology, engineering, mathematics, language skills, and English competence.