Monrovia – Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor has called for a holistic approach from those handling the ‘missing 16 billion’ reports submitted by the Presidential Investigation Team (PIT) and Kroll.
Report by Bettie K. Johnson-Mbayo, [email protected]
The Vice President spoke Thursday, March 7, when she visited the More Than Me Academy to celebrate March 8 International Women’s Day.
Madam Howard-Taylor reaffirmed the call by President Weah that all names in the reports will be prosecuted.
She furthered that those named in the reports should be penalized on grounds that the money is for the Liberian people.
“It is on us now as a government to ensure that the legal processes go through in a free, fair and transparent manner and that it is holistic because this is money that belongs to the Liberian people. As the President has said whoever is responsible will face the full weight of the law.”
She continued, “So we hope that this will be a holistic approach and that those responsible at whatever levels will have a day in court.”
At the More Than Me Academy, students sat attentively as Madam Howard-Taylor inspired them through with her life story.
She urged students to be humble and avoid sex while in school.
“You all can be the next President, or Vice President, next Ministers of Health or Justice; say I am a girl, not a bride,” she told the students, who are in an all-girl school.
Vice President Howard-Taylor said students should inform men to give them an education and not an ejaculation.
“We must now focus on how we can use our innovation to improve our lives,” she says.
More than Me Academy was months back ordered close by citizens on grounds that the administrators failed to put in sexual policy.
But the Vice President said her concern was how the girls will be maintained and have a safe space to interact.
“All I wanted is to keep the school open because if the school is closed, the responsibility of the parents will increase,” she said.
Madam Howard-Taylor urged the students to be the first to explain if there is anything about abuse.
She said the visit is to celebrate with the students so as to increase equity.
Students received bags, sanitary pads, and a Bible, a gift she said came from the Christian Aid Ministry (CAM).
On the celebration of International Women’s Day, the Vice President said, it is time to act and avoid too many programs.
She disclosed that a program working with boys, will be taken to schools where clubs will be established to safeguard girls in society.
“We must begin to act; there are a lot of talks and there are a lot of programs. We hold and when these programs end, then what, we must begin to act on what we say.” She continued, “We have a straight law on rape but the issue is not going down. We must begin to talk to our young men. Because the issue of prevalence of rape on other girl is serious and we must do new things to tackle it.”