Monrovia – The newly found political party, the Liberian People Democratic Party (LPDP) has reacted to a Wednesday warning from the cabinet to officials of the Executive threatening action against these officials if they engage in budget manipulations.
In a statement following a cabinet meeting Wednesday, an Executive Mansion release quoted the Cabinet “Cabinet, has carefully reviewed the status updates on key benchmarks in the areas of roads, ports, water & sanitation, education as well as Task Force performance covering agriculture and agro-processing and manufacturing and business support; threatened punitive action against any member of the executive involved in budget manipulation and mandated a vigorous and aggressive Sector Ministers-led Town Hall meeting education and information-dissemination campaigns”.
The statement from cabinet according to Executive Mansion sources was made against the backdrop that Speaker Alex Tyler and LPDP Chairman Moses Kollie are allegedly working to raise money for political campaign for the LPDP in 2017. But reacting to the cabinet statement, Menipakei Dumoe indicated that the statement by cabinet is a confirmation that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf condones corruption.
“The Cabinet statement confirms that the President condones corruption. If she knows ministers are bribing certain lawmakers then she should be prosecuting those persons involved and not simply warning them”.
He noted that the LPDP rejects the assertion describing it as ridiculous.
“The LPDP rejects the ridiculous assertion that our party is being funded with state funds. It is the Unity Party that controls the coffers, it is Ellen’s puppets that are in charge of the Ministry of finance, the CBL and the Liberia Revenue Authority”, said Dumoe.
Challenging Sirleaf
The LPDP Secretary General said the party is challenging the President to name and shame officials of the executive involved in budget manipulations.
“We challenge the President to do her job by naming, shaming and prosecuting those ministers within her cabinet that she claims bribe lawmakers. She has a moral and responsibility to fire her appointees that she is convinced are corrupt”, the LPDP Secretary General added.
According to him the statement by the cabinet is clear proof that Sirleaf is not the “holy anti-corruption warrior”.
He says the cabinet is afraid because the Legislature and the Ways, Means and Finance Committee headed by LPDP Chairman Kollie is working to properly scrutinize the budget.
Stated Dumoe: “At the bottom of all this, they have a deep fear of proper scrutiny. The President knows that the vigilant chairman of the LPDP, Hon. Moses Kollie will not allow her and her ministers to cheat our people.
She knows that LPDP lawmakers are powerful and patriotic and so she is putting out this statement as a way to demonize them.
This budget will be scrutinized and guarded in such ways that protect our people’s coffers from the Sirleaf administration’s goodbye stealing schemes”.