Monrovia – The relationship between President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and her Vice President Joseph Boakai appear to not be so bad after all.
“Well so it has been in other parties too, there have been defections but let me say that the President and I have a very good relationship. In every relationship there are some disagreements – and at some point in time there have been a few of them – that doesn’t mean the President and I are not working together.”
Vice President Boakai, who recently expressed his frustration over the lack of support for his Presidential bid from the President, in a recent FrontPageAfrica interview, made an about face Monday in an interview with the BBC, although acknowledging there have been some disagreements.
VP Boakai, who was a guest on Focus on Africa Monday, said as in all relationships there are sometimes disagreements but that doesn’t mean in any way that he and the President are not getting along.
Addressing widespread defections within the ruling party which have alluded to suggestions that President Sirleaf was looking outside the party for a successor, other than him, Mr. Boakai said:
“So, it has been in other parties, too, there have been defections but let me say that the President and I have a very good relationship.
In every relationship, there are some disagreements – and at some point in time there have been a few of them – that doesn’t mean the President and I are not working together.
Different Tone
The latest response is a departure from the VP’s response in February when he suggested that his bid for the presidency had been abandoned by the presidency.
Mr. Boakai insinuated that he is of the opinion that his boss, who he holds over three decades of relationship with and has served as her Vice President for the past 11 years, has not been able to build confidence in him as her successor.
Said Boakai at the time: “I know what she’s not doing for the Unity Party, but the people probably know what she’s doing for other parties.
We’re asking her – the Unity Party is her party, it’s the party that would bear her legacy and she ought to be supporting it,” he said.
The VP suggested that things were so bad that Liberians have taken notice.
“I am not the one saying that President Sirleaf fully supports Brumskine. The people are reading the signs and they’re saying that. We live in a society where everybody supposedly is informed about everything that is happening.
So the way we go about things, the people are informed and they interpret your movement, your action, your body language and they say, ‘We see certain things happening.
Whether she’s supporting Brumskine wholly and solely I don’t know. The people who are reading the signs are saying ‘This is what we see.’
They have spoken to it publicly, she has heard it. She has given some reactions, but for me what I know is that so far the President is not supporting Unity Party as she should do.”
The rantings drew a strong response from the President’s office.
The statement read:
“On Friday, February 24, 2017 met for nearly two hours at the Executive Mansion prior to her departure for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Together they reviewed the status of the Unity Party (UP) and appropriate actions needed to be taken to bring back the unity of the party and the momentum required for political victory.
The statement noted: “President Sirleaf is clear that it is not only money but clear and well defined strategies that will lead to victory for the Vice President and the Unity Party. Therefore, the focus of some partisans on money cannot be the magic wand for getting votes.
She urges all with interest in the party to remain focused on the political goals ahead of the party and the Vice President.
President Sirleaf is clear that it is not only money but clear and well defined strategies that will lead to victory for the Vice President and the Unity Party.”
‘She Hasn’t Told Me That’
Speaking to the BBC on Monday, VP Boakai was singing a different tone: “Well, she hasn’t told me that and I believe Mrs. Sirleaf is still supporting me and between she and myself, we always have that understanding so I believe she is.
The Vice President went on to explain and suggest that the main reason why the President has not been vocal in expressing her support for him may due to the fact that she does not want to appear to be campaigning when campaign season has not yet started.
“The way I see it the President wants people to know that it is too early for campaigning and she wants to go on with her job with a few months to go and she has always been afraid that pre-campaign might derail some of the things that she wants to do. I’m off the opinion that between the President and myself she hasn’t told me that.
VP Boakai said campaign has not officially started and that it was still too early.
“We haven’t started campaigning actually, the campaign starts in August. So, what you are hearing around is just awareness with people going around to the communities.”
Mr. Boakai said despite recent defections from the party, he remains hopeful of victory in October.
“There have been people crossing parties long before we even came to this point. That has been the trend in Liberia.”
Added the Vice President: “You have to understand that the reason for which they are crossing but we believe that we have an agenda and probably people may not see their way through but I can tell you there are many more persons that have come to Unity Party that are crossing over.
At some point in time people believe their chances are better elsewhere and they decide to go there.”
On the issue of corruption, the Vice President acknowledged that the President’s recent revelation in her Annual Message was an acknowledgement of some unfinished business.
“What the President was saying in her Annual Message is that there is an unfinished business – the issue of corruption and the issue of reconciliation and that’s why she believes that continuity is the best way to go.”
Mr. Boakai said corruption remains a major issue despite the lapse so far.
“Nobody’s proud of corruption and definitely I’m not and we say yes, there has been corruption and there have been cases that have been dealt with but it is still a very, very major issue in Liberia.”
Asked whether he had been compromised in anyway over the years, VP Boakai confidently replied that he had not.
“I can tell you I’ve worked in many responsible positions and I believe that corruption has not been associated with whatever I have done. I see my country and that country that I love to the extent that when I go around and see children and see – coming from a rural area and seeing what people go through, I don’t believe that best thing to do is to take their resources and convert them to my personal use just because I want me and my children want to make a living.”
Pressed what difference he is hoping to make that he has not been able to make over the past 11 years, the VP said he was not the President and only the vice.
“Most people don’t understand the role of the Vice President and the mix it up with the President.
The Vice President is the vice President. The constitution clearly defines the role of the vice President and you can only assist the President.
I preside over the senate without a vote; I take on responsibilities that are assigned to me. I do not fire; I do not hire.”
Asked whether failings are down to the President and not him, he replied:
“Well, I’m saying that I have discharged my responsibility and the President is on record to always give me credit for what I have done. I don’t do what I’m not supposed to do unless she asks me to do so.”
Boakai’s international profile has been on the up since his recent outburst of frustration with the President.
He has since made several trips on behalf of the ruling party government, a rare departure from the past eleven years when most of the foreign trips were dominated by Sirleaf.
As Liberia limps its way toward elections later in the year, Boakai’s aides are confident that his current high-profile foreign travels may give him the edge he has been seeking and the confidence booster he hopes will propel him to the helm of state power.