Monrovia – The Movement for Economic Empowerment (MOVEE) has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring economic empowerment for all Liberians, who are in dire need of empowerment from a devastating regime.

Hoisting the flags of Liberia, MOVEE and the 15 counties at their relocated national headquarters in Old Road, MOVEE chairman Dee Maxwell Saah Kemayah said corruption is at its highest peak under the regime of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.  

Quoting a recently-released survey by the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS), Kemayah said Liberians still live in abject poverty due to corruption.

“That release by LISGIS strengthens our resolve, as a party, to ensure that we take Liberians from the state of poverty to being empowerment, an empowerment through which Liberians will be able to pay their children’s schools and put food on the table for their respective families.   

“We remain committed as we hoist our national flag to a good and resilient health system of our country. As we hoist our flag as a party, we remain very much committed to ensuring that there is a modernized form of learning or educational system of our country, taking our country from an educational system of mess to a modernized one,” said Kemayah, who was applauded by partisans.

He also disclosed that a MOVEE-led government will give priority to agriculture by moving from subsistence to mechanized farming.

“We remain committed, as a party, to taking the Liberian people from a point of subsistence farming to the point of mechanized farming. We remain committed to ensuring that Liberians take charge of the Liberian economy. We will not, in any way, compromise the empowerment of the Liberian people.

“We will utilize the resources of our country to ensure that the living standard of the Liberian people is improved.

We remain committed to ensuring that we transform the Liberian economy that we can move from the state of dependency to the state of independency. We will ensure that there is economic security.

“As a party, we will ensure that there is economic emancipation. Yes, we know that there is political freedom but we remain of the strongest conviction that we are yet, as a nation, to have economic freedom.

It is on these pillars that we stand and host this flag today,” said Kemayah, who promised hope and better future for Liberians by encouraging them to elect a MOVEE-led government during the 2017 Presidential and legislative elections.

Global Witness report quagmire

For the first time since Global Witness released its report, The Deceivers, which revealed Sable Mining, a British company, bribed Liberian public officials to change its concession law in acquiring Wologisi Mountain in 2010.

Addressing a news conference, MOVEE secretary-general Richard Panton called on the government to seriously consider the outcome of the special Presidential taskforce.

“Given the records of the many taskforces before, it will not be an exaggeration to say that they have been a collection of individuals without a meaningful task and lacking any credible force. The people of Liberia are tired of being taken for a ride on the road to nowhere,” said Panton.

Panton, who lectures public administration and economics at the University of Liberia and African Methodist Episcopal University (AMEU), questioned President Sirleaf’s professed quest to fight corruption, which she declared public enemy number one on January 16, 2006.

“Much has been said from the Executive Mansion about this government’s commitment to the fight against corruption. And the last colourful description was to adore it a vampire. The mythology of vampires is that they are mortal enemies of the living. Vampires kill.

“Unless something serious is done, corruption will deal a mortal blow to Liberia. Where is the anti-corruption commission? What was it established to do? If it is not functioning well, whose fault is it if it is not the very government that established?

“Now we have the Koffa committee. Can the President explain what Mr. Koffa brings to the table to give comfort to the people of Liberia that indeed this investigation will be different?

In an age of skepticism and justly so, the people demand an answer,” said Panton.  

Panton also called for the reconstitution of the taskforce to be headed by the Justice Ministry, which have subpoena power and called on the National Legislature to constitute a commission of eminent jurists, civil society organizations and religious leaders.     

Danesius Marteh, danesius.marteh@frontpageafricaonline.com

Monrovia – Trumpeting himself as the Architect of the Dr. Mills Jones Presidential push, Mr. Clayton Duncan, the former Chief of Staff to the former Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia reiterated to FrontPageAfrica Tuesday, a statement being attributed to him that he had jumped ship on his former boss in a bid to support the candidacy of Vice President Joseph Boakai.

“I was never on a ship to jump. I established everything from beginning to end. On my birthday, I told Governor Jones in the presence of his wife that he should consider running for President”- Mr. Clayton Duncan, Former Chief of Staff to Dr. Mills Jones

The only concern his wife had was as long as he wasn’t’ using his life savings, she was fine with it.  I told her we will find the money. I started with the first resistance in the house, followed by the burial of his mother and then we began a county-to-county push pitching Jones which showed my strength.

But suddenly, he allowed D. Maxwell Kemayah, head of the Liberia Business Association to make decisions in his life”. -Clayton Duncan, former Chief of Staff to Governor J. Mills Jones

Duncan is said to have pledged his support to the election of Vice President Joseph N. Boakai who is currently touring the South Eastern region. According to information from Sinoe Duncan is mobilizing Sinoe citizens for the visit of Vice President Boakai.

Sinoe Comment Confirmed

Duncan, speaking from Greenville, Sinoe County where VP Boakai was attending a number of programs last week, confirmed the reports and speculations, some of which suggested that he had betrayed the trust of the man who made him relevant with a high-profile post at the financial center of the Liberian government.

Said Mr. Duncan: “I told the people of Sinoe that the last time I came I brought somebody here and introduced them to your but I think I made a mistake…and I think I made a mistake. But I will come back and explain why I think I made that mistake. That is it… that’s what I told them.  I will not lie on what I said.”

Asked what prompted him to jump ship, Duncan retorted. “I was never on a ship to jump. I established everything from beginning to end. On my birthday, I told Governor Jones in the presence of his wife that he should consider running for President.

The only concern his wife had was as long as he wasn’t’ using his life savings, she was fine with it.  I told her we will find the money. I started with the first resistance in the house, followed by the burial of his mother and then we began a county-to-county push pitching Jones which showed my strength. But suddenly, he allowed D. Maxwell Kemayah, head of the Liberia Business Association to make decisions in his life”.

Duncan, who was Governor Jones’ Chief of Staff for much of the Governor’s tenure claims that it was he who established everything from beginning to end and is leaving now solely because of the influence of Maxwell and partly because the former he had lost the former Governor’s ears.

Kemayah was recently named the Chairman of the Movement for Economic Emancipation and Empowerment (MOVEE).

Speaking Sinoe County where he once accompanied his former boss Jones, Duncan recounted the numerous contributions he made to Jones before insisting that he made a mistake to take Jones to the people of Sinoe.

‘Governor Took Sides’

Added Duncan: “It came to a point where nobody wanted to talk to me and the Governor took sides.”

The former Chief of Staff said, his influence in the Governor’s circle had diminished with the rising influence of Kemayah who he said was pushing for the start of a new Friends of Mills Jones. “If we were to start new friends of Jones, the people who we had gone to, to mobilize would feel disenchanted.”

Duncan accused the Governor of being unaware of the impact of diminishing his influence. “He did not know the problems he created because people started saying ‘but we started with this man (Duncan) first, how come all of a sudden we have new people here.

So, when that one happened that’s when he and myself started having confusion because I started telling him what is happening here is not fair. People are getting disgruntled.

After I had worked hard to form the party, Movement for Economic Emancipation and Empowerment (MOVEE); he started talking about finding somebody who is renowned in the society which was when he started calling Maxwell into the picture.

As a result, they started getting rid of the old people and bringing in new people into the picture. All my efforts that I put down they started seeing me as not being relevant anymore. This is it.”

Ungrateful Jones?

Mr. Duncan says he fought for everything to get the political party linked to Jones registered; but felt betrayed when people thought he wanted to become Chairman of the new party. Mr. Duncan went on to claim that his wife lost her pregnancy on the Sinoe road because he was running after the push for Jones to become President.

“He believes I want to be chairman of the party which is not true. It is ungrateful. My wife lost her pregnancy on that Sinoe road. I cannot go and hide under my bed because me and Mills Jones are having a fight. I don’t like people to be ungrateful to me. If they will play with me I will go to great length to fight back – if they fight me,” said Duncan.

Mr. Duncan accused the MOVEE of manipulating the convention that led to the election of party officials and Mr. Kemayah of wanting all and trying to kick out others who were in the picture from the beginning.

“I established the party. They knew nothing about it.  We gave US$5 million to Liberian businesses in Liberia and US$5 million to the Liberia business association. As President of the association, he does not have any support. He went and collected fees from members and put us on a losing end. He wanted to be President of the Grand Colio, conglomerate of businesses. People started feeling unhappy when they tried to sideline me for Maxwell who went on to appoint new people. They took my secret of mobilization and ran with it”, Mr. Duncan lamented.

Liberian politics is known for maneuvering especially during elections period as individuals move from one party to another in search of relevance and comfortable homes.

With the 2017general and Presidential elections year more than a year away, several individuals have been making headways building early constituency ahead of the political process.

Jones first made known his popularity when the burial of his mother shock the entire city where thousands of people gathered to bid farewell to the Governor’s mother.

Central Bank of Liberia Governor Jones has been one of the individuals moving across the length and breadth of Liberia using the CBL loan scheme to make his presence felt in the rural parts of country.

In nearly all fifteen counties, Jones became a household name during his latter days at the Executive Governor of Central Bank and wherever he visited people wore t-shirts with his picture inscribed and banners of support for his stance in empowering locals.

Behind the scene was in organizing the mammoth crowd gracing Governor Jones visit to mainly South Eastern counties was his Chief of Office Staff, Clayton Duncan who took Jones to his native Sinoe County like it was done with other counties.

Even the National Legislature could not succeed in getting Jones to abandon his loan scheme which the lawmakers believed was becoming political. When the lawmakers were pressuring Jones, Duncan was in the forefront organizing support for Jones against critics of the Governor.

Over to Boakai?

Although former Governor Jones is yet to announce his intention to contest the Presidency, he has already been petitioned by citizens at a mass program held at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium in Monrovia.

Jones promised that he will respond to the petition sometime in the future but there are strong indications he could contest the presidency especially with the formation of a new political party where his former Chief of Office Staff is admitting that he played a lead role in organizing the party.

As the 2017 general and Presidential election draw nearer, political observers say many can expect more shifting of allegiances and merger of strange bedfellows to dominate the political circuit, adding more intrigue to what is building up to be a daunted but pivotal 2017 Presidential race.

Samwar S. Fallah, samwar.fallah@frontpageafricaonline.com

Monrovia – The Liberian Business Association (LIBA), which represents the private sector on the National Governing Council (NGC) of the African Peer Review Mechanism Liberia Country Program (APRM-LCP), has formally withdrawn from the process.

The decision was overwhelmingly reached at LIBA third annual convention in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County from April 7-8.  LIBA President Dee Maxwell Saah Kemayah, Sr. has been presenting the private sector but was forcibly booted out in a palace coup on January 19.

But LIBA delegates, in a four-page resolution, resolved to withdraw Kemayah because, among other things, it felt that the process leading to developing a Liberian report that depicts the true reflection of the current governance system was compromised.

“Against this background, we resolved to, with immediate effect, withdraw LIBA from the African Peer Review Mechanism Liberia Country Program (APRM-LCP).

“We do hereby mandate Mr. Dee Maxwell Saah Kemayah, Sr., to immediately and unconditionally refrain from all functions, activities and interactions relating to the APRM-LCP as LIBA have completely lost confidence in the process,” said LIBA vice President David K. Sembeh, who read the resolution on behalf of the delegates.

The delegates also commended Liberia Chambers of Commerce (LCC) President Francis A. Dennis and the LCC family for the confidence reposed in Kemayah to represent the private sector on the NGC of the APRM-LCP.        

The latest decision by LIBA will further cast a dark cloud over the APRM-LCP, which faced an integrity crisis when Bridgitte Slyvia Mabandla, eminent person of the APRM continental secretariat in South Africa, paid a weeklong country support mission (CSM) visit to Liberia late February.

The South African, who was in Monrovia with a five-man delegation, held series of meetings with state and non-state actors on the finalization and adoption of the work program of the (CSM) before President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf signed a memorandum of understanding on February 24 for technical assistance to the APRM-LCP and discussed its road-map ahead of the country self-assessment and county review reports.

During the meeting, Sirleaf said even though no country would want their technicians to check on their leaders, she was proud of the exercise.

“We hope Liberia will be a part of benefitting from these processes,” she said and commended Mabandla for assuming her new assignment.

Pres. Sirleaf said the APRM involvement with Liberia was important as its democratic maturity will be tested during next year’s Presidential and legislative elections.

But those proceedings were overshadowed by Kemayah’s forceful removal as he was replaced by Emmanuel David, a representative of the Liberian government while Malcolm Wleemongar Joseph of the Center for Media Studies and Peace Building (Cemesp) was selected as vice Chairman.

The plotters alleged that Kemayah is conspicuously participating and affiliating with current political activities, failure to convene meetings and overly engaged and preoccupied schedules, which they sent to outgoing Finance and Development Planning Minister Amara Konneh and Deputy Minister James F. Kollie.  

But documents in our possession showed that Kemayah participated in all activities and meetings of the NGC, including the design of a five-year strategic plan for the APRM-LCP and a draft standard operating procedure, which is awaiting a validation.

FrontPageAfrica, however, understands that the government has been showing signs of reluctance to provide funding for the NGC under Kemayah’s watch in order to strangulate the process due to his critical and uncompromising stance on national issues.

The NGC of the APRM-LCP comprises of stakeholders from various sectors and provides policy and strategic direction for the rollout of the program. It was established by President Sirleaf in May 2015.

Kemayah’s removal without due process and subsequent formal withdrawal mean there is no representative for the private sector. It has been alleged that the government wants to ensure a cooked report that reflects a beautiful picture, contrary to the harsh realities of bad governance in Liberia.  

Kemayah has been vocal on the difficulties faced by Liberian owned businesses and bad governance under the watch of Sirleaf, who was reelected in 2011 and was one of three Nobel Laurates.

Delivering an inaugural address in May 2014, Kemayah criticized the lack of opportunities and jobs despite a foreign direct investment of US$16 billion but President Sirleaf recently conceded that only US$4.2 billion was actually invested. Kemayah also alleged that government was awarding contracts to foreign firms instead of empowering Liberian-owned businesses.

In February 2015, Kemayah reminded Finance and Development Planning Minister Amara Konneh to implement an approval of a revelation he made at the installation dinner of the LCC on May 4, 2012 where the government agreed to use 25-percent of the Government of Liberia budget for furniture to purchase locally produced furniture from Liberian-owned businesses.

Also in February 2015, Kemayah described vindictiveness as a vampire to reconciliation just as corruption is a vampire to development and warned that there can be no cosmetic approach to a holistic reconciliation in Liberia. His comments were in sharp reaction to a meeting held by President Sirleaf with Samuel Kanyon Doe, Jr. on January 28, 2015.

According to an Executive Mansion release, Pres. Sirleaf shared thoughts on issues of governance, development, peace and reconciliation with Doe Junior, whose father she described as a brutal dictator in her Independence Day message on July 27, 2009.

Those developments made the government uncomfortable with Kemayah and a fear that he will not compromise a realistic country report, which will underpin bad governance, corruption and the lack of rule of law Liberians are experiencing.

There is already a state of fear with series of deaths in the wake of the gradual drawdown of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and a complete handover of security to the government on June 30, 2016.

Background

Liberia acceded to the APRM in 2011, becoming the 30th member of the continental mechanism, representing about 76 percent of the total African population.  President Sirleaf signed the accession document at the opening of the 14th summit of the APR forum of heads of states and government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on January 29, 2011.

On that occasion, the President said the decision by Liberia to accede to the APRM was a further manifestation of government’s commitment to promote good governance and accountability in the country, and that Liberia would continue to exercise the principles of good governance to help enhance national development and a society in which the government is open and accountable to its people. The APRM is a mutually agreed instrument voluntarily acceded to by members of the African Union as an African self-monitoring mechanism.

Its mandate is to encourage participating members to ensure that their policies conform to the agreed political, economic and corporate governance values, codes and standards, and the mutually agreed socio-economic development objectives contained in the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad).

Dr. Amos Sawyer, who heads Liberia’s Governance Commission, is chairperson of the APRM panel of eminent persons.