MONROVIA – In his bid to discount series of rumors intended to tarnish his reputation, former Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Nathaniel Farlo McGill, has clarified that he is not using any government vehicle and that the only vehicle that he uses currently, which has a grey color, was donated to him by a friend.
The clarification comes in reference to the insinuations in some quarters that, despite being out of government, he is still in possession of an official vehicle assigned to him when he was Minister of State for Presidential Affairs.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Analyst yesterday, Mr. McGill said he was making the clarifications in the wake of unsubstantiated rumors making the rounds that he was in possession of vehicle belonging to government that was given to him during his tenure and since he was out of government it was wrong to still have the car.
“The car you saw with me when I served as the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs was inherited from my predecessor, Sylvester Grisby,” he said. “It was given to me when I was appointed on January 23, 2018. I used the vehicle up to the end of 2021 when it got damaged and I turned it over to the Ministry of State and was subsequently turned over to the General Services Agency (GSA).
“So during my tenure at the Ministry, I did not possess any other property of the government and when I left, the vehicle I was using was a used car that a friend of mine bought for me. The grey car that you see is a used car bought for me by a friend as I said before.”
He added: “And for a matter of fact, the government has a policy of not buying used vehicles.”
Mr. McGill, who is currently in the race for the senatorial election next year to represent Margibi County, threw up a challenge to anyone who cares to know the truth about the vehicle to approach both the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs and the General Services Agency and get the facts out because every information about the car he used as Minister is there to be seen and stop circulating rumors to ruin his hard earned reputation.
“The same way they lied against me the last time is the same way they still want to lie on me”, McGill said.
Making clarifications also on the state security from the Executive Protection Services (EPS) being assigned to him as a private citizen, McGill who did not deny being given security, said it was needless making such statement because it is the prerogative of the state to provide security to any of its citizens if they feel threatened which include opposition figures in the country.
“When I left the government, people had all kinds of things to say against me, which I think created security concerns for me and so I decided to ask the government just like any other person would do which is not a crime. So you think I cannot ask for security too when I have reasons due to threats against me?”
Mr. McGill continued: “Even Alex Cummings, Musa Bility and any other opposition figure in the country have the right to ask the state for security when they feel they are being threatened. It is just as simple as it and no condition is being attached to it and so I just don’t see any reason my asking for security should be an issue.”
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