“McCarthy is Opposition Sympathizer” -Pro Temp Chie Accuses US Ambassador -Say He’s Being Recalled for Political Meddling

MONROVIA – Since US Ambassador Michael McCarthy delivered his most scathing indictment of the George Weah-led government on April 24, 2023 where he disclosed in a press statement that the Executive and Legislative branches are deeply entrenched in corruption to the extent that state actors have no regard for the suffering of destitute Liberians, no response from the government has been equally condemning than that of Senate Pro Tempore Albert Chie who has brazenly accused the US Ambassador of being an opposition sympathizer that is spreading “falsehood” about the Weah administration just to tilt the democratic level playing field in favor of the opposition camp to have an edge in the October 10, 2023 presidential and legislative elections.

“How can you say the Legislature appropriated US$65 million for itself in the 2022 National Budget? If you wanted correct information, you would have visited projects of senators and representatives throughout the country.

“What do we do with the money we get? We spend it on our people. We build clinics, we buy drugs, we build schools, we build guest houses, etc. That’s what legislators all over Liberia do with their money they get from the budget. Has he (Ambassador McCarthy) ever seen a wealthy legislator who has retired? No! But he’s fond of spreading falsehood, so that because this is election year, the opposition can be strengthened. But he’s lying, because of his support to a field that to him shouldn’t be level. This is a political year; we want a level playing field. How can he be spreading falsehood on the government?” the Grand Kru lawmaker remarked angrily while on a recent tour of Grand Kru County.

Continuing Senator Chie let the cat out of his bag when he said Washington had recalled Ambassador McCarthy mainly because of his meddlesome intrusions in Liberian politics.

“This is why Washington has recalled him, because he’s interfering with the politics of our country. He’s a foreigner, and he must stick to his position. We don’t get up and tell the American people to vote for Trump or Biden. He has no right to come to our country and tell our population who to vote for. That’s my response to him,” Chie averred.

Senate Pro Tempore Chie further stated that Ambassador McCarthy lied when he said the Superintendent of Grand Kru County snubbed him during his tour of that county, noting specifically that the US envoy instead failed to abide by the established protocols that cover a visiting dignitary into rural Liberia.

“I read a media report from Grand Kru and all across Liberia that the Superintendent snubbed the American ambassador. They said the superintendent was not available when the Ambassador came. That is very false. It was the Ambassador that snubbed the superintendent, because he entered our county Nicodemusly. It has been alleged that the Ambassador is an opposition supporter.

“How can you come to a county without informing the Superintendent? The only message the Superintendent got was from the Embassy that some people were coming from the Embassy, and that they wanted to lodge at her hotel. There was no letter from the Ministry of Internal Affairs as is customary. Do you know how many times our President has gone to America? When the president goes to America, sometimes he doesn’t see Biden. Do we say Biden snubbed the President? No! There is protocol in government; and if the ambassador wants the superintendent to be present, they should have communicated. But they did it intentionally. He didn’t want the superintendent to be present because he came to pick up falsehood,” Senator Albert Chie alleged.

Meanwhile, this paper has gathered that there is intense lobbying to have the US Ambassador declared “persona non grata” (PNG), even as he rounds up his tour of duty in a few weeks to await the arrival of the new US Ambassador to Liberia.

It can be recalled that Ambassador McCarthy recently accused the Liberian government of being insensitive to the sufferings of the people, given what he observed when he rounded up his last leg of tours of rural Liberia.

“Unfortunately, on the trip I was startled and deeply troubled to encounter multiple county hospitals that received not one penny of what they were promised in the 2022 budget. Hospitals on which lives depend, where outbreaks are prevented and suffering is alleviated, did not receive any portion of the US$100,000 or more appropriated by the legislature for them to operate. As reported in the press last week with Tellowoyan Memorial Hospital in Lofa County, these facilities currently survive on the backs of incredibly dedicated health professionals, making do with whatever they can scrape together. Lest you think this is the work of one political party, that notion was quickly dispelled by Liberians I talked to. The blocking of resources is so complete that it must be institutional: and the lack of any alarm being raised indicates a syndicate involving players at the legislature, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

“In one town, administrators look with anticipation mixed with fear at the brand-new, modern hospital that sits vacant, knowing that they can barely keep the existing makeshift facility going, and running the new one will require ten times the resources. The United States Government is about to spend a total of over US$40 million constructing Liberia’s state-of-the-art National Reference Laboratory (NRL) that, when completed, will require US$3 million to US$4 million a year from the Government of Liberia to operate. If the Government is failing to deliver statutory appropriations of only US$100,000 to existing hospitals, why would we ever trust annual pledges of US$3 million for the future NRL?

“I also visited most of the County Service Centers, and in 2022, NONE had received any of their budget allocation (usually around US$13,333). One Center has not printed marriage certificates for four years because the printer broke, and their last allocation was received five years ago.

“Virtually all of them, beautifully electrified over the past two years with UNDP-supplied solar power systems (costing around $35,000 – $40,000 each), and amply staffed by (mostly) salaried employees in tidy buildings, are reduced to the job of middlemen. Limited to forwarding paperwork to Monrovia periodically for time-consuming processing, their plight makes a mockery of decentralization efforts. The one functioning office in every center, the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), has representatives who collect duties and regularly forward funds to Monrovia – apparently a one-way street.

“It was striking that the further I went from Monrovia, the more elaborate and explicit were the reasons given for the lack of funding from the central government. “Oh, it is challenging for the government these days.” “Oh, Putin’s war has made everything more difficult.” “Prices have dried up the budgets.” “You donor partners must fill the gaps.” I wonder if these people are aware that, much to their credit, the LRA has surpassed projections and increased revenues for the past four years, climbing from US$435,682 million in 2019 to US$605,005 million in 2022?

“We withhold 25% of the salaries of our Liberian employees at the Residence and at the Embassy to pay their legally mandated income tax to the LRA. Why are the much better-paid representatives and senators not paying a full 25% of their salaries? Why are legislators and ministers, those living on the top of the heap, given annual duty-free imports that deny the LRA much-needed additional revenue? Is there any reason other than the perverted version of the Golden Rule – “those that have the gold, make the rules”?

“U.S. taxpayers spend around US$60 million a year on health care in Liberia, and another US$23 million on education. The same legislature that spent US$65 million on itself in 2022 appropriated around US$7.1 million for grants and subsidies to county health facilities and US$2.76 million for operations at basic and secondary education (although, as we saw, that doesn’t mean the funds reached their intended destinations). But if the legislature could just appropriate an additional US$10 million a year to primary education (for a country that is tied in last place for average days of school attendance), and an additional US$10 million a year for county hospitals, even the greatest cynics concede that it would make a big difference. Just US$500,000 each per year of actual maintenance (not make-believe budgeted funds) on four unpaved roads (Zorzor – Voinjama; Zwedru – Fishtown; Greenville – Barclayville City; and Greenville – Buchanan) would dramatically improve the lives of more than a million of Liberia’s poorest citizens, lowering food costs, revolutionizing farm to market access, and eliminating seasonal shortages of life-saving medicines and equipment. The legislature would still have US$43 million a year to somehow get by. Anyone interested in a pro-poor agenda?

“As for me, should the U.S. Congress ask how the elite in Monrovia are treating destitute citizens in the leeward counties, my honest response would have to be, “those citizens are treated with a neglect that borders on contempt.” Is this the best that Liberia can do?” Ambassador wondered at the time.