Last Sunday during one of his regular religious visitations, President George M. Weah informed the nation that the opposition community should be blamed if his government fails to deliver. He said the opposition camp is only keen on criticizing his government instead of joining him to bring development to war-ravaged Liberia. But as The Analyst has observed, the opposition community is having no truck with President Weah’s statement which they have termed as irresponsible coming for a national leader.
Reacting sharply to President Weah’s blame-shifting assertions, the Chairman of the Collaboration of Political Parties, Mr. Alexander B. Cummings, minced little words in asserting that the statement from the president is a sad reminder of a leader who takes no responsibility, which causes the citizenry to wonder why he is their leader.
“He is basically telling you, the Liberian people, to blame those who try to hold him accountable to do for you what any good and accountable leader would do for you,” Mr. Cummings stated emphatically.
As the current chair of the largest opposition bloc in the country, Cummings said he is concerned, but not surprised that President Weah will not take any responsibility for the plethora of bad decisions and promises he has made, which has gotten the country to where it is today – worse off then what he inherited.
“Yet he wants you to believe that the bad state of the nation is the fault of the opposition when he (not the “opposition”) was elected to improve the lives of the Liberian people. A President that shifts blames and takes no responsibility is not the kind of President you deserve. This simply means he has no plans or is unwilling to fix the mess he has created for us to deal with. This is why you must not forget the laundry list of bad decisions he has made and continues to make,” the CPP chairperson declared.
Outlining some of the key failures of the Weah-led government for which the opposition cannot be blamed, Mr. Cummings recalled that it was the advocacies and exposures of the opposition that ensured that Liberia is not worse off than it is today.
The opposition community, Cummings noted, should be hailed for stopping the EBOMAF and ETON scam loans which would have directly benefited members of Weah’s government and left the citizens in huge debt.
Among others, Mr. Cummings noted the opposition yeoman’s role in stopping the appointment of a Nigerian to the National Elections Commission; exposing the missing 16 billion saga, as well as exposing the 25 million mop up scam.
The CPP Chairperson also noted that it was the opposition who challenged the postponement of the 2020 and 2023 elections to the following year, and resisted government’s attempt to violate freedom of speech by its intimidation of several essential opposition voices to include Rep. Yekeh Kolubah/ANC, Henry Costa/ALP, and Menipakei Dumoe/LP.
The opposition, Cummings said, also challenged the ridiculous cuts in civil servants salary called harmonization; resisted the 25% cut in all employee salaries for COVID19 contributions; continues to oppose the high costs of prices of goods and services as a result of inflation; made numerous recommendations on economic revitalization to this government, and exposed President Weah’s construction of his 47 housing units, his mansion on 9th street, his Jamaica resort, and other properties acquired under questionable means during his presidency.
Meanwhile, Mr. Cummings says President Weah should blame himself for the plethora of failed plans or policies announced to the Liberian people for implementation.
Among such failed policies which Mr. Cummings said President Weah should blame himself for are the Mineral Swap deal with China; the utra-utopian Bali Island project; the fake World Bank 500 million US$ loan; the transfer of 6,000 Nigerian teachers to Liberia; the construction of a modern coastal highway and the full implementation of a COVID-19 Stimulus Package which includes payment of market women loans, provision of free current and provision of free water.
Mr. Cummings further noted that President Weah has failed to live up to the promises outlined in his government’s Pro-poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD) by failing to raise 500,000 Liberians out of poverty, making Liberians spectators in their own economy, and failing to install traffic lights along the RIA Highway and other streets, among many other failures.
“So you be the judge, my people. It is clear that the only person to blame for this President’s failure is the President himself! He is the elected President with all the constitutional powers, responsibility, and resources that come with the office. I always say, if you ever meet a person (especially an elected “leader”) who takes no responsibility for their actions and blames everyone else but themselves, run far away from that person. It is even truer now,” Mr. Cummings lamented.