Tweah Won ‘Best Finance Minister’ Opinion Poll -Here is How, Why the CDC-era Minister Won

MONROVIA – Probably no one had least expected that the former Finance Minister of the recently ousted Government of former President George Manneh Weah and his Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), Samuel D. Tweah, Jr. would have outshined the incumbent less than two years in office. But the untainted and unvarnished truth is that Liberians have agreed through a Spoon Talk poll that D. Samuel Tweah, while encumbered by a weighty US travel ban, and battling a trying case against the Government of Liberia for his alleged involvement and sanctioning of rampant corruption, would come out in shining colors to clinch the title of Best Postwar Finance Minister against three others that included the sitting Minister, Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, and two others, Boima Kamara and Senator Amara Konneh, who had served in respective Unity Party administrations as Finance Ministers. The Analyst reports.

The Spoon Talk poll which commenced unannounced last Wednesday evening garnered a total of 90 votes, and callers broke through the call lines from within the Diaspora and Liberia belt.

Among the total of 90 callers, 43 voted overwhelming in favor of Samuel Tweh, while the reigning Finance Minister Ngafuan surprisingly could only secure 26 votes. They were followed by former Minister Konneh and his predecessor Boima Kamara who garnered nine and two votes respectively.

Post poll analysis

Following the seemingly spontaneous poll which saw former Finance Minister Samuel Tweah astronomically edging out his colleagues, Spoon Talk sought to elicit expert opinions from its myriad panelists who comprised sympathizers from the ruling Unity Party, the main opposition CDC and other non-aligned political supporters.

A good number of the panelists rationalized Tweah’s victory due to the abnormal conditions he worked under, having ascended to the Finance Minister position during extremely exogenous economic conditions marked by the withdrawal of the United Nations Peacekeeping forces that had boosted the economy; the global economic meltdown, and the Ebola pandemic.

According to panelist and economist Samuel P. Jackson, despite those harsh economic and debilitating health situations, D12 (Samuel Tweah) ensured that the economy stayed on course.

Jackson especially noted Tweah’s exceptional brilliance when it came to pushing Liberia’s case with the international community, especially the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

As for Mr. Paul Kanneh, a middle-of-the-road free thinking politician whose support and thoughts often run diametrically opposed to the opposition CDC, he even predicted and later justified why Samuel Tweah should be considered the best among the rest of the postwar Liberian finance ministers.

He noted that Tweah worked under extreme economic strictures but performed by introducing sound fiscal measures like the harmonization policy which saw economic wealth spreading from a top-to-bottom approach.

He even dared Finance Minister Ngafuan to reverse the harmonization policy since in fact it was one the propaganda messages of the Rescue Mission.

Other panelists whose analyses broke the yoke of disbelief included former Montserrado County District #8 Representative Moses Acarous Gray who justified Tweah’s win by comparing human development index statistics between Tweah’s reign and that of the current government.

Gray, in a meticulous fashion, outlined the vast variances in the inflation rates, the gross domestic product and the growth rates covering Samuel Tweah’s administration as Finance Minister and the current Unity Party-led government.

On the other hand, a handful of panelists questioned the scientific logic and rationale of the polls, noting that it could have been pre-arranged to generate the kind of results it got.

“How can a US-sanctioned criminal be voted the best finance minister over Ngafuan,” wondered panelist Fubbi Henries, whose view was seemingly quashed by the broad base of panelists.

According to Wantoe Wantoe, Finance Minister Augustine Ngafuan should be held accountable for the missing $2.8 million that the GAC report accused his ministry of siphoning.

Other non-panelist pundits who followed the live streams with comments said Tweah and his CDC administration’s successful overcoming of several biting shocks and turbulences, coupled with notable pro-poor undertakings such as constructing multiple primary and secondary road pavements, declaration of free public college education, scores of pro-poor housing units, increase of salaries for security agencies, amongst others, are unbeatable feats that make Tweah’s win of the Spoon poll well-deserved.