MONROVIA: As contenders to the highest office in the land continue to throw jibes at each other with the intention to puncture the move of their opponents, President George Manneh Weah has said that former Vice President and Standard Bearer of the Unity Party (UP), Joseph Nyuma Boakai is “a dishonest and deceptive person” and cannot be trusted for what he professes to be after he “played politics” with the story of Senator Prince Y. Johnson that he (President Weah) was shielding PYJ from going to the war crimes court only for Boakai to start working with Johnson as an ally.
President Weah made the statement yesterday in Totota, Bong County when he addressed a mammoth crowd of citizens and residents during a political rally in pursuit of his re-election bid in the ensuing general elections slated for October 10, 2023.
“At a time Mr. Boakai and others who said they want to rescue this country were all saying around here that George Weah is working with Prince Johnson so that he will shield him from going to the war crime court. They said all kinds of things about me that I don’t want to bring justice for the victims of the war, that I am supporting warlords but there you have it.
“The same man they were accusing me of is the same man that is their friend today and that is the man together with them talking about rescuing this country.
“But I can tell you Boakai is very dishonest and deceptive. They say things that they cannot do and they want you to believe it. It is a big joke”, the President said.
President Weah told the people of Bong County that when the issue of establishing the war crime court as part of the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), some Liberians including Boakai and the Unity Party did not give his office a breathing space and sort every opportunity to make sure that the issues were flag off “without critically examining the implication of establishing the court on the hard won peace we are enjoying today.
“But to them everything is about politics once it will be in their interest. We work for peace in this country and we know what our people went through during the civil war. We must work together to avoid the past and seek peace for everyone because without peace there will be no development”, the President said.
The President who was cheered on as he laid emphasis on peace, further said when he addressed the United Nations during one of the General Assembly he attended, “I told the UN that let us sit on the round table and discuss and forgive each other. This country is not for Congau or native people”, stressing that Liberia is for all Liberians and they should all work together to make it better.
Speaking further on what he consider as the contradictions of the former Vice President, Weah said he finds it laughable with all the promises from Boakai to the Liberian people the course of his campaign to woo votes, most of which his party could not do when they were in power for 12 consecutive years.
“You are promising 50,000 jobs for the people in one year when you could not give them 2,000 jobs in 12 years. Do you think we are joking here? Who will take you seriously when you fail miserably and you are just trying to return to power with all the lies and deceit. But the Liberian people are not fools”, he said.
He further said there was no way someone who has not been successful to make others successful, claiming that the many years of public service of the Standard Bearer of UP which he put at “40-50 years of being in government” did not translate into development for his people in Lofa County.
“Our older father (Boakai) said something and I think he missed it for him to say he is the one that is going to fix everything. Having spent 40-50 years in government and did nothing, how can you fix it? It is a joke. There is no way he can fix anything in this country. He called himself a rescuer. I rescued him. Because he is not an honest man, you can see that around him. That is why everybody is angry with him. Look at Joseph Boakai’s history and look at my history. He is from Lofa and he has spent 40 to 50 years in government but look at his county; the county is developing now because of George Weah.”