MONROVIA : With few days left to the commencement of political campaign for the October 10, 2023 presidential and legislative elections, former Vice President and Unity Party Standard Bearer Joseph N. Boakai leaves Liberia today, Friday, July 21, for the United States of America for a two- week visit that will take him to four states, according to the Unity Party press release issued yesterday. But contrary to what the UP camp is saying that Ambassador Boakai will use the trip to attend his granddaughter’s wedding and tour other cities to meet with Diasporan Liberians and potential investors, The Analyst has been reliably informed that the UP standard bearer is actually going to Rhodes Island to examine his pacemaker that was installed in 2018.
According to our source, the pacemaker which was installed in 2018 for Mr. Boakai has not been reading normally. His trip to the USA is therefore meant to basically examine the condition of his pacemaker. “He was there in February this year at which time it was installed for another six months, and it will expire this July,” the source intimated.
However, the press release issued July 20, 2023 from the JNB camp says Mr. Boakai, who will be accompanied by his wife Kartumu Y. Boakai, will be making special stops in New Jersey and Rhode Island before reaching his destination in Minnesota.
The Unity Party Standard Bearer, the press release said, will be in the Twin Cities primarily to participate in matrimonial services of his Granddaughter, Counselor Jengeih Sia Tamba and her fiancé, Mr. Bradley Peterson, which takes place in Chaska, Minnesota, on Sunday, July 30. Ambassador Boakai will also use the occasion to grace the Bridal Shower in Brooklyn Park, in the evening of Friday, July 28.
“Miss Tamba, Senior Associate in Pillsbury’s Global Sourcing and Technology Practice, is the daughter of Dr. J. Emmanuel Tamba (the elder son of Honorable Boakai) and husband of Mrs. Louise Tamba of Minnesota, the mother. On the margins of the wedding, the UP-Standard Bearer will have several engagements with UP partisans, representatives of supporting political parties, ordinary supporters and well-wishers.
“The renowned statesman, currently the leading opposition figure in Liberia, will seek to shed light on his vision and his Party’s platform and policies encapsulated in the overall Rescue Mission that was launched to redeem and rebrand Liberia.
“The UP Political Leader will be articulating his views on plans to revive the country’s depressed and shattered economy. He will also take time off to meet and interact with key business people and investors to discuss business and investment climate and opportunities in Liberia,” the release said, adding that Ambassador Boakai will return to Liberia on August 2 in full gear to resume his rigorous campaign activities,” the Unity Party press release said.
Validating Costa
Despite the glowing release from the Unity Party about their standard bearer’s visit to the United States of America, the insider information about the real reason for Mr. Boakai’s current visit to the USA sort of validates the recent startling revelations from talk show host and political activist Henry Pedro Costa, a former close confidant of Mr. Boakai. According to Costa, Ambassador Boakai is risking his life by not heeding the doctor’s advice.
“When Uncle Joe went to the States in late January of this year, a week after he was discharged from ELWA Hospital, and upon his request as usual, I scheduled several medical appointments for him with his cardiologist (heart doctor) and an internal medicine doctor. All the medical examinations from ELWA Hospital and from the doctors in the United States concluded one thing; Amb. Joseph Nyuma Boakai needed to do a triple bypass open heart surgery within six months to have a weakening artery in his heart removed, and replaced by another artery from his thigh. The doctors advised that if he didn’t get the surgery done within six months, his heart could stop beating. The doctors also advised Uncle Joe against putting himself through unnecessary stress as they said it could only worsen his condition.
“We were all very scared, as you can imagine, with this diagnosis. We decided to keep this information a very tight secret and work very fast to get Uncle Joe back to the United States for the surgery. So, on March 2nd, after I had raised the money for the trip, we had a Zoom meeting to finalize plans for the very important trip back to the States. In that meeting were Louise Tamba, who lives in Minnesota, Jake Kabakole, Sahr Johnny, Jojo Boakai, Uncle Joe, and myself. I coordinated the meeting.
“The next day, I bought two plane tickets, one business class for Uncle Joe and one economy for his nephew, Jacob Kabakole, to depart Liberia on March 23 via Accra on Delta Airlines to arrive in New York the next day and onward to Minnesota. I bought one ticket for myself to fly from Delaware to Minnesota on the same day of March 23 to receive them from the airport and drive them to the residence I had booked for them in Rochester, Minnesota. Everything was all set. But two weeks to their departure from Liberia, Jake Kabakole called me to say that Uncle Joe was canceling the trip.
“I didn’t ask him why, but I was shocked that Uncle Joe would cancel such an important trip without speaking with me. It was very strange and unusual. But then days later, I started to hear yet the gravest rumor that Amb. Boakai believed (maybe influenced by his people) that President George Weah and his people had provided me with a huge amount of money to pay several American cardiothoracic doctors in an American hospital to kill Amb. Joseph Nyuma Boakai during the surgery, and so that was why Uncle Joe canceled the surgery. I couldn’t believe that they could go to that extent.
“But on March 30th, the bombshell came from Amb. Joseph Boakai himself. He sent me a long WhatsApp message saying a lot of things and in the last paragraph, he said that he had received information that he would be killed in the surgery and would therefore not participate in the elections, so he wasn’t going for the surgery anymore. I was beyond shocked and deeply heartbroken when I read that message which validated all the rumors that I was hearing. I still have it in my phone,” Mr. Costa said during a press conference he held on July 11, 2023 in Monrovia.
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