By Emmanuel wise Jipoh
Defeated Monsterrado County District#8 Representative Acarous Moses Gray, says President-Elect Joseph Nyumah Boakai’s resolve to audit the outgoing Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC)-led administration must well extend to the Liberian Legislature, as a benchmark to battling corruption.
Rep. Gray in a live podcast here says rampant corruption has engulfed the 54th Legislature, particularly the House where he served until losing the election recently noting that therefore, if the new government is steadfast in sweeping corruption, they must clean up both the executive and legislative branches of government.
The CDC lawmaker’s comments came Wednesday evening after Unity Party officials urged President-Elect Boakai to be ruthless against the outgoing CDC Administration by auditing all officials of the Weah-Taylor regime immediately after taking office in order to minimize the melee that has robbed the country of development.
Three top officials of the Weah administration were sanctioned in 2022 by the United States Treasury, including former Solicitor-General Sayma-Cyrenius Cephus, for significant public corruption, which forced them to resign.
But Gray thinks the current Legislature should not be spared if the in-coming Boakai administration wants to succeed in its corruption battle.
He stresses that if the incoming UP-led government does not wish to audit the Legislature as a first step to fighting corruption, then it would be viewed as an attempt to protect the interest of its Vice President-elect, Senator Jeremiah Koung, who he accused of involvement in rampant corruption at the Senate.
“If they decide not to audit the Legislature, their interest is to protect Senator Jeremiah Koung; there’s no way if they agreed to audit both the Executive and the Legislature, Vice President-elect, Jeremiah Koung’s hands won’t be found in the cookies jar”, Gray challenges.
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He continued: “We at the Legislature know exactly the financial damages Senator Koung has caused to this country, so if they do not audit the Legislature, they wish he goes with impunity, but if they decide to do so, he will never go scout-free as Co-chair on the Committee on Budget and Finance at the Senate.”
He further argues that audit reflects the will of the people so a comprehensive audit should cut across every sector and branch of the previous administration rather than being selective.
The former Monsterrado County lawmaker had deliberately accused Senator Koung of misappropriating all kinds of funds, cheques and vouchers without providing any evidence.
Meanwhile, Gray also underscores that if Liberia must progress, there must be a unifier of the people irrespective of political differences, and decries hatred and bitterness that have caused the country to be divided. Editing by Jonathan Browne
