Former Vice President Joseph N. Boakai urges Liberians not to rest until final outcome of the ongoing investigation into the 16 billion Liberian banknotes is made public for the future of the country.
“We believe this is fun for the country, and the people but the President had already registered his support for investigation, and I think the Liberian should not rest until they get to the final outcome of this missing money”, says Ambassador Boakai.
He made the call over the weekend at the God’s Glory Pentecostal Church in Paynesville outside Monrovia, while serving as chief launcher for the formal launch of the Borbor Taylor Education Foundation for under-privileged kids in Montserrado County.
Currently leader of the former ruling Unity Party, Mr. Boakai is also member of the four collaborating opposition political parties that recently called for the arrest of the Executive Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia Nathaniel R. Patray and the Minister of Finance and Development Planning Samuel D. Tweah to account for the US$25 million reportedly infused in the economy to mop-up excess liquidity of Liberian dollars.
The four collaborating opposition parties include the Unity Party, Liberty Party, Alternative National Congress and the All Liberian Party.
Tye issued a joint statement recently, calling President Weah to arrest and prosecute the two officials for their respective roles in the US$ 25 million saga.
Theodore Momo, Jr, National Chairman of the ALP, who read the statement, said if their call did not heed any tangible result, where some of those directly culpable are left off the hook, “We will organize a series of mass actions across Liberia to express our dissatisfaction, and to let President George Weah, and his administration know how Liberians are growing impatient by the day.”
“We want the artificial hardships imposed by this administration’s bad governance to end. The waves of looting by senior members of this administration, while ordinary citizens are struggling to survive must stop. We have analyzed and concluded that both the past and the current governments are culpable in the brazen and shameless looting of public funds,” the statement noted.
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President George Weah has subsequently called on the General Auditing Commission (GAC) to audit the two officials who head the Technical Economic Management Team or TEMT that spearheaded the mopping up exercise and report in two weeks.
However, speaking to reporters following the launch of the foundation, Mr. Boakai said the President does not think citizens should sit back and watch, saying “I think the Liberian people must not sit; they should not rest until the final conclusion is made public despite the investigation reports.
The ex-vice president said he strongly believes the country needs such undertaking like the education foundation, because the need for educated people to push development is very important. “When people travel abroad and return with vision, we lend them support in making their dreams become a reality.”
He said the idea of giving scholarship to underprivileged children does not help by making the education better, but is an opportunity giving to other people to learn, saying, “We all are aware that our education system was called a mess, but calling it a mess does not in any way help; it is what we can do as a government and people will change the situation.”
Cautioning recipients of the scholarship, he stressed that scholarships are mainly intended for scholars, and not for people who are appealing for financial aid, adding “whenever a scholarship is given, beneficiary needs to study to show some level of appreciation to those who provide the scholarship, and in the future, it is required of those beneficiaries to look back at other people that will be in need.”
Speaking also Dr. Taylor noted his decision to launch the foundation was in recognition of his late father, who didn’t have the opportunity to sit in class to acquire an education, but was passionate about his children getting education to sustain themselves.
According to him, he wants to make sure that his children, and every other child gets an education, and as a result of this vision, he get himself into providing educational materials to kids that are less fortunate, so it is against this backdrop the foundation is launched to continue what he started.
By Lewis S. Teh –Editing by Jonathan Browne
