Govt. welcomes strong opposition

Liberia’s Minister for State and Presidential Affairs says government welcomes a strong opposition bloc that will help to highlight challenges of the regime.

Speaking to the NewDawn on Thursday, March 15, Minister Nathaniel McGill notes that the Weah-led administration believes a stronger opposition could be a reliable contributing factor to the rebuilding of a country that had suffered 14 years of civil crisis and hit by the deadly Ebola Virus Disease.

He adds that it is not the dream of government to paralyze the opposition community by battling them and creating narrow corridors for their scope of operations.

“We pray for stronger opposition bloc during our term of office because we believe that oppositions’ criticism can help to move the democracy forward, and where there is no opposition, that government may not know its shortcomings. We don’t need praise singers. Trust me on this, we support freedom of the press 200 percent and freedom of expression,” vows the former Coalition Chairman, who until about three months ago, was in the opposition himself.

According to him, the government supports freedom of the press and will always respect the media even the ones that want to fight unnecessarily. Minister McGill continues that the primary focus of the George Manneh Weah-led administration is how to achieve its pro-poor agenda and bring governance to the people thru a participatory process.

He stresses that gone are those days when people criticized government and they were hunted and brought in government, adding that the Weah’s administration will encourage constructive criticism from anybody.

“They are free to express themselves whether they are speaking the facts or not. But we will not hunt people for what they say or writ; neither will we reward people with government’s jobs for criticism. We pledge our support to exchange of ideas and stronger criticisms,” he maintains.

Meanwhile, the State Minister discloses that President George Weah will break grounds on 26 March for the construction of the first ever Military Hospital in Liberia.

By E. J. Nathaniel Daygbor-Editing by Jonathan Browne