By Bridgett Milton
Naymote Partners for Democratic Development releases its latest report, capturing campaign promises of President-elect and Unity Party Standard Bearer, Joseph Nyumah Boakai, during the 2023 presidential election.
Speaking at a news conference here Thursday, November 30, Executive Director, Eddie Jarwolo, said Naymote meticulously monitored and documented 93 campaign promises made by President-elect Boakai, Sr., who secured victory with 50.64% of the total votes cast from the 14 November Presidential Runoff Election, as announced by the National Elections Commission.
He says these promises were derived from the Unity Party’s manifesto, campaign rallies, media engagements, and public statements.
“The manifesto outlined six pillars, each encompassing specific commitments aimed at Liberia’s development”, he explains.
He details that pillow one on Macroeconomic Stability and Infrastructural Development contains a total of fifty-eight (58) promises that have been documented.
“These promises spanned economic aspects (8 promises), financial management (10 promises), agriculture (12 promises), natural resource management (3 promises), job creation (6 promises), commerce and industry (2 promises), infrastructure development (5 promises), transportation (4 promises), information communication technology (ICT) (3 promises), and culture and tourism (5 promises)”, he adds.
Naymote also captures that pillar two of the UP manifesto is about Health, WASH, the Environment and climate Change with nine (9) promises, focusing on health (6 promises), Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (1 promise), and environment and climate change (2 promises) while pillar three talks about Human Capacity Development with seven (7) promises that primarily focus on education.
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He continues that pillar four of the soon-to-be ruling party is about Governance and Rule of Law with seven (7) promises, emphasizing foreign relations (1 promise), security (1 promise), rule of law (1 promise), accountability (2 promises), governance and transparency (2 promises), and reconciliation (1 promise), while pillar five covers Gender, Youth, Children and Social Protection under which eight (8) promises were tracked and documented, with focus on gender (1 promise), social protection (2 promises), and youth empowerment (5 promises).
Pillar Six of the UP manifesto, according to the report, is about Fight Against Corruption with Four (4) promises including reform of tax administration policies, targeted fiscal incentives for agriculture and light manufacturing, implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), introduction of a program budgeting system, and the roadmap for the de-dollarization of the Liberian economy, Asset Declaration of the President and all those appointed, and audit of outgoing officials, etc.
Jarwolo notes that election promises are a social contract between voters and candidates and that President-Elect Boakai is under obligation to fulfill commitments made during the campaign.
He says immediately post-inauguration in January 2024, Naymote will commence tracking the government’s performance against these promises for the next six years.
He emphasized that the objective for tracking them is to ensure that promises made to the Liberian people during the campaign period are fulfilled.
“Those promises if implemented, will not only benefit the Unity Party but it will benefit everyone, if we can hold President-Elect Boakai by his campaign promises, it will benefit all of us”.
The Naymote boss reveals that prior to the campaign, he wrote all candidates, asking them to share their visions about the country and informing them that those promises will be tracked after winning the election and coming to power. Editing by Jonathan Browne
