By Lincoln G. Peters
River Gee County Senator and opposition Unity Party lawmaker Conmany B. Wesseh has claimed that President George Manneh Weah is surrounded by a bunch of dishonest advisors and cabinet ministers.
Speaking at a recent symposium held in honor of the late former Liberian Interim President Dr. Amos C. Sawyer in Monrovia, Senator Wesseh alleged that President Weah’s advisors are not in the interest of the country.
He also claimed that these officials are not prepared to give honest advice to the president only because they want to keep their jobs.
According to the veteran politician, government ministers must be prepared to take the bullet in order to help their government succeed in everything they do.
He said this includes giving the president honest and sincere advice concerning the plights and conditions of the ordinary people and how to improve it.
“It’s very saddening that people today in government serving as advisors and ministers in this government and they are not willing to take the bullet for the president,” the Progressive member said.
“My people, those around the President, have to be honest as to how they advise the president because they refuse to make it clear to the President that [the] bread and butter issues of the country still remain a major challenge,” he noted.
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Giving his own experience, Senator Wesseh recalled how he had to put in his resignation from the late Dr. Sawyer’s government after he (Wesseh) referred to former President Charles Taylor as Mr. President.
He said he had been sent by the late Dr. Sawyer to deliver an address when he called former President Taylor ‘Mr. President.’
He said because of how things were going and how people were taking the government of Dr. Sawyer, he had put in his resignation for his government to succeed.
Mr. Wesseh said he was very honest to Dr. Sawyer on his resignation because both international and local media had carried the news that he (Wesseh) was a traitor and betrayer in the Sawyer government.
He said there were suggestions that he should not be trusted and the government should not be given attention and support.
“Dr. Sawyer as a smart person told me to forget about it and I should continue to work, because saying ‘Mr. President’ does not mean that I was talking to former President Charles Taylor because he never had [a] government that was known,” Senator Wesseh explained.
He called on leaders in Liberia to be humble because there have been people who have made sacrifices for this country, and they do not necessarily have to be President before they are respected.
He stated that Dr. Sawyer’s ability to think through a given and complicated issue to bring benefit and peace to Liberia has no measure.
Senator Wesseh noted that Dr. Sawyer was a very humble man that respected everybody even to the extent that he introduced his (Wesseh’s) little son to several high-profile guests as his comrade and colleague.
