-UP fires back at government
By Lincoln G. Peters
Verbal clashes are continuing between the government and the former ruling Unity Party (UP) after the latter branded President George Manneh Weah’s recent address at the United Nations General Assembly as a ‘broad day deception.’
This week the government through the Ministry of Information contended that UP’s assertion ran contrary to all available data validated nationally and internationally suggesting improvements in areas highlighted by President Weah.
The government said President Weah cited improvement in the economy, women empowerment, democracy, and international peacekeeping.
But it noted that without offering any reasonable explanation, the UP, through its chairman Rev. Luther Tarpeh, simply said the president was telling “lies.”
In a telephone conversation with this paper Wednesday evening, 28 September 2022, UP Secretary General Amos Tweah described the government’s statement as complete trash that is ‘shamelessly embarrassing.’
“I read the Ministry of Information’s … response to our chairman and also listened to some bunch of unserious people calling themselves CDC (Coalition for Democratic Change) Youth Wing and I think they are becoming completely infantile in their response and much more trivial,” Mr. Tweah said.
The Unity Party indicated Chairman Tarpeh’s description of President Weah’s address at the UN could not have been said in any better way than the way he did.
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The party backed Rev. Tarpeh’s statement, claiming that President Weah’s address contained fabrications.
Mr. Tweah said it is false and misleading when President Weah allegedly informed the world that his government is implementing a US$50 million Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) project for women empowerment and entrepreneurship.
Tweah argued that the project President Weah talked about is titled ‘US$50 million Women speak platform,” aimed at improving women’s access to digital information and financing across Africa.
“The actual is a US$24 million African Development Bank – funded project that is implemented by three economic communities,” he said.
He said part of the three communities are the East African Economic Community, and ECOWAS.
“Liberia’s version of that project was launched in 2019 and they are supposed to get around 9-10 million of that fund,” Tweah explained.
He pointed out that the president allegedly deceived the gathering and the world when he said the project is a 50 million ECOWAS project.
Speaking on the growth of the economy, Tweah continued that the president deceived the world by claiming that the country’s economy is healthy, stable, and strong.
“How can the President say the country’s economy is healthy, stable, and strong when in 2020 the World Bank Economic outlook report … indicated that about five hundred and twenty-six thousand Liberians were going to go deeper into the shackles of poverty when care is not taken?” Tweah wondered.
According to him, since that projection by the World Bank, the government has not put in place any sound economic policy or planning to address that serious economic concern.
“There are a number of economic indicators that determine the health of an economy, and [they] include poverty index, tax index, and income index,” Tweah explained.
” Go [to] Duala Market, Redlight, and many places around, do sample views and see whether the GDP (gross domestic product), growth, and stable economy the president bragged about is translated in the lives of the ordinary Liberians in the street,” Mr. Tweah noted.
