By: Emmanuel wise Jipoh
Rivercess County Senator-elect and former Managing Director of the National Port Authority (NPA) Bill Tweahway has described moves by critics seeking to stop him from taking his seat in the Liberian Senate as “sheer stupidity.”
Mr. Tweahwah, a designee of the United States Treasury Department for alleged siphoning of public funds was elected alongside other US sanction officials as Senators in the October 2023 Presidential and Legislative elections.
However, there have been calls that he and fellow US designees (Senators-elect Nathaniel McGill, and Prince Johnson) should not be allowed to take up their seats in the 55th Legislature because of their designations.
But speaking after being certificated by the National Elections Commission (NEC) on Friday, December 8, Mr. Tweahway said before any elected official can be stopped from taking his seat, that person must have been judged and found guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction.
He said in the absence of a trial and a guilty verdict one cannot stop an elected official from taking his or her seat based on an alleged crime.
Tweahway and Pal former Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Nathaniel McGill now Margibi County Senator-elect have come under the “Red Flag” following their victories after failed attempts to stop them from contesting the 2023 polls.
“That’s “sheer stupidity” before a man can be stopped from taking over any seat in an electoral process, you must have been judged by a court of competent jurisdictions who tells if one is guilty or not about an alleged crime,” Tweahway explained.
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He indicated that he has not been convicted of the allegation of corruption brought against him by the United States Government, and therefore, cannot be denied his seat as senator of Rivercess County.
“I’ve never been convicted of the crime and nobody has Judged me, “ and therefore, I will assume my seat, and work to develop my county, and there’s no law to back that,” Tweahway, averred.
Nicknamed the “Elephant,” Tweahway indicated his preparedness to go to court if anyone decides to go beyond the root of the matter.
“I’m ready to go to court if anyone decides to take issue. But I haven’t been convicted and will take my seat. Until I’m found guilty after facing prosecution, I’m the Senator of Rivercess County,” he said.
“Rivercess is underdeveloped, and we are going to the senate to help develop Rivercess as part of our commitment to our roots. As we did in Montserrado County Electoral District # 3 as Representative back then, building the first senior high- school, a Townhall, Public Latrines, among several other developments, “we’ve come with that same expertise to help develop Rivercess,” Tweahway adds.
Bill Tweahway, who served as Montserrado County District # 3 Representative from 2011 to 2017, is returning to the Capitol Building, in a second tenure, this time as a senator in the upper- house, with the noose of corruption allegation and a US designee hanging around his neck.
Tweahway and other Ex-officials including Nathaniel Falo McGill, Margibi County Senator-elect and former Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, and former Solicitor General Cllr. Cyrenius Cyphus, were in August 2022, sanctioned for their involvement in public corruption by the United States Treasury Department-Edited by Othello B. Garblah.
The audit will still hook many of Weah’s officials despite been in an elected position. The General Auditing Commission (GAC) is established by the 1986 constitution to serve as internal auditing agency to audit all spending public institutions for transparency and accountability in the governance system.