By Lewis S. Teh
National Patriotic Party (NPP) Chairman emeritus Chief Cyril Allen has described the U.S. government’s sanctions against top Liberian officials as a basket that can’t hold water.
The NPP which is a constituent member of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) had earlier ruled Liberia under jailed former president Charles Ghankay Taylor.
During the just-ended 2023 presidential election, the NPP was factionalized between loyalists of Maryland County Senator James Biney and Mr. Taylor’s estranged wife and Liberian Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor.
Biney and his NPP loyalists supported President-elect Amb. Joseph Nyumah Boakai’s bid for the presidency, while the Taylor faction backed incumbent President George Manneh Weah’s re-election.
“Let me say this, the sanction imposed by the United States is a toothless bulldog, it’s a basket that cannot hold water,” Chief Allen said.
His comments were in reaction to crippling sanctions imposed by the U.S. government against nine senior officials under the Weah-led regime for corruption.
The latest on the sanction list are Finance Minister Samuel Tweah, and Senators Albert T. Chie and Emmanuel Nuquay.
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Earlier on 8 December 2023, the U.S. Treasury Department designated Monrovia Mayor and ruling CDC secretary general Jefferson Koijee.
The U.S. had earlier sanctioned Margibi County Senator-elect Nathaniel McGill, River Cess County Senator-elect Bill Twehway, and former Solicitor General Cllr. Saymah Syrenius Cephus.
Other sanctioned officials are Nimba Senator Prince Y. Johnson and Grand Cape Mount Senator Varney G. Sherman.
In a conversation with a team of journalists via mobile phone in Monrovia recently, Chief Allen lamented that the U.S. chooses who to put sanctions on or who not to put sanctions on.
“Well, that is up to them to be fair or not be fair; but nothing is fair. They choose who to put sanctions on or who not to put sanctions on,” the CDC Governing Council Chair said.
“They choose which government to stigmatize, they choose which individual they want whether they went through the process or not,” he stressed.
He believes that the United States Government’s move lacks fundamental guidelines, but stressed that the CDC does not see any form of witch-hunt.
Chief Allen claimed that the U.S. government has no further argument but only wants to exercise that it is the world’s superpower.
He argued that the Legislature cannot pass a budget for a particular government ministry or agency and goes back to solicit money from the very entity.
The NPP stalwart noted that some of the officials who have been on the United States sanction list have not been in the United States for over 30 years, but they are living life much better than some of those in the U.S.
That is your assertion Mr. Cyri Allen but you particularly Mr. Allen are one of the persons wrongly advised every government you served, the then Charles Taylor NPP government and now the incompetent CDC government headed by George Weah. You should be ashamed of yourself making this statement.