Monrovia, Liberia – According to Senator Nathaniel F. McGill, chair of the CDC Legislature Cacus, the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) is responding to the State of the Nation Address by Liberian president for the first time in its existence as a political party. “This is our official reaction to President Joseph N. Boikai’s second State of the Nation Address, which he gave yesterday.”
“Given the severe instability and uncertainty that currently loom over our democracy and economy, we have decided to address the Liberian people directly this time. We have a crisis in our country. Yesterday’s boycott of the president by eight senators, over twenty-five lawmakers, and the entire Supreme Court bench demonstrated how weak, divided, and fractured the country is.”
Seantor McGill argues that Liberia is declining. “We are losing the economic and democratic accomplishments of the past six years. The Unity Party is now caught up in the very lies they told the Liberian people in order to win an election. The country is far too divided and confused. All of these call for a verbal response that captures the pure sentiments and emotions of our people in these difficult circumstances.”
The Margibi legislator pointed out that President George Manneh Weah gave President-elect Joseph N. Boakai political authority in November 2023. Days before the National Elections Commission finished announcing the election results, the offer was made. “In a show of extreme patriotism, President Weah gave in to President-elect Boakai.”
The senator noted that former President Weah separated himself from Liberia’s tense history of controversial elections, which were frequently tainted by cases before the Supreme Court and bloodshed. He marked the beginning of a new era of democracy and peace in Liberia.
“Before, many thought our democracy was weak and brittle, but President Weah demonstrated that Liberia could have the same level of democracy and electoral power as developed democracies like the US, UK, or Germany. President Boakai was given a democratic and peaceful Liberia by President Weah, where no one was above the law not even the president, lawmakers, or courts.”
Liberia is currently in a democratic and rule of law chaos, according to Senator McGill, one year after this most peaceful democratic transition of political power. “President Boakai’s Unity Party administration is currently teaching Liberians that the rule of law is meaningless and worthless, that the law is whatever the President and his legislative allies say it is, and that only regular citizens are expected to respect and enforce the law while Unity Party leaders ignore, disrespect, and break it.”
McGill went on to say that the Unity Party’s destruction of the rule of law has now impacted every aspect of Liberian social and political life since President George M. Weah left office because it is crucial to the operation of any society, to the protection and nourishment of citizens’ rights to justice, healthcare, and education, and to how foreigners and investors view the role the law plays in safeguarding their investments.
“Today, citizens are confused as to where the country is headed under Joseph Boakai. Today, citizens are beaten and wounded if they dare to get into the streets to exercise their constitutional rights to free speech and assembly. Today, whatever the Supreme Court says is no longer the law. Today, opposition personalities and former government officials are being witch-hunted and unjustly imprisoned. Today, the country has both a constitutionally elected speaker and a quote-unquote majority block Speaker who was illegally selected. Despite these violations, the Executive has imposed this illegally selected Speaker upon the Government and people of Liberia, while at the same time seeking the resignation of the duly elected Speaker. What a mockery of democracy and the rule of law! Was this conflict necessary? Did we have to push this crisis to this extent? We say no. It has been four months since this conflict erupted and there has been a total breakdown of the rule of law. Instead of focusing on placing volunteer teachers and health workers on the Government payroll; instead of working to increase budgetary allocations to key sectors of our economy; instead of working to bring down high prices affecting our people, the Unity Party Government has invested its effort in prolonging a legislative crisis that is destroying our country.”
“One year after falsely raising the hopes of the Liberian people, the reality has now set in for the Unity Party.”
1. The very harmonization policy they demonized they now accept as impossible to reverse, since they know it is not possible to go back to the UP-era Basic Allowance and General Allowance systems.
2. The “kush” they were supposed to stop has now grown into Zombie and satellite drugs with no hope for the rehabilitation of our children who are affected by this national calamity.
3. In the first 150 days we saw cars being stuck in mud more than ever before in the history of Liberia to the extent that a bus caught fire in the mud.
4. Today, President Boakai is not just using private jets for international travels; he is using them for domestic travels as well, and his latest private jet has improved to the most expensive type.
5. Fellow Liberians, today the price of basic commodities has not just increased, but the UP Government has admitted in the illegally passed 2025 National Budget that the exchange rate may reach as high as LRD 219 to US$1.00 in 2025.
The economic reality we present above shows that the “country is hard,” that the “Rescue Mission has now become the Excuse Mission” and that Liberians should prepare for the worst economic situation in 2025.
“Fellow Liberians, as you all now know, President Boakai’s speech yesterday was packed with misinformation in so many areas. As expected, we will correct the misinformation today and pose some tough questions. First, the Government says it collected $734 million in total revenue last year but spent on US$661.4 million. This means, we have $72.6 million of surplus that the Government should declare in the 2025 budget as the CDC administration used to do. But we know that the 2025 budget has no surplus or balance brought forward. So, two things are possible. Either the US$ 72.6 million was blown off in massive act of corruption or everything the president said about 2024 revenue was false and misleading. We leave the UP to choose which is which. Accounting for the money through a GAC audit or admitting that they lied to the Liberian people? We wait for the response.”
“Second, the President said that he decreased the price of rice. This one, we leave them with the Liberian people to judge. It was Liberians who were paying LR$3,100 for a 25kg bag of rice when the UP took over in January 2024, and who are now paying LR$3,500 as we speak. There is no way to lie about the price of rice in Liberia.”
“Third, Mr. President, harmonization is still the prevailing policy in Liberia, and if you say quote “people were facing extreme hardship because of harmonization,” unquote, then you are admitting Mr. President that people, are still facing extreme hardship under you as president,” since harmonization has not been reversed by your administration.”
“Fourth, information that 6,000 ghosts were removed from the payroll is misleading. The Unity Party has provided misinformation to the International Monetary Fund on this. The maximum number of ghost workers on the existing Government payroll cannot be more than 1000 persons. So, the maximum that can be saved due to ghost removal is about $1.8 million. In fact, instead of removing 6,000, workers, the UP has hired about US$6,000 workers, increasing the Government payroll by about US$10 million.”
“For all these reasons, the UP administration has been hesitant to release actual expenditure information before the SONA. The UP is afraid that its promise to the IMF to bring salary to US$270 million by end 2024 would soon be proven a lie. Compensation will end at US$310 million or more, which will cause a big problem for the Government under the IMF program. The Government said it added US$15 million to ‘increase salary.’ But how can you add US$ 15 million to US$ 310 million and still produce US$315 million in the Draft 2025 budget. There is too much confusion and cooking of the numbers happening within the Government. And fifth, the international climate financing we heard about yesterday in the speech was secured by the CDC administration. And the UP Government should give due credit for this. The West Point Project, or the Monrovia Metropolitan Climate Resilience Project is a US$25 million project financed by the Green Climate Fund. All this was secured by the CDC administration. Let the UP not take credit for a project they did not initiate. Mr. President your people misinform you.”
“Fellow Liberians, having corrected some of the key misinformation in yesterday’s SONA, we move on to compare and contrast CDC’s first year achievements verses those of the Unity Party. President Boakai said very little about what the UP achieved under its 100-day program or in its first year.”
In 2018, the CDC inherited a broken economy, with declining international aid, underperforming domestic revenue, and a two-payroll system that widened inequality among Government workers. Despite these challenges, the CDC administration stood on this weak foundation to achieve the following in its first year and handed the UP a solid foundation by end 2023:
● We constructed more than 75 kilometers of community roads
● Placed more than 2,300 health workers on the Government Payroll
● Increased the salary of medical doctors from US$700 to US$2000
● Kept the price of 25 Kg bag of rice at US$13 per bag.
● Sent more than 20 medical doctors for special training abroad.
● Declared Free Tuition for college students at public universities and Free WASSE for high school students.
● Broke Ground for Military 14 Hospital which was completed the following year.
● Launched the Pro-Poor Agenda for Transformation in nine months.
● Digitized registration at the University of Liberia.
We then set out to work to produce a strong economic foundation for the Unity Party to inherit. We want to commend President Boakai for acknowledging in his speech yesterday that his government is building on the foundation laid by the Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD) under president George Manneh Weah. Today, we summarize the foundation that President Boakai referenced in his speech yesterday:
● We increased domestic revenue to US$640 million, surpassing the Unity Party’s highest domestic revenue of $460 million during its 12-year rule;
● We stabilized the exchange rate and inflation, and handed UP an inflation of 10 percent, though UP handed CDC an inflation of 12% in 2018.
● We harmonized a broken Basic salary and General Allowance wage system. System ensuring fairness and reducing the wage bill by US$32 million.
● We handed the UP Net International Reserves of US$240 million, compared to US$150 million handed to the CDC by the Unity Party after its first 12 years in office.
● We maintained the price of a 25kg bag of rice at US$13, for more than four years. It had to take global crises like COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war to move prices higher.
● We handed UP an economic growth rate of more than 4.5 percent but had to stand on a growth rate of 2.5 percent in 2018.
● We handed the UP a declining poverty profile according to the World Bank 2024 economic report. According to this same report for the year 2017, the CDC inherited an increasing poverty profile in 2018.
● We handed the unity party completed road works from Ganta to Saclepia, and major contracts fromTapeta to Toe Town, and Town Toe to Zwedru, with all financing and secured. We also handed UP the Fish Town-Zwedru corridor contract and financing frameworks.
● For our urban beautification and infrastructure improvement, we handed the unity party the SKD Boulevard, and the ministerial complex overpass contracts and framework.
● We also handed the UP the RIA road corridor.
● We handed the UP a completed central Monrovia water supply project and revenue generation infrastructure.
● We handed the UP 10-year World Bank financing for electricity transformation.
● The CDC passed the MCC scorecard three times, paving the way for Liberia’s Compact eligibility. In contrast, the UP handed the CDC a weak MCC eligibility database in 2018 which led to Liberia failing the scorecard.
In contrast, the Unity Party inherited a stable and growing economy but has squandered this opportunity. Of course, Liberians now understand that ‘squandering opportunity’ is a specialized skill of the Unity Party. During year one of the UP administration, we have seen:
● No projects implemented in its first year which was why the President did not mention his 100 achievements.
● A sharp decline in fiscal transparency, as highlighted by the U.S. Department of State’s 2024 Fiscal Transparency Report. To date no factual and actual information on the 2024 budget execution is available and the UP administration is cooking the budget numbers as contained in the illegally submitted draft budget.
● Only a 1.5 % growth in domestic revenue from the CDC domestic revenue high of US$661 million in 2022.
● A salary crisis where compensation of Government workers is expected to rise to US$325 million for which the UP is refusing to release the numbers.
● More than 1,000 workers were illegally dismissed due to perceived political affiliation. Yet yesterday, President Boakai said he is running a government of inclusion. How can you run inclusive government while targeting people you believe are affiliated with the CDC?
● Misinformation provided to the International Monetary Fund that the Government Wage bill for 2024 will end at US$270 million when it is ending at more than US$310 million.
● Scandals in scholarship and investment programs, undermining public trust.
● Illegal budget manipulations and procurement violations, multiple instances of corruption involving tens of millions, Poor Budget Execution and Management.
