Monrovia, Liberia – President Joseph Boakai has come under fire from former president George Manneh Weah, who accuses him of weaponizing Liberia’s drug problem against the former ruling Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) and utilizing authoritarian and extrajudicial powers to suppress political opponents. Weah said that former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor was the most recent victim of what he called the Boakai administration’s increasing authoritarianism in a highly written statement released on Wednesday.
The former president of Liberia claimed that Jewel Howard-Taylor was hounded, jailed without warning, and illegally prohibited from leaving Liberia. However, she insisted that she had emphatically refuted all accusations made against her. Despite his assertion that the significant cocaine finds happened after his government peacefully handed over authority to the Boakai administration, the former president accused the government of trying to fabricate connections between the ongoing drug inquiry and the CDC administration.
Weah further claimed that while the inquiry was being used to target political opponents, government and security officers accused in connection with the drug cases were given special treatment. He stated that while the CDC will oppose what he described as attempts to use the situation for political benefit, it does support legitimate efforts to address Liberia’s drug epidemic.
Weah accused President Boakai of attempting to rule Liberia as a tyrant in one of his most vehement criticisms of the present administration, and he cautioned that such activities were a grave threat to the nation’s democracy, peace, and security. The former leader of Liberia said that he had discussed the “systematic erosion of democracy and the rule of law in Liberia” with leaders on the continent and in the region.
“President Boakai wants to reign as a tyrant despite a peaceful democratic transition. We must all oppose this,” Weah said.
After his overseas engagements, he promised to return to Liberia in order to mobilize the CDC and other “well-meaning Liberians” to oppose what he described as an attempt to undermine the nation’s democracy. According to Weah, the Liberian Constitution guaranties that all legal and political measures will be used to pursue the resistance.
