IPNews-Monrovia,Liberia-22 March 2018:The head of the Economic Freedom Fighters of Liberia (EFFL), Emmanuel Gonquio has sharply criticized the allocations made in the recast budget of the pro-poor agenda under the stewardship of President George Manneh Weah’s during it recent submission to the National Legislature, stressing it was an opportunity missed.
Speaking at a news conference in Monrovia Tuesday, March 20, 2018, Gonquoi noted that the budget offered an opportunity and platform for the President to show Liberians and the world that his administration is going to put in place appropriate policies and programs intended to empower and lift poor Liberians out of poverty.
He said the best and most effective way to achieve this was to start committing more resources to job creating sectors of the economy and other sectors that directly affect the livelihood of the poor and those at the lowest end of the economic ladder.
“Key among these sectors, are the agriculture sector, health sector and social development services. Disturbingly, all of these sectors saw some reductions from the original and even revised appropriations in the recast budget. Even if these reductions are not considerable, they send the message that the Weah Administration is not committed to the pro-poor agenda that is being trumpeted by his followers and supporters,” Gonquoi said.
The EFF head then narrated that the administration seems to be preaching pro-poor and practicing pro-rich, as numbers do not lie! The agriculture sector is indisputably one of the most strategic sectors in job creation and for ensuring food security and food sovereignty through the formulation and implementation of appropriate policies and programs, adding that unfortunately, this sector saw a reduction in its original appropriation.
The group observed that the Sirleaf administration originally appropriated USD 6,326,429 to the agriculture sector. This amount was later revised to USD 6,026,429.
The Weah administration has adjusted this down to USD 5,321,457. That means the Ministry of Agriculture, the government entity responsible for formulating and implementing policies for the growth and development of the sector must cope with a whooping USD 704,972 reduction in its budget.
This is tantamount to reducing the Ministry to a place where people only wait for their salaries and benefits at the end of the month.
Similarly, the group maintained that the health sector also saw a reduction in its budget. If the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak that killed more than 4,481 of our compatriots did not teach us anything, it taught us that our health care sector is extremely under-resourced at best and non-existent, at worst. Reducing the budget for this vital sector is equivalent to a suicidal act of sending people to their graves, he alarmed.
The original appropriation to the health sector by the past Administration was USD 77,048,239. This was later revised to USD 75,617,974. The current Administration has worryingly reduced this by USD 3,393,916 to USD 72,224,058.
As if all of these troubling reductions are not sufficient, the Weah Pro-Poor Administration has reduced the appropriation for social development services. The budget for social development services was reduced from USD 10,831,242 to USD 9,378,496…a USD 1,452,746 reduction.
“We are fully aware of the economic constraints that necessitated the need to adjust the appropriations to various ministries and agencies.”
But, the EFFL strongly holds the view that such adjustments or reductions should not affect very strategic and vital sectors of the economy, especially so when the government is preaching a pro-poor agenda.
Furthermore, EFFL noted that in his recast budget, the President Weah unbelievably allotted USD 500,000 of poor Liberian taxpayer’s money to his wife to undertake humanitarian services. Many questions come to mind! Who is going to decide how she uses the taxpayer money that will be given to her? What if she decided to give it to her cronies and friends, who checks that? This is wrong!” he quipped.
“The amount of $2,135,519 is not accounted for in the budget for public administration, instead a fake amount of $ 63,515,617 as balance in appropriation has been recorded. More besides, the increment in allotment to public administration sector at the expense of sectors providing basic social services, does not affect civil servants pay. This clearly suggests that there is a salary increment for executive members or there are creations of additional positions to accommodate friends of the president”, he said.
EFFL also noted that the reduction in allotment for infrastructure development only contradicts the president’s stance on economic growth.
“How possible can there be a major economic revamping when the basic infrastructure including roads, which is required to move businesses around is being played with. Imagine this sector suffered the highest cut by $27,149,781”, he intimated.
The government backed credit line to stimulate private sector development, the PSDI, is it also meant to benefits cronies of the president like it was in the case of Pres. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf where staff at the Ministry of Finance who were supposed to vet recipients of the loans from outside of the ministry were seen recommending their rapidly setup businesses to benefit from the loans, as reported by some local media.
“Has the president looked into the audit report of that scandal? Can he speak to the safety of entrusting $1,000,000 into the same program that never materialized,” he asked.
According to him, taking into considerations the current economic constrains in the country, it’s politically unspeakable for the Government of Liberia to give USD five hundred thousand (USD 500,000.00) to the first lady and a similar amount to the JFK Medical Center.
“Due to the huge unemployment rate faced by our people across Liberia, the fact that most of them seek medical assistance through government’s functional Medical Center the JFK, can’t be over emphasized, and this action on the part of the government has betrayed the trust of the people and at the same time insulted the judgment of our people,” he said.
EFFL also disclosed that secondly, it’s totally disheartening to note that our President after promising to cut his unknown benefits by 25% is about to use 4m in less than 4 months on Presidential activities.
This is not only unpatriotic but awful and unthinkable on the part of a man who presented himself to the people as the real solution to our national social-economic bereavement.
The plan by this current administration to loot our country is taking shape as the President stressed during his SONA that in the cause of the people, the struggle must end.
He added: This statement is now manifesting in its real context as the president is currently demolishing his properties including the Jamaica lodge, and his 9th street residence for reconstruction in just few weeks of his presidency without declaring his sheltered assets.
Evidence in our possession also suggests that the President wife, Madam Clare Weah just re-registered their failed business in America. Oh yes! Her husband is President for a country, so the dollars have started rolling again.
According to the EFFL Head, EFFL is not against Mr. Weah building castles across the country. But if the president uses a dime of struggling tax payers’ money to construct his mansions, Like Jacob Zuma in South Africa, we will insure that he pays back the Liberian
people’s money.
He said, finally, we call on the President to rescind the appointment of Gabriel Nyenkan for the Liberia Extractive Industry for Transparent Initiative (LEITI), as the law establishing the agency clearly forbids
such political interference.
“We know you are new on the job, but it is never too late to do the right thing. We cannot afford donor partners pulling out of this country because you have decided to violate our laws and other international protocols. Again, we would like to stress that Patriotism is standing by the country; it is not standing by the president,” he
concludes.
