IPNEWS: In 2021, President George Weah and his officials of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) government embarked on their first nationwide tour of Liberia, three years after Weah’s ascendency to the Liberian presidency in January 2018.
The nationwide tour is to thank Liberians who voted the CDC-led government to state power, succeeding President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who had earlier governed the nation for 12 years. The tour is also intended for the President to obtain firsthand information about happenings in the leeward counties and possible recommendations on how to go about resolving issues arising from the nationwide tour.
It is said that former President Sirleaf was the ‘architect’ of the CDC administration to succeed after her once trusted Vice President Joseph Nyumah Boakai fell out with her, having enlisted the likes of Senator Varney Sherman and former Unity Party Chairman Wilmot Paye to get at her for not supporting her VP in the 2017 legislative and presidential elections.
There has never been any official confirmation whether former President Sirleaf orchestrated or manipulated the system to propel the CDC government to state power.
And so, in 2021, President Weah and his CDC-led government officials began a nationwide tour of the country to say ‘thank you’ to Liberians for giving them the opportunity to serve and lead Liberia for the next six years that began in January 2018.
In February 2021, President Weah embarked on the first leg of his nationwide tour, visiting several counties and meeting with Liberians who told their stories to the President, and in return his administration vowed to engage the people and undertake some development projects.
Fast forward to August 2022, kicked off the final leg of President Weah’s nationwide tour which is scheduled to climax in Montserrado County. According to the Executive Mansion, on Monday, August 15, 2022 the President began a tour of Montserrado County in continuation of his Nationwide Tour which began in February 2021 and covered fourteen (14) counties.
The President’s international engagements and other domestic obligations hindered his planned tour of Montserrado, which should have followed immediately after Lofa County.
President Weah started the Montserrado Tour with visits to Electoral Districts 15, 16 and 17, where he held town hall meetings in Logan Town, New Kru Town and Brewerville respectively.
On Tuesday, August 16, 2022, the President stopped over in Districts 9, 8 and 7, holding meetings in the Airfield community, Wroto Town, Matadi, Capitol By-pass and West Point.
The tour affords the President the opportunity to interact with citizens and discuss issues confronting their communities. He also uses the time to inform Liberians of developments taking place in the country.
In District #6, according to the Executive Mansion, President Weah unpacked a horde of development programs for citizens as enshrined in the Pro Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD) and promised the people of District #6 in Montserrado County that they will not be left out.
President Weah said every district in the country will experience a fair share of development under his Government.
The President made the assertion on Wednesday, August 17, 2022, when he addressed thousands of citizens at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex Gymnasium in Paynesville as part of his tour of Montserrado County.
President Weah thanked the citizens for their mammoth turn out and reiterated his commitment to implementing every promise made during the 2017 campaign.
“I will not make you shame for defying all the propaganda against me and electing me in 2017,” the President said.
“Together, we have achieved a lot in the last five years of my incumbency and I assure you that there is still more to achieve,” the Liberian Leader told a cheering crowd at the interactive town hall program.
In spite of the countless development initiatives already achieved, including building hospitals, schools, roads, and awarding free education, amongst others, the President overemphasized the need for more development across the Country.
“I have more to do for you,” he assured the citizens of District #6. “With time, I will complete all ongoing projects. I will certainly make you proud.”
Dr. Weah repeated his pledge made at previous town hall meetings in other parts of Montserrado that he would build a new, bigger state-of the-art referral hospital or another John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital.
Responding to citizens’ request for loans to be given to marketers, the Liberian Chief Executive said US$2m has been approved for rural women and marketers across the Country.
He advised the marketers to work with their lawmakers who led the way on how the loan can be accessed.
The President, who is a Former United Nations’ Peace Ambassador, called on the citizenry to keep the peace in the country.
“With peace, our country will develop; with peace, you can be leaders tomorrow; and with peace, everything we want is achievable,” Dr. Weah maintained.
On Wednesday, August 17, 2022, the President continued his nationwide tour, otherwise called the citizens’ engagement initiative, in District #5, Montserrado County, where he reiterated his commitment to improving the living condition of the people of Liberia during his Leadership.
As it has been all through his tours across the country since last year, thousands of citizens came out to meet and interact with the President; this time at the Paynesville Town Hall, District #5.
President Weah thanked the throngs of people who attended the District #5 town hall meeting for their warm reception and for allowing him to serve the people of Liberia.
“The confidence you reposed in me is something for which I can’t fail you,” the President said.
Addressing the citizens, the Liberian Leader took up time to brief them on his achievements regarding finished and ongoing development initiatives he begun since his presidency and promised that much work will be completed for the benefit of the nation and people if allowed to serve for another term of office.
“We are investing in every sector of our society,” the President told the huge assembly of District #5 constituents. “We have already done so much to improve our economy and other sectors consistent with our development agenda.”
Responding to the citizens’ requests for a resource center and a market, the Liberian Chief Executive promised to build the Resource Center for the Youth once the land was secured and proven to be free of conflict.
He also instructed the Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment (LACE) to immediately conduct an assessment to renovate the Paynesville Market.
Dr. Weah repeated his pledge made at previous town hall meetings in other parts of Montserrado where he is climaxing his county tour that he would build a new, bigger state-of-the-art referral hospital or another John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital.
The President also urged the citizens of the district, mainly young people making use of public properties, to stop destroying them.
He lamented the destructive attitude of some young people, saying it is a disincentive for the government which is marshaling scarce resources to make them happy and productive.
On Thursday, August 17m 2022, President Weah said the CDC-led administration remains determined to address development challenges affecting every district, including Montserrado County District #10, in addition to remarkable achievements in the last four years of his incumbency.
“Without boasting, I can safely inform you that this Government has done more developments in its first four years than any other administration had done in their first four years,” President Weah told enthusiastic residents of District 10. “And I am committed to doing more even here in your district.”
During his engagement with constituents of District #10, Montserrado County on Wednesday, August 17, which is in continuation of his nationwide tour that began last year but paused due to a combination of vexing factors, President Weah assured the huge assembly of citizens that his administration prioritizes every political subdivision of the country.
“As my government embarks on an unprecedented spree of development, I assure you that District 10 will not be left behind,” the President said, adding: “You already know what we have done here and elsewhere, but only request that you exercise some patience.”
He said his government would do more if it was allowed to continue the massive work it started in 2018.
CDCians overshadow President’s Montserrado Tour, but …
IPNEWS observed that during President tour of Montserrado Districts # 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16 & 17 over the last couple of day respectively, partisans of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) overshadowed the visitation, as they wielded CDC’s paraphernalia (red & blue berets, t-shirts, scarfs, etc) as well as banners and posters depicting pre-campaign messages stating that President Weah will win first round victory in the 2023 in elections.
For some CDCians the Montserrado Tour, which is the last leg of President Weah’s nationwide tour, is a perfect opportunity to recalibrate and undertake pre-campaign activities with the intent to re-win the hearts of those who supported the party since 2005 but were reportedly left along the wayside since the CDC assumed state power in 2018.
While it is true that a party that gives birth to a governing administration will do everything in its power to ensure that it does the right things to make the citizens to reelect it, for the CDC, according those who refer to themselves as ‘Disenchanted CDCians’, the party has failed to live up to expectations and has stabbed itself in the back by reneging on its own mantra of ‘Change’ that brought it to state power.
According to a die-hard ideologue of the CDC, Dr. Lester Tenny, the real opposition of the government CDC are those marginalized CDCians, who have been left in destitution since the party ascended to state power but chose to empower those he called ‘strange political bedfellows’ at the detriment of the ordinary and grassroots CDCians.
Dr. Tenny says the CDC ‘strange political bedfellows’ have en massed wealth and other properties in broad day, while those grassroots CDCians who toiled day and night for 12 unbroken years to main the party’s strong stance as opposition to the former ruling Unity Party of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Dr. Tenny says the only change CDC has experienced is the likes of the now suspended and US designated Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Nathaniel McGill and others to en mass wealth and countless numbers of properties to the detriment the ordinary and grassroots CDCians.
He warns that putting on a showbiz during this Montserrado County tour, is not going to help the party if it fails to rid itself of those greedy ‘strange political bedfellows’ who hijacked their party for self-aggrandizement. “The real opponents of the CDC are those who have been marginalized sine the party took state power, and it will be those very angry CDCians who are going to vote Weah out of the presidency come 2013 if he fails to do the right things before the 2023 presidential and legislative elections,” Dr. Tenny warned.
On his part, the former Chairman of the CDC Security Council, Manja Varney Gbassey Kromah, warned that no amount of berets wearing and party paraphernalia display is going to change things for the CDC in Montserrado County, unless it recalibrates and begin to do the right things for grassroots CDCians and Liberians in general.
According to him, for almost five years, some elements of the CDC focused only on themselves and en massed wealth and properties, neglecting the grassroots CDCians who kept the party opposition flames alive for 12 unbroken years. “Most CDCians are being treated like a dump truck that is used to construct a mansion or castle, but immediately upon completion, that very dump truck is barred from passing in front of those premises, least to mention entering the fences. This is the complete analogy grassroots CDCians are going through since the party took state power,” Manja Varney Gbassey Kromah stressed.
He warned that brandishing CDC paraphernalia during the President Montserrado County tour and dancing to fanfare, pomp and pageantry is not enough to change the hard economic reality Liberians and CDCians are going through, while a few select-few people within the government continue to wallop in wealth. “The ball is in their court to change but let them not be fooled by those few CDCians moving along with the President from district to district, because the quiet voters are most the important and you don’t see them nor hear them on radio,” Manja stated.
Meanwhile, political pundits and commentators say the road to 2023 will be crucial as it will create the platform for Liberia to stagnant, retrogress or progress. It is now left with Liberians to make that determination when they go to the polls in 2023.
