IPNEWS: Montserrado County Senator Abraham Darius Dillon has told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), that President George Manneh Weah has told the Liberian people through the Senate, a blatant lie about his current trip out of the country.

President Weah had written the Senate, informing it that he was traveling to Paris, France, to attend the Paris Peace Forum from December 9 to 18, 2022, but according to Senator Dillon, the President misled the Liberian people through the Senate that the forum was extended beyond the scheduled date.

According to the Montserrado County Senator, information he has gathered with evidence, has shown that President Weah told the Senate and the people a blatant lie because the Paris Peace Forum was never extended as he claimed.

He said the Liberian people need to know at all times where the President of Liberia is especially when he travelled abroad.

“When the President says he will be at a particular place at a particular time on government money and it is found out to be untrue, it warrants investigation,” Dillon further told the BBC.

Senator Dillon noted the President extended his visit to Qatar only to watch the FIFA World Cup games in which his son, played for the United States.

The Montserrado Senator said he has written the Senate, calling for a probe into the information provided by the President because as far as his evidence that he attached to his communication to the Senate is concerned, the President misinformed the honorable body and the citizenry.

As far we do know, the President’s overstay in Qatar to watch the World Cup games will not accrue any benefit to our struggling nation.

“We have a travel ordinance that says beyond seven days any public official, including the President, shoulders the cost of the extension of his or her stay out of the country. If the extended trip is in the interest of the country and proven by documentations, he or she can make a case for reform,” Senator Dillon told the BBC.

According to Dillon, if the President of Liberia leaves the country or has a reason to leave, he must inform the Legislature and that information should contain the purpose of his trip, the duration of the trip, when he will return and who will remain in charge of the Cabinet in his absence.

He said President Weah’s stay in Qatar to watch his son play football will in no way benefit the Liberian people.

In reaction to Dillon’s claims, former Information Minister Eugene Nagbe, now Commissioner of the Liberia Maritime Authority, President Weah’s trip is in the best interest of the Liberian people.

Also speaking to the BBC, Nagbe, closed advisor to the Liberian Leader, said the President’s trip abroad is to seek support for projects his government is undertaking and to also engage other world leaders on a wide range of issues.

On Senator Dillon’s call to the Senate to probe into the President’s trip abroad, Nagbe said the Senator is showboating and will not take on anything, but if he does, according to him, it will result to naught.

Nagbe argued that as a tradition, before the President travels, he or she officially informs the Senate and catalogs the extent of his or her travel and the purposes of her or his travels.

He said President Weah has in no way misled the Senate and the Liberian people on his trip to Paris as the Montserrado Senator claims.

“The assumption by Senator Dillon on the President’s attendance of the Paris Peace Forum is wrong and misleading”, Mr. Nagbe told the BBC.

On whether or not the Liberian Leader receives US$2000 a day during his entire stay abroad as Finance Minister Samuel Tweah had told a local radio station, Nagbe clarified that while the President is entitled to receiving the amount under Liberia’s travel ordinance, he has not received a cent of that amount. “Some parts of the trip are not being paid for by the Liberian Government. For example, on his trip to attend the recent Morocco Forum in Morocco, his trip was paid for by the organizers of the forum, who made available a chartered plane on which he travelled.

“That saved the Liberian people some money and it is unfortunate for someone to believe that the President, who has raised over hundred million dollars on one trip, is gallivanting,” said in his interview with the BBC.