By Taisiah K. Merfee
The political leader of the Movement for Progressive Change, MPC, said President George Weah’s January 30, 2023 State of the Nation Address to members the 54th Legislature was impregnated with lies and deceit, adding that the Liberian Leader, adding that the Liberian leader needs to call a press conference to openly apologize for the broad day lies.
According to President Weah, the Liberian economy was in a state of major distress.
“When I took the oath of office in January of 2018, the Liberian economy was in a state of major distress. The macroeconomic foundations were weak”, the Liberian Leader said in his State of the Nation Address or SONA.
President Weah, according to the MPC political leader, said the country’s net international reserve, which had been used by the previous Government to stabilize the exchange rate, was very low.
Weah said the exchange rate had plunged into free fall, and then Government did not seem to have the tools to deal effectively with stabilizing the currency at that time.
“As a consequence, inflation was increase at an alarming rate, while domestic revenue and development assistance were in decline”, Weah noted.
According to Freeman, he was a known critic of the previous administration for its level of wastefulness and poor economic policies, but said President Weah’s assertions are untrue.
“I am a known critic of the previous administration for their level of wastefulness and poor economic policies, but clearly the declarations above are untrue and I encourage you to hold a press conference and apologize to the Liberian people,” Simeon Freeman said in reference to President Weah.
Mr. Freeman said the Central Bank of Liberia 2017 report clearly states that Liberia’s gross foreign reserves position (excluding SDR holdings) of the CBL at end-November 2017 grew by 8.3 percent to US$222.8 million, from. US$205.8 million reported during the previous month, due mainly to a 28.2 percent expansion in CBL balances with banks abroad.
According to the IMF, Liberia’s reserve as of December 2017 was $585,997,777 including SDR (Special Drawing Rights).
Freeman said the successes or non-successes of the Weah administration after 6 years can still be discussed without trying to malign and defame one’s predecessor, saying that politics of the blame game must be a thing of the past.
“In fact, the records show that Liberia’s foreign reserve declined in 2019 to USD$297,070,853, but rose to USD$340,965,881”, Mr. Freeman said.
He said Liberia’s total reserves, domestic and foreign were drastically reduced under Weah-led government
Freeman also noted that the IMF and Liberia’s Central Bank in 2017 put inflation to 12.4 percent, while it jumped to 23.6 percent in 2018, an almost 12 percent meteorite rise in inflation.
“Inflation grew under your government and not the past government,” the MPC political leader indicated.
In his SONA, President Weah said his Government in 2019, also set out to fix the broken and unfair wage system in which Government workers were paid without any set rules or pay grades.
He said to end this unfairness, his Government had to abolish a general allowance system that was allowing this to happen.
“Although we were faced with revenue challenges, we were determined to keep all civil servants on the payroll. And so we adjusted the wage system and gave every Government worker a salary which is based on a standard and consistent pay-grade. As a result of this exercise, fifteen thousand (15,000) civil servants received higher salaries, while some seven thousand (7,000) were adjusted downward”, the President said.
Mr. Freeman observed that the record also disagreed with President Weah, adding that the total wage bill by 2015- inclusive of general and special allowances was USD$246,712,792, while the total workforce was 55 thousand (5,000) the current total wage bill is $296 million, and the current total workforce is seventy thousand (70,000).
Meanwhile, the MPC Political leader added that it appears that the real intent of the realignments was to accommodate the additional 15 thousand added to the workforce; since your wage bill is higher than your predecessor.
