By Bill W. Cooper
A prominent Liberian and supporter of the Unity Party (UP), Richelieu O. Burphy has publicly called on President Joseph Boakai to take decisive action against underperforming officials in his administration.
Burphy, who is being referred to as the “Rescue Mission General,” also expressed his deepest concerns over the dismal performance of some government officials within a period of nine months of the Unity Party (UP) led- government.
He said, “Look, for it to even take 9, 10 months for our president to realize that most of the folks he has in government are playing and on honeymoon is having me in shock! And I’m here thinking, is this the leader I was all out for? What happened to all the things he told us before the elections?”
Burphy’s call comes in the wake of an incident involving Public Works Minister, Roland Giddings, who was reported to have recently boycotted a commissioning ceremony of a US$15M bridge project linking Liberia and neighboring Côte d’Ivoire.
The commissioning ceremony was initiated by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission to construct a bridge over the Cavalla River that connects Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire.
The program which took place at Plulo Border in Côte d’Ivoire over the weekend, without officials from Liberia also witnessed the presence of the representative of the regional block ECOWAS, AIM LTD Engineer represented by Michael Ihimekpen, SCEGC Project manager, Liary Tao, and the Ivorian Government.
In reaction, Burphy who headed the “Boakai Conscious Movement” during the peak period of the 2023 Presidential election says, “Now, let me tell you the real reasons why Minister Roland Giddings did not attend the event marking the commissioning of a major US$15 million bridge connecting Liberia and Ivory Coast through Maryland county.”
He disclosed that the real reasons for Giddings’ absence could be that the project money is not being managed by the government, and asserted, “So, he could not have oversight and could not decide who all to share it with. Therefore, he didn’t think it was a serious project and that it didn’t worth his time.”
On the argument that Minister Giddings got stuck in mud, Burphy rubbished such argument, pointing out “That he got stuck in mud is a very lazy excuse for someone occupying a serious ministerial post in government and not just that it is a lazy excuse, it is also shameful, disgraceful and embarrassing.”
“Especially coming from the very minister clothed with the responsibility to manage the country’s infrastructural development including roads. We could pardon other ministers or officials of government if they give ‘bad road condition’ as an excuse but not minister Giddings,” he said.
According to him, it is not just embarrassing, but speaks to his inability to do the very work President Boakai has given him to do. Burphy noted that the action of Minister Giddings now validates the argument of the critics who earlier thought that Giddings was not the right man for the job, as his action has clearly demonstrated said believe.
Burphy narrated, “He would rather find it comforting to use government money; anyhow he wants, later apologizes and nothing will come out of it. And he is committed to making that his modus operandi considering that we have seen more than one apology from him in less than 9 months of the regime. What has come out of it? You see?”
“For this bridge, ECOWAS and the African Development Bank will manage the project themselves. Does it speak to the credibility of the Minister of Public Works? Yes, I think so. And by extension, does it paint Liberia differently? Yes, I think so too.
And then interestingly, fanatics of the Unity Party are trying to argue that our roads have always been this bad during the rainy season so why should we make it an issue now? Are you serious? Why do you think we supported this Rescue Mission?” he wondered.
Burphy further emphasized, “You think it’s because we are Unity Partisans? Or because we hated former President George Weah or like the Unity Party or options? You are making a big mistake!”
He furthered, “We supported you because, for 6 years, President Boakai projected roads on his agenda. At some points, when asked about his priority number one for the development of this country, he responded ‘Roads, roads, roads.”
“There and then, I thought he was serious about it. I have traveled throughout the 15 counties and in-depth too. So, I know how challenging the roads are for our people. As such, I would support any government that takes our national road development agenda seriously. We felt Weah was not doing much about the road situation in this country. He sure wasn’t. Forget all those bad road medicine names he was ascribing to himself. The roads were not even being maintained. He failed on that too. So, we got rid of him”, he noted.
The ‘Rescue Mission General’, has at the same time revealed, “But for you to come and say the roads have always been like that is way below the belt and we will mark you down on that!”
“Didn’t you know the roads have always been like that? Why did you say you could fix it and that we should give you the opportunity? Was it that you wanted to come and give us the same excuse? You know we won’t settle for that, right? Nice try next time.
Mr. President, they have blocked some of us from seeing and talking to you and it’s fine if that will make the government succeed! Because primarily, that’s what I want! I don’t want our efforts in bringing you to power to go wasted,” he asserted.
“It will pain me and I’ll shamefully narrate it to my children. But let me tell you this: you have junk in your cabinet doing so so atara! I hear you are traveling again. But I’ll tell you my mind the day we meet; even if it’s inhuman traffic,” Burphy concluded.
