“Liberians will grade and decide President George Weah’s fate in the 2023 general elections, based on the margins of their current economic status, whether they are living better or sinking deeper into abject poverty,” the political leader of the Alternative National Congress told a cheering crowd in Monrovia.
Mr. Alexander Cummings said the ANC and the millions of Liberians suffering due to Weah’s misrule are determined to work in collaboration with other political parties to vote and make him a one-term President.
“The Liberian economy has performed very poorly in the last five years, unable to attract foreign investment, with rampant corruption in every sector and high unemployment especially among the youths,” he ranted.
Cummings also reminded that gathering about the deteriorating social services including electricity, access to water, sanitation, and health care, and the messy educational system are adding to the daily frustrations of Liberians.
Cummings said these hopeless and deplorable living conditions coupled with growing insecurities including mysterious killings and disappearances, in addition to the vexing challenge of soaring food prices, are factors that have rendered the Weah administration incapable of ruling and impossible to win a second term.
He spoke Friday, June 10, at the Friends of Friends forum, a local intellectual center in Monrovia. The forum was interactive with questions and answers on issues of national concerns leading to the 2023 general elections.
In response to a question about security reforms to halt the influx of dangerous substances and the increasing crime rates including mysterious killings and disappearances of citizens, Mr. Cummings said an ANC government will depoliticize the security sector, ensure adequate funding for training and empower the police to conduct independent and professional investigations, and will ensure perpetrators be made to face the full force of the law.
Cummings said youths on drugs will be rehabilitated and provided vocational training skills that will make them productive citizens to earn a decent living.
Regarding the just ended bogus criminal trial against him, the ANC political leader said he is not perturbed, and that the trial which he maintained was politically motivated, afforded him the opportunity to experience the travesty of Justice and the dire need for judicial reforms.
Cummings stressed that without a strong independent Judiciary and a robust enforcement of laws, the country risks being unattractive for foreign direct investments and a recipe for lawlessness, banditry and instability.
On the question about the deteriorating health care delivery service and messy educational system, he said rebuilding and improving these sectors will be top priority of an ANC government.
He reaffirmed an ANC government commitment to zero tolerance for corruption and the establishment of the long-delayed war and economic crimes court to adjudge persons bearing the greatest responsibilities in Liberia’s 14 years bloody civil war that killed a quarter million of the population and the economic looting of the country.
Mr. Cummings said Liberia after 175 years and with the abundance of natural resources, it is unacceptable for the vast majority of Liberians to be living in extreme poverty, while public officials in the Weah government continues to steal and amass wealth.
He said the masses deserve better, and made a clarion call on all Liberians to support the ANC quest for real change in Liberia.
