By Alex Yomah
The Executive Mansion has described as opposition’s make-up, report which is said to have gone viral, that President George Manneh Weah attacked opposition on June 7, 2020 at a church service recently.
About two weeks ago, some topnotch newspapers published articles based on video on social media which among other things, alleged that President George Weah said if Liberia turns bad, he should not be blamed, rather the opposition should be held responsible.
Reacting to the news stories, Presidential Press Secretary, Isaac Solo Kelgbeh, denied said report circulating in the media stating that the Liberian leader never made such remarks on June 7, 2020 as being alluded to by the newspapers.
Mr. Kelgbeh alluded that the President made assertions but that was two years ago-while clarifying statement attributed to the President was precisely December 2018 when the President had returned from Senegal amidst daunting protests purported to have been driven by politicians here.
“I challenge anybody; whether you are a journalist or opposition to tell me that President Weah went to a church at the City of Hope on Sunday, June 7 and made that statement,” Solo challenged.
“What you are discussing was an assertion that the President made in December 2018 when he came from Senegal. I challenge anyone of you[ here in this studio] or anyone out there to produce any evidence that President Weah was in church on June 7, 2020 as being alluded to these papers,” he added.
“He never went to church on June7 and he never made that statement on June 20202,” Solo Kelgbeh made the open challenge when he appeared on the 50-50 Talk-show on Monday along with Daniel Sando of the Liberty Party.
He said the newspapers which published the article failed to do facts-check to even contact his office to confirm. More to that, since the publication, he had contacted the various editors that the President did not make said statement on June 7, 2020 that is being alluded to by newspapers and he informed the editors as saying; “Well, we saw it on Facebook”.
According to Solo, “ When people’s heads are buried in the trash, then anything done by the government is nothing and go on to criticize continuously as in the case of the publication”.
Clarifying further, Solo alleged that the would-be doers used technology to play on Liberians- adding, “Here is what happened; people are played upon because of technology. If you went to the Executive Mansion website and take an old video and copy and work on it, you would think that the president is speaking today but that is not real, ” Solo stated.
But reacting to Kelgbeh’s claim, a member of the Collaborating Political Party, (CPP), Daniel Sando described the President’s statement of shifting blame on the opposition as lazy and as the result of lack of vision to lead the country.
Daniel Sando said the constitution of Liberia gives so much powers to the presidency; the President is like three into one: the holy trinity in the Liberian constitution; the President is the Head of State; he is the Commander in Chief and he is the head of government.
“ The presidency has so much power- and I don’t know what was running the through the mind of the President but think for him to speaking in that manner and form in this 21st century where in civic education has begun the fundamental rights of every Liberian citizen-owing to the fact that people know the function of their government for him to be saying that if the government should go bad, he should be blamed rather than the opposition pointing out two things, that the President is lazy and ineffective and lacks leadership,” the CPP official said.
According to the Liberty Party’s stalwart, Leadership from a broader perspective comes with lots of responsibilities and those who want to lead must step up to the plate and challenge the process. Leadership is about challenging the process.
“If you inherited a country that was bad as a CDC’s people want us [opposition] to believe. It is the responsibility of Mr. Weah. President Weah didn’t campaign in one term to become President; he campaigned for 12 years. They were here, and they understood the intricacies, the challenges that were hovering over the post Ellen era”.
“He campaigned across the 15 political sub-division of Liberia and interestingly so, Cllr. Korkoya made us [opposition] to believe that Weah won 14 counties. How come now that Weah is not aware of the numerous challenges that are associated to run a government and step on the way you want to shift blame on the opposition?” Sando intimated.
“I think, it is absolute laziness on the part of the President. The President is scapegoating his responsibility because he lacks vision. How does the President want us to believe that if Liberia fails, they should blame the opposition? Is the President also saying that his action to have begun to build properties in the first three months of his government was an instruction from the opposition? Of course that is not the case, or is he saying the appointment of incompetent people in government which has led to general underperformance in the government? Is he saying that is the recommendation from the opposition- from the opposition, we say no,” CPP rejects President Weah’s claim,” Sando asserted.