πππππ πππ ππππππππππππ on Monday, January 22, 2024, the office of President Boakai has released three separate lists of nominations of individuals who are to serve in public positions of trust and wield Boakaiβs development agenda to success.
πππ πππππππ ππππ the nominations is that President Boakai and the Unity Party (UP) Alliance were elected on the platform of βARESTβ, which prioritizes agriculture, road, education, sanitation and tourism. Their campaign promises also assured that government would pay key attention to the development of youth, fight against corruption, strengthening of the rule of law and the elimination of drug and crime. However, Boakaiβs first three lists of nominations have caused stakeholders and the public to begin to express concern about the actualization of the βnewβ development agenda with these appointees, many of whom served in the same capacity they are about to serve during the corrupt Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf administration.
πππ πππππ ππ nominees bring back to public governance some of the worse appointees of the Sirleaf administration. Sam Gaye served as Director of the Executive Protection Service (EPS) during the last years of Sirleafβs second term. During his days at the EPS, Gaye was accused of murdering his neighbor with his assigned pistol, illegally dismissing EPS agents who would not cooperate with his alleged financial malpractices, and so on. Bringing back Sam Gaye to the EPS could be described as a dangerous move and a threat to some agents who served under his watch but were not on terms with him, and this could cause further chaos for the EPS, who are now under mandate to provide protection for the 79-year-old President.
ππππππ πππ π πππππ served as Minister of Labor from 2006 to 2009 and later became Minister of Public Works. Kofi Woods is documented by the General Auditing Commission (GAC) for several misappropriation of funds, which amounts to corruption and financial malpractice.
ππππ πππππ, πππ served as GAC boss during that time, described the Sirleaf administration as three times more corrupt than the Gyude Bryant transitional administration, which treated corruption as normality.
πππππππππ πππππππ, πππ Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, served in the same capacity from November 2016 to January 2018. During these years, US$12 million was budgeted each year for the renovation of the Executive Mansion, which the Minister Grigsby oversaw. However, Grigsby and the UP administration are yet to account for the Executive Mansion renovation funds, as the Weah administration had to undergo the constrains to give the Mansion a facelift.
ππππ πππ πππππ former officials back in government, and relatively in the same capacity, Liberians cannot hope for much positive changes; instead, retrogression into vicious corruption, bigotry and impunity.