The Minister of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism, Ledgerhood Julius Rennie, has taken on President George M. Weah’s sixth State-of-the-Nation Address to provide detailed explanation on the state of the economy and democracy, delved into Senator Prince Johnson’s recent outburst against the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) government, as well as other concerning issues in the public space.
Minister Rennie firstly hailed President Weah for fulfilling his Constitutional requirement to present the State-of-the-Nation Address every year to the Joint Session of the National Legislature. He described this year’s annual message as particularly important because it is the final address for President Weah’s first term in office as President of the Republic of Liberia, terming the address as “realistic in its totality”.
According to him, President Weah used three-and-a-half hours to present a speech that touched on every facet of the Liberian society and spoke to all the pillars of the government’s development agenda: the “Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development”, to show to Liberians that, in spite of all the challenges, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine crisis, his leadership has made monumental progress in certain areas and is still making progress in other areas.
He recalled that when the United Nations Mission was drawing down in 2017, there were contentions about the withdrawal and turning over security matters to state security, especially during an election year. He said when President Weah was inaugurated in 2018, doomsayers and naysayers were of the opinion the country would return to its dark days before the end of the year because he was not capable to hold the peace and maintain security. “Today, if you say nothing has happened, one thing you cannot say is that he hasn’t maintained national peace and security,” Minister Rennie underscored.
He made the comments in a panel discussion organized at the Ministry of Information on Wednesday, February 1, 2023 and conducted by the Director of the Liberia News Agency (LINA), Kwamie Weeks, and four talk show hosts: Jallah Grayfield, ELBC; Kelvin Demey, Prime FM; Sekou Sheriff, Voice of Liberia; and Austin Kawah, Freedom FM. Editors of daily print media institutions were invited to observe the discussion and given the opportunity to make their input through the panelists.
Minister Rennie noted that the CDC government inherited an economy in distress—domestic revenue at its lowest, banks not giving loan, government not credible to credit, Central Bank reserves below the par, inflation skyrocketing, payroll unsustainable, etc.—and so the government had to make strong economic decisions that led the nation to where it is today, describing the economy as stable.
Responding to a question relating to comments recently made by Senator Prince Y. Johnson against President Weah and the CDC government that the government owes Nimba County millions of dollars paid by ArcelorMittal, Minister Rennie said that was a financial matter before the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning and could not delve deep into it. As it relates to the children of Nimba not benefiting from the ministerial and ambassadorial positions in the Weah government and Senator Johnson’s claim that their lives are being threatened because they are not supporting the CDC, the minister argued that Nimba is hugely benefitting from the development dividends of the administration, including road connectivity and infrastructure development. He emphasized that the people of Nimba love, and will vote for, President Weah. He wondered who, of all persons, would threaten the life of Senator Johnson, noting that no one has threatened Senator Johnson and that the sons and daughters of Nimba have been given their fair share in government.
However, he pointed out that President Weah is not running a government based on ethno-demographics, and that all citizens of Liberia, regardless of tribe, religion or creed, are entitled to equal opportunity to work. “Sometimes, in the arrangement of the construct of the government, a little more is given to those who do more in bringing forth the administration into power, but it does not necessarily amount to a payback,” Minister Rennie sounded. He said what he was hearing sounded to him like marketing the people of Nimba by the Senator, which is wrong.
He touched on the matter relating to the rape charges on Liberian officials in South Korea, nothing that the matter is about to be heard in court very soon, and they are hopeful that the accused would get a “not guilty” verdict. He disclosed they have been accorded some level of diplomatic courtesies.