–Pres. Boakai Directly Responds To Weah, CDC
President Joseph N. Boakai has directly responded to critics, mainly members of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), including former President George M. Weah and former Finance Minister Samuel D. Tweah, regarding his government’s action of allegedly witch-hunting former officials of the CDC government, noting that he owes no apology to anyone who considers his efforts as witch-hunt.
“We owe no apologies to anyone who considered our efforts as witch-hunt because only witches are being hunted,” President Boakai responded.
His statement was contained in his remarks at the program marking the commissioning ceremony of Associate Justice Ceaineh D. Clinton-Johnson, Chief of Protocol of the Republic of Liberia, Ambassador Antoinette Munah Wolo, and other officials of government at the Executive Mansion on Thursday, August 1, 2024.
It can be recalled that the Political Leader of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), Ambassador George M. Weah, claimed that the Boakai administration is interpreting their commitment to the peace and stability of the country as weakness, and therefore are keen on disturbing the peace by weaponizing key government functionaries to witch-hunt officials of the past government.
Weah however vowed that the Unity Party (UP) government can be assured that the CDC will use all legal and political means at its disposal to resist the Boakai government’s move to weaponize the country’s judicial system to its selfish advantage.
Prior to Weah’s statement, the former Finance Minister, Samuel Tweah, had stated that a politically motivated witch-hunt had been officially launched against his person due to the call for his arrest.
On Monday, July 29, 2024 the Monrovia City Court issued a writ of arrest for several ex-officials of the CDC government, including the former Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Samuel Tweah, Jr., former Acting Minister of Justice, Cllr. Nyenati Tuan, former Director of the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA), Stanley S. Ford, former Comptroller of FIA, D. Moses P. Cooper, and former National Security Advisor, Jefferson Karmoh, for the alleged commission of economic sabotage, misuse of public money, property or record, theft and/or illegal disbursement and expenditure of public money, theft of property, criminal facilitation and criminal conspiracy.
The court requested the arrest of the living bodies of Tweah, Tuan, Ford, Cooper and Karmoh and forthwith brought to the court to answer to the charges levied against them by the Republic of Liberia through the Ministry of Justice and the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC).
According to the writ, the plaintiff, LACC, alleged that in an elaborate scheme and conspiracy to defraud the Government of Liberia (GOL), in July 2023 the defendants conspired with co-defendant Stanley S. Ford and made him a member of the National Security Council of Liberia, in total violation and contravention of the National Security Act of Liberia. Subsequently thereafter, at various times in September 2023, the defendants, in carrying out their diabolical scheme and conspiracy and under the false pretense of discharging their duties as officials of the Joint Security of Liberia, unauthorizedly, criminally, willfully, illegally, knowingly and maliciously, with the intent to defraud the Government of Liberia, stole and converted to their own use and benefit, and did conspire, collude and made to be transferred, from the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) to the operational accounts of the FIA the amounts of L$1,055,152,540.00 and US$500,000.
The writ said the amounts of L$1,055,145,040.00 and US$500,000 were subsequently withdrawn either on the same day of the transfer or few days thereafter, without any indication or record of how the amounts were disbursed or utilized by the Joint Security of Liberia, in complete and total violations of the New Panel Law of Liberia.