Opposition political parties in Liberia say the failure of the President to address some pertinent issues unfolding in the country in his Annual Message rendered the entire address useless describing it as a “Mess-Age”.
The opposition political parties represented include the Liberty Party (LP), the Alternative National Congress (ANC), the Unity Party (UP) and the All Liberian Party (ALP).
Mr. Wilmot Paye, chairman of the Unity Party who read the statement on behalf of the group said “…He failed disastrously to soothe a hungry population, needless to say, assure or reassure you. He presented no panacea for salvaging this economy, and gave no clear direction on where the nation is headed. Simply put, what the president just delivered is an Annual Mess-Age; it lacks substance and this is not what the constitution prescribes,”.
The leaders of the opposition political parties lamented that contrary to President Weah’s promise during his January 22, 2018 Inaugural Speech that Liberians would not be spectators in their own economy, the situation has turned out to be that Liberians are now bystanders in their economy.
The President has been accused of surrounding himself with a handful of foreign cronies, who allegedly have criminal pasts in their countries, as the main actors and players in the Liberian economy. They further alleged that “even more appalling is that some of his foreign “business” partners .”
There are also claims that there is a spillover of corruption in the Weah-led government but the Annual Message failed to provide what steps are being taken or going to be instituted to curb the corruption menace. This in their view compounds the culture of impunity which has been an age-old hindrance to the development of Liberia.