The Chairman emeritus of the National Patriotic Party (NPP), Chief Cyril Allen has described President Joseph Nyuma Boakai's one hundred days deliverables as overly ambitious.
Chief Allen said he has known Amb. Boakai for over 40 years not to be a very ambitious individual, but he (Allen) thinks the President's hundred days project was overly ambitious and therefore, there were lot of shortcomings in the implementation of the 100 days.
He said be that as it made, if the 100 days project is successful, it is good for Liberia and if it is not successful, there is room for improvement regarding the performance of the President's functionaries.
"He is not the one doing these things physically, so whether he was over ambitious or not, it is incumbent upon the officials and those designated to perform these tasks to perform them diligently and I do not think they did that," Chief Allen said.
The former NPP Chairman said with respect to the road work, he thinks that is where a lot of work was done adding that contractors have been working very hard under the circumstances to try to get the roads done especially now that it is dry season, but unsuccessfully most of the roads have not been completed or were not completed within the time frame.
However, Chief Allen said the contract is an ongoing process and as such, he hopes that the government will put the feet of the contractors to the fire to try to finish the project before the rain comes.
He stated that normally all the weight is on the leadership, but said those who are in various governmental positions and performing the duties and functions are Liberians noting that Liberians are always not diligent in the discharge of their official duties so they create a lot of backlogs in the possible implementation of government projects and programs.
He said Liberians are too lag when it comes to government functionaries as such, Liberians have to be encouraged to be nationalistic and to be more concern about the development in their areas of assignments.
Mr. Allen added, "Liberians have a way of dragging their feet, some of them they have their way of being lag; they have their government gas, they have their government vehicles and the scratch cards that's all they wait for when they receive that they go and sit down in their corners and don't perform their duties and don't encourage their staff to be diligent."
According to him, when you go to government agencies and ministries; people are still relaxed on the Facebook, and on the internet using government computers and not carrying out government's duties thereby calling on the government to put its priority right.
He mentioned that the President had told the Liberian people his agenda and most of the actions he is taking and focusing attention on are not in line with the agenda which is very clear.
Mr. Allen argued that the President has placed too much emphasis on pleasing people who he expects that will give him some kind of financial support.
He maintained that President Boakai has to please the electorates, indicating that those are people that voted him, as such, he has to pay less attention to his international contact that he is depending on and focus on the desire and the needs of the people that is paramount before he starts going out.
Mr. Allen has also called on those that have been appointed by the President to try to be diligent in the discharge of their duties and at the same time encouraged the government to also take some actions when people are not diligent in their duties so as to warn them and give them some encouragement to perform their duties.
Meanwhile, the CDC Governing Council Chair has frowned at President Boakai for 'removing' people from tenure positions arguing that it is easy and possible to remove people from tenure position for cause, but for President Boakai to remove them because they were appointed by his predecessor is not the way to go.
He recounted that the people around the President have to understand too that they cannot lead him down a slippery road pointing fingers at people because they were appointed by the previous government, and trying to remove them from the daily bread; asserting that they are Liberians also, and they have the right to employment and they also have their rights under the constitution to serve adding, "So you have to look at that also and be constructive."
"That's what I am saying the President has to also be diligent in the discharge of his duty, you cannot come and say you President and you just be emotional about things and try to let the people around you be sentimental about things and you govern the country on sentiment, people don't do that if that is done, it is going to hunt the government itself," he lamented.
He acknowledged that it is a good concept and idea that is embraced and welcomed, but thinks that the President proceeding with it wrongly indicating that to do it wrongly is not to do it at all, thus admonishing him to be very courteous and be guided by constraints that govern human conduct.
Mr. Allen added, "You cannot tell people that you will not do business as usual and you come in here with an evil mind, and begin to witch-hunt people and try to make the country uncomfortable. You have to understand that there are regulations, guidelines, rules and we have a constitution in this country, and there is no way that you're going to violate the constitution and go with impunity because we are trying to stop the era of impunity."
He informed the president that he cannot have a gabble and an axe going around anybody he wants to ask simply because he/she did not support him (president Boakai) or they did not vote for his party or they are not part of his party, or not part of his inner circle.
The NPP former chairman warned those that are around the president to be guided by these kinds of constraints and stop misleading the president as it was done doing the presidencies of Charles G. Taylor and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
He said people around the presidents have the habit of always encouraging them to do the wrong thing and when they (presidents) do the wrong things, the people themselves put their hands up and say they advised the president, but he or she did not listen to them.
Mr. Allen warned that people have to be very careful so that their desire for job and wanting to serve the government that they supported cannot overlap and infringe upon the rights of other individuals who have the constitutional right to serve.
He said the president has to know that Liberians are in an era where they want change, and that they want to desist from the thing that they have been doing before, indicating that in order to do that the president has to be focus and conscientious.
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"And I have been mentioning the word 'diligent' in the discharge of the duty, I don't think the president is focus, I don't think he is diligent in the discharge of his duties, I think he has to consult a lot more with his citizens," he expressed.
Mr. Allen said the president has to go out first of all to express his gratitude to the people of Liberia for voting for him, supporting his institution, but the Liberian leader has not done that thereby terming it as not being a responsible action on his part.
He intimated that the president has to start his nationwide tour going to thank the people and encourage them to continue to support the government rather than jumping on planes to go to other countries using government funds without first of all taking care of his domestic issues.
Additionally, he indicated that as a mark of respect to the Liberian people, the domestic issue is first of all for the president to go out to the various districts and counties and thank the people for the support of a brand new day and encourage them to continue, and to support the government in its initiatives.
Chief Cyril Allen ended that this is the only way the people are going to feel a part of the system when the president goes back to them and express gratitude, lobby and solicit their support, otherwise than that he is just operating on a sentiment of a few people around him giving him misleading information how well things are when things are degenerating into chaos.
